Police Story 2 (1988)

Didn't blow me away

Police Story 2 brought back much of the cast from Police Story, including the divine Maggie Cheung. Even with two different sets of bad guys and some pyrotechnics, the story dragged badly in comparison to the first and third movies of the series.

Chan Ka Kui finds himself demoted to traffic cop after the destructive events of the first film. To make matters worse Chu Tao is given a compassionate care release. Chu's assistant Koo and his henchmen harass both Chan and May repeatedly. After a run in with the baddies in a restaurant and a children’s playground, Chan is called on the carpet by his bosses. This time he’s had enough and resigns. He no more than turns his badge in when blackmailing bombers threaten a company by blowing up one of their malls. His superiors talk him into coming back to work and he joins an elite surveillance team to track down the evil doers.

PS2 struggled with its identity. The murderous bad guys from the previous film were played up for comic effect in this one. Honestly, most of the scenes committed to Charlie Cho’s Koo felt more like padding and did nothing to drive the narrative forward. At 2 hours, the movie was already bloated for a 1980’s action flick. While there were a couple of good fights as was expected from a Jackie Chan movie, there wasn't the same excitement as in PS1 and 3. Given the outtakes, several people were hurt including Maggie Cheung. She endured a serious head injury, serious enough she couldn’t finish the film which was obvious because after the stunt you never see her face again. Much of Chan’s stunts in the last thirty minutes involved being set on fire. There were two impressive explosions but buildings blowing up don’t make up for terrible pacing and lackluster storytelling.

There were several interesting guest appearances. Wu Ma showed up as a mall cop. Lau Ching Wan made a brief showing as a CID officer. Charlie Cho’s main reason for being in the film seemed to be for the comic effect of having his glasses invariably broken in all of his scenes, a running gag from the first movie. Benny Lai was one of the official stuntmen from Jackie’s company and provided a sound final opponent for Chan even if his deaf-mute character pushed the limits of poor taste. Mitsubishi trucks and Canon cameras had more scenes than most of the supporting actors. Full moon alert---some of the bit players appeared to have been hired for their tight butts for a comic scene when May chased Chan through the men’s police showers.

While there were entertaining fights and moments, especially in the last thirty minutes, Police Story 2 bogged down for much of the other ninety minutes going back and forth trying to decide if Chan was a loose, reckless canon or a hero. I’m sure many Jackie Chan fans will find this film a blast. But for me, instead of a thrilling, explosive story, the bouncing around of villains and bland dialogue caused the movie to fizzle.

4 May 2024

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One of those rare treats in which the sequel surpasses the first movie! (Oh, and I guess I have seen this one before. It's just been such a long time.) It picks up right where the first one left off. Ka-Kui (Jackie the name change doesn't official happen until movie 4 I think) is getting reprimanded for costing the people, AKA the police department, so much money! Especially that darn mall chandelier! Instead of getting promoted he gets demoted.

The old villain is back and I enjoyed that. To often we just move onto the next one.. Ka Kui's actions have consequences. It's highlighted by how easily he rushes into things. What emphasis it more is that May is really in this one. She has legit points. They're held at gun point and he ducks and she doesn't. The consequences of that alone are scary--as she points out. Worst of all is that he was so hot headed chasing after them, that she could have been nabbed.

May's breakup was EPIC! Not only that, but she had great points about what he was doing. Actions do speak louder than words. This is a great entry that showcases May and Ka Kui's relationship, and you can totally see why it would be better for her to get out of the relationship.

It's also full of tons of laughs. This movie was shot 3 years after the other one and it ups it's game. If you watch other movies around the time period you can see how they wanted to make the action comedic. However, Jackie is still the only one who can blend the comedy into the stunts so successfully. Ka Kui uns across the street looking cool, but still gets hit. That's the key to Jackie's success. He's human, he gets hit. No random shot to end things, he wins by never giving up. It can be argued that there is a big explosion in the end.

Wow, so there are girls in the special surveillance team. Finally some women to the police force! Though suddenly after that their were women everywhere. Enough so that I thought it may have been a debated or finally added thing to the movie after it was in progress. Ether way it worked and I loved it! Police Story 2 has some of the best surveillance team work I have ever scene. Especially when they were tailing the target.

Not only does this showcase the realities of damages caused on the job, but fear of action. Even though a bomb is called in the police and security are afraid to act on it. The fear of responding to a threat and evacuating people because they'll be chewed out. The curse of any customer service job. You're damned if you do and nothing happens, or don't if something does. Or it can be flip flopped anyway they want to paint you as the wrong doer.

This is a really smart script. If you watch James Bond during this time period you might even pick up on some of the humor trying to emulate Police Story. It takes the best parts of the first movie and delivers it better. It didn't feel so choppy and the pacing was perfect. I'm impressed. The video is even better and the sound is a bit more polished. Though it is still 80s era action noises. This also makes me miss the time period where not everything had to be dark-dark-dark and gloom. I enjoyed smiling and still feeling suspense.

Honestly I think the darker storytelling of today could merge this vibe and create something even better. What I wish could have happened for Police Story 2013.

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