New Police Story


Reviewed by: koalabear

November 22, 2004

Rating: four

Directed by Benny Chan

Cast:
Jackie Chan as Inspector Wing
Nicholas Tse as "Inspector" Fung
Charlie Yeung as Wing's Girlfriend
Charlene Choi (cute pouty twin) as Sa Sa
Daniel Wu as Joe

OK the official blurb for this movie makes no sense whatsoever and has very little resemblance to the actual plot line!

"Wing (Jackie Chan) is the Hong Kong (HK) police's resident supercop. He's the best of the best, cracking every case he handles in record time. Fung (Nicholas Tse) is a rebel without a pause, a typically disaffected but street-smart Hong Kong youth who wastes his life in video game arcades. Talk is cheap, and no one talks cheaper than Fung. Due to his family's criminal background, it seems that Fung can never become a police officer, and follow in the footsteps of Wing, his all-time idol. Finally, Fung gets the chance to realise his goal of becoming a detective. He tricks Wing into joining force with him on the trail of a truly vicious band of foes. The Gang of Five! "

Errrr.. right. Read on for the real story.

You've no doubt heard it. This is Jackie Chan's "serious" movie where he "acts" and isn't just a "clown".

What does this mean? He spends a lot of time drinking alcohol and crying. I lost track of the number of times he started crying in this movie.

The movie opens with a drunken Jackie Chan staggering through the Mid-levels in Hong Kong. It appears to be somewhere nearby Staunton Street, not far from the escalator. After throwing up in an ignoble fashion, he collapses unconscious into an alleyway and you see a figure in a hat and trench coat leaping lightly through the alley to crouch down beside him. It's Nicholas Tse, wearing an inexplicably funky hat. He looks at the prone man's identification - Senior Inspector Wing ......

It's time for a flashback.....to a time when Jackie Chan was on top of the world - a proud senior inspector of the Hong Kong police who had never lost a case. You know the drill. There is scene unrelated to the rest of the movie in which Wing saves a group of people from an angry bomber who has lost money on bad investments. I think the only purpose of the scene is to show how cool Wing is.

Anyway, then the movie switches to a group of teenagers in carnival masks perched on the edge of a building laughing maniacally in a kind of: "Yeah man, woooh, adrenaline rush" manner which usually comes across as being a little forced. These youths, led by a very youthful looking Daniel Wu, rob a bank, summon the police to the scene in order to massacre them in their tracks. Killing cops means points in a game these bored kids have formulated. Wing swears on television to bring the villains to justice and with supreme confidence leads a squad (including his future brother-in-law) to an abandoned warehouse.

Not surprisingly, the warehouse is a trap and Wing's team members are picked off one by one and all materialise, hanging from the ceiling while a tortured Wing is tormented and humiliated into playing "games" against the gang, including assembling a fire arm and one to one combat with one of the gang members. As the only surviving team member, Wing is wracked by guilt and sinks into profound drunken depression from which he does not emerge until he encounters the whimsical, puckish Siu Fung who saunters around time in his slightly oversized grey coat.

The morning after the rescue, there is a very entertaining scene of Fung vacuuming Wing's apartment while wearing a blue shower cap. It shows a very endearing side of Nicholas Tse, whom most HK audiences would imagine was the kind of bad boy super cool. The cynical say that this was studiedly designed in order to enable Nicholas Tse to revive a career damaged by scandal. Who knows, and I certainly don't care. Fung steals this movie as far as I'm concerned and offers much welcome comedic relief without being stupid.

Fung helps to pull Wing back together and reunite him with his bland girlfriend, played by a very bland Charlie Yeung whom everyone seems to adore, despite phoning in her performance. I mean honestly, what was so challenging about that role? Anyway, regenerated and reinspired, Wing and Fung go after the gang of five.

Daniel Wu portrays the leader of the bad guys very well, switching between Cantonese and American English as required. The problem is, he has a very slight lisp / soft spoken way of speaking which borders on gay, so it's sometimes a little hard to see him as the tough leader of the gang. Nonetheless, he's very cute and very entertaining as the bad guy.

Charlene Choi is plain annoying as Tse's love interest. Will she pout like this when she's fifty I wonder? I wish they could have given poor Fung a love interest worthy of him.

There is a little pathos in Fung's past as we discover that there is a connection between Wing and Fung that goes back a number of years.

The bloopers at the end of the movie are extremely entertaining and I love the fact that one of the bloopers hasn't been completely cut from the movie. Watch for the scene when Wing snatches the cigar from Fung's mouth. Nicholas Tse starts to giggle and the camera doesn't move away from him fast enough


Add your own review and become a featured critic on spcnet.tv!


Buy Now

A Hero Born (Legend of the Condor Heroes)Jin Yong English Translation Book 1

A Bond Undone (Legend of the Condor Heroes)Jin Yong English Translation Book 2


Buy Locca Boba Tea Kit

Love bubble tea?DIY Boba Tea Set