DVD Review: Chan plays this ‘Story’ straight
During the ‘80s, Jackie Chan went from being a star in Hong Kong cinema to being the star. This was partly due to the popularity (everywhere in the world except the U.S.) of his “Police Story” films (1985, 1988). The line was continued in “Police Story 3: Supercop” (1992), “Police Story 3: Supercop 2” (1993), and “First Strike” (1996). He revived the series’ hero, Chan Ka-Kui, in “New Police Story” (2004), which disappointed many fans because of the utter absence of humor. It had much more in common with his 1993 “Crime Story” than with the series it was nominally a part of.
“Police Story: Lockdown,” two years old, was only released this year in the U.S., which is presumably why they ditched the original title — “Police Story 2013.” This one strays even further from the originals. Chan plays a Mainland cop, not Chan Ka-Kui. Once again, there is zero humor. Chan has long ago earned the right to go in whatever direction he wants, but there’s an automatic letdown when the world’s greatest physical comedian does his best not to be funny
It was not very well received, probably because of false expectations. In fact, once one gets over the disappointment, it’s a much better film than its reputation, and a stylistically intriguing one as well.
The story has been described as “Die Hard Meets Rashomon,” though I also found a touch of “Saw,” Richard Lester’s “Petulia,” and Alain Resnais’ “Hiroshima Mon Amour.” Like the latter two, the main time thread of “Police Story: Lockdown” is disrupted, not only by flashbacks, but also by flashforwards, as Zhong Wen, the hero, assesses the likely effects of the decisions he must make.
In writer/director Ding Cheng’s story, villain Wu Jiang (Ye Liu) is holding more than a dozen people hostage in his night club, including Zhong and his adult daughter (Tian Jing). Most of the hostages have an unknown connection to Wu, who challenges Zhong to figure out what the connection is: hence Zhong’s and Wu’s flashbacks. Near the end, when everyone realizes who Wu is, they tell their very different memories of the event in question — memories largely shaped by vanity and cowardice.
The movie has a reputation for not having much action, which is weird. In addition to two extended fights, there are numerous fights and chases throughout, both in present time and in the flashbacks.
The new Blu-ray looks good, bringing out the best in cinematographer Yu Ding’s fine work. In addition to Chan’s traditional practice of showing outtakes during the credit crawl, there are about 20 minutes of interviews with Cheng and the three stars, plus five minutes of behind-the-scene antics. Best moment: Cheng says that Chan, who was 59 when the movie was made, didn’t want to do much heavy action. So he left that stuff out of the script and then gradually added action scenes while they were shooting.
Police Story: Lockdown (WellGo, Blu-ray, $29.98; DVD, $24.98)
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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).