New Police Story (2006) Movie Review

At least Jackie Chan movies tend to be lively, especially the ones he makes in Hong Kong. This spin-off from his four-film Police Story franchise is as energetic and enjoyable as ever. And also as preposterous.

Wing (Chan) is the head of an elite Hong Kong police team that's set up and destroyed by a sinister gang of extreme-gamer rich kids (Wu, Chiang, Go, Yin and On). A year later, rookie cop Frank (Tse) literally drags Wing from the gutter and begs him to sober up and come back to catch the gang. Can Wing put his life back together, reunite with his girlfriend (Yeung) and finally catch the villains?

Silly question. But this film never gives up trying to throw us off the scent. No matter how ludicrously convoluted the plot gets, it's thoroughly predictable, and much of the dialog is downright dire. But there's a massive set piece every few minutes to keep us amazed at the daring stuntwork. From running (or biking or skating) down the vertical sides of skyscrapers to the frenetic carnage of the utterly gonzo runaway bus sequence, this film is never remotely dull.

It also never quite decides whether it's a serious cop movie or a zany farce. Both genres are constantly present, often shifting from gritty to silly and back within a single line of dialog. This makes the whole film feel awkward, especially when Chan has to do some serious emoting, which is not his forte. He's much better at comedy, and the humorous banter between him and his costars has a nice zing to it.

Meanwhile, the action is breathtaking, even if it makes little logical sense. Chan's style is somewhat choreographed, but it's such good fun that we never want it to end--and at over two hours we sometimes wonder if it will. The script has a disturbing tendency to continually call ruthless murderers "thieves", there are a few disastrously sentimental scenes, while the romantic subplots never get off the ground. But the overwrought final sequence is so much fun that we don't really care.