A New Police Story

Background
I trust you all know who Jackie Chan is, so I won't bore you to death by writing about how great he is. Instead I thought I'd focus a bit more on the director, Benny Chan. This is far from his first action film, and he's even directed Jackie Chan before, in the not to shabby "Who Am I?" about an agent who loses his memory and has no idea why he's being chased. Benny Chan's movies have always been action-packed and a lot of fun to watch, so what about "A New Police Story"?

Story
The story is as simple as they come: Chan (Jackie, that is) is inspector Wing, a super-cop who does what no one else can. When a group of criminals led by Joe (played by American-born Daniel Wu) starts robbing banks and killing police officers just for the fun of it, Wing promises that he and his team can catch the criminals in three hours if he is allowed to do things his way.

Well, things don't go his way, and his entire team is wiped out. Wing, the sole survivor, descends into a downward spiral of guilt, alcohol and self-pity. His salvation comes in the form of a rookie cop (Nicholas Tse, singer and illegal strret racer), who wants to go after the gang, and wants Wing's help.

From here on it is, I am glad to say, classic Jackie Chan-action. There are the crazy stunts, of course, and this time around they're better than ever. Even better than in "Rumble in the Bronx", which is a pretty bad film, but has some of Chan's most amazing stunts.

Verdict
For what it is - an action-film starring Jackie Chan - this is really good. There is plenty of action, pretty good acting from Chan (certainly some of the best we've seen him pull off) and lots of destruction (the scene with the bus being the best example of this). More than anything, it is a lot of fun, and that's what action is all about. If you don't expect too much character development and can accept a screenplay with about as much depth as a kiddie pool, you'll love this.