Police Story 2

Jackie Chan in flight is such a joy to behold (especially during the end credits showing bloopers and the injuries from the mind-blowing stunts), as this particular series (five films so far and a spin off from the third feature) along with "Project A" and its sequel would come down as probably his most recognizable home-grown efforts to western audiences. I love Chan's early work, and the Police Story features (which did come across as epic crime joints) are some of his best latter stuff. As for "Police Story Part 2", it continues on from the excellent original to simply match the quality and go on to be a little larger in scale and excitingly explosive… literally.

The Hong Kong police force doesn't like individual heroes and that's what they see Ka Kui as. His effective, but it always comes at a cost which they are not willing to take. So for he extreme acts Kui is demoted to a traffic cop. However after some threats on his life and his girlfriend which causes more of a stir, he decides to quit for his well-being and that of his girlfriend. But it doesn't last long when he's conned back onto the force to help combat against a string of bomb threats involving a gang holding ransom a big corporation.

Jackie Chan flexibly directs astonishingly dangerous stunts-galore and inventively rapid, if elaborate martial arts choreography in what is an old-hat, but very busy and comic book pulp cops and robbers chase formula. It's customary investigation work, by trying to predict the next move and virtually racing against the clock to stop the bad guys… which has two lots for Chan to take on. The tough action is instinctive, uncanny and lethal making it amazing to watch (with an upbeat music tempo underlining it) and boy their's a destructive mess after nearly every ordeal. This goes for the electrifying and impulsive climatic showdown. Like most of these outings it doesn't forget the humour, which is quite broad and silly, but these comic elements can be fun and actually it's rather toned down than usual. It's more-so serious involving the pressure and dangers of the job with a multi-facet performance by Chan as there's an unhealthy obsession (boldly dogged, but self-centred) making his character truly blind of what really should be important to him. However I found to get in the way was the love interest angle (the factor of police work getting in the way of love), which was important for certain story developments and to squeeze out suspenseful situations, but still those awkward moments do slow down its momentum. The performances are immensely colourful (Maggie Cheung, Bill Tung, Kwok-Hung Lam, Charlie Cho and Benny Lai) and Jackie Chan under a heavy work load shows the stamina and agility with that glowing charisma, which makes him a favourite.

Inspector Ka Kui (Jackie Chan) continues his adventure in this second installment of the Police Story.

Story is a continuation of the first Police Story. Ka Kui is excused of all his actions, but gets reassigned to the traffic department. He soon gets involved with the bombers who are blackmailing the building owner. The guys who Ka Kui captured in the first part is also out of jail. His relation with Maggie is also on the rocks. Things just aren't so good for him, but when the bombers kidnaps Maggie, Ka Kui has had enough, and goes after the bombers.

This movie along with the first Police Story is filled with classic action scenes from annals of Jackie Chan's action scenes. Some of these are: Jackie crossing the freeway on foot and at the end gets hit by a van. Jackie jumping on to a two decker bus and then jumping into the glass made Lee Kum Kee's bill board. Scene where Maggie Chung runs from the villain, and steel frameworks dominoing after her (scene where she actually got hurt badly in the head). And countless falls from the building's windows.

This movie is worth watching just for these scenes, but there's a bevy of beautiful actresses from the late '80s adoring this movie.

While this movie is not the classic the first Police Story is, it's still one of the best action movies to come out of Hong Kong, and is recommended for viewing.

In this sequel to POLICE STORY, everyone is back. Jackie Chan is getting a dressing-down for catching the bad guys.... so expensively. He's busted to traffic cop, but when the bad guys show up to threaten him and girl friend Maggie Cheung, he busts some glasses. This gets him more lecturing from fatuous squad chief Kwok-Hung Lam, so Jackie quits and heads off to Bali with Maggie.

However, some guys have planted a bomb, destroying a mall, and promise more unless the real estate company pays a huge ransom. The police don't know what to do about this, so they talk Jackie back onto the force.

In terms of story-telling, this is not a well-constructed story, since with three stories -- revenge story by the bad guys from the previous movie; rocky relationship with Miss Cheung; and bomber -- a lot winds up abandoned; even though Criterion has restored this to pretty much the original length, it's apparent that a lot was lost in editing somewhere. Still, one does not watch a Jackie Chan movie for its exquisite story-telling, but for funny stuff -- Bill Tung gets gassy at one point -- and the funny, chaotic, acrobatic gags that Jackie Chan provides to his fans. He offers them here, even though they are not as madly funny as they would become over the next five years.

It's important to note that, as director and co-writer, Chan is not a glory hog. The funniest sequence is the one where the young female officers are investigating a creep they want to turn. All in all, while Jackie Chan's movies would continue to improve because his popularity with audiences gave him greater scope, this is a lot of fun.

It's better than most action movies from the 80s, but it does not top its predecessor. There is more story and character development in this movie compared to the original, which usually is a good thing but maybe not this time.

Let us be honest. Not one single person goes into this movie expecting a deep and thoughtful script. We want flying kicks, unnecessary but cool flips, inventive parkour, mesmerizing combat scenes, and death-defying stunts. "Police Story 2" delivers on all these points. Some of the action setpieces are arguably better than the ones in the previous movie, but this movie has problems with pacing. Some character development for Jackie Chan was great, but this movie did at times feel too slow and a bit boring. The humor is not as great and the action scenes are fewer. It is a more serious and perhaps darker film than the original.

But every action sequence in this movie absolutely rocks. The fight at the playground is perfectly choreographed, filmed, and edited. The way it's filmed makes it possible to fully appreciate the absurd stunts and actions the crewmembers are performing. If you like action movies, check this one out!

The Hong Kong super-cop (Jackie Chan) must stop a group of blackmailing bombers at the same time that the villains of the first Police Story are out for revenge.

As much as I enjoyed this movie -- the humor, the explosions, the fast kicks to the face -- it has to be said that it never quite lives up to the first film. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, as sequels very rarely are as good as the original (though some select few do tend to be better).

We still had awesome kicks, a humor that was a bit more crude, and we had way more explosions in this one (not surprising, given the villains are bombers). But we do not get to see as much glass break, and I think the overall destruction is never quite as high. How do you top the destruction of an entire village from part one?