Police Story 3 - Supercop

Dear Stupid American Dubbers:

I am quite frankly sick and tired of you butchering quite possibly every single film from overseas. Your inability to successfully even mildly recreate the experience as if it were in its native tongue continues to dazzle me. Even the grandest of grand films from around the world become less bearable to watch thanks to the pitiful, gut-wrenching dubbing. To further your skills in watering down all sorts of movies, you even disallow the ability for some movies to make it to the United States with a mere addition of subtitles. Is it really that hard to just ship the film with their native language and the translation on the bottom of the screen? Really? Here is a list of things you should avoid when dubbing a movie from any non-English-speaking country:

1) Do not re-edit the film. The movie is 108 minutes long because the makers wanted it to be that way. Do not chop any "unnecessary" scenes

2) Do not remove scenes that actually further explains the plot. That is stupid. Very stupid

3) Do not attempt to add any humor into the movie. Your job is to only translate—not translate and have a shot at stand-up comedy.

4) Do not add or change the soundtrack. You stupid imbeciles, why on earth is there hip-hop music in a Jackie Chan film? That's like throwing in a performance of Swan Lake during one of the intermissions in a hockey game.

5) Do not fix the sound effects. Why are you fixing the sound effects!!?!?

6) Why are we not using Chinese-Americans to help dub Chinese films!?!??

7) Stop. Changing. The. Storyline. You. Amateurs. You. Make. Me. Want. To. Throw. Something. Heavy.

8) Just don't dub the film. As a matter of fact, don't even follow these rules, because that would mean you are trying to dub. Don't do it, just allow the movie (in its entirety) to arrive here in the United States, and put it the reliable subtitles on the bottom. Please and thank you.

Despite Supercop being quite possibly the 38539th film to be ruined because of American dubbing, it remains an enjoyable film, and one that's quite different from the usual Chan fare. The film is about (after reading Wikipedia and IMDb because the dubbing sure messed that up) Chan going undercover with a beautiful agent (Michelle Yeoh) to track down a drug king.

The action is very intense, rougher than the usual Chan material; so if you can adjust your tastes, you'll be in for a wild ride. While the usual amount of well-choreographed fights are replaced by heavy action set pieces, the final half an hour will leave you absolutely breathless. If you are disappointed in the first 60 minutes, stick around for the last leg, when you'll see unbelievable stunt after unbelievable stunt. Jackie Chan's female version performs her best work here, as Yeoh combines grittiness with a hintage of sexuality that's very subtle but all-so-present.

Bottom Line: Supercop is not the best Jackie Chan work, but it still entertains and still will blow you away with some of the set pieces and amazing stuntwork involved. The typical Jackie Chan humor is replaced with intense and crazy action that extends from brutal hand-to-hand combat to guns and missiles all over the place. With that being said, the dubbing will hamper the quality of the film a lot, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Maybe in the future we can figure out how to successfully translate movies in a way that can make everybody happy; but in the meantime we have to deal with disgusting hip-hop, terrible re-editing, bad voice work acting, and an all-around aura of obviousness that the translators didn't have a clue on what the Chinese filmmakers and Jackie Chan were trying to achieve with this film.

P.S. Stop dubbing movies. Please. Just subtitle them. Please.

This is a really fun movie. Jerry Bruckheimer could learn a thing or five from Stanley Tong. I can only give it 8 out of 10 because it's not exactly deep, y'know? It is light as a feather, but it's also fun, fun, fun -- far more interesting and surprising than any "action" film I've seen out of Hollywood in a long, long time, all of which have seemed to me to be recycling the same script, plot, characters, and score to desperation. (Beats me how people could shell out eight bucks a pop to see Enemy of the State aka Mercury Rising aka Absolute Power...when they could rent Supercop for two bucks and actually see something unexpected.)

Of course, this film stars Jackie Chan being his usual goofy self, deftly making his extraordinary skills as a martial artist, stuntman, and physical comedian look as natural as breathing, but the other amazing talent in this piece is exhibited by the fantastic stuntwoman Michelle Yeoh (aka Michelle Khan), the same woman who for the first time blew away many Western moviegoers in Tomorrow Never Dies.

I think this woman is made entirely of rubber and springs. Most of her stunts in this movie are actually scarier and more daring than most of Chan's, and some of the most brutal took more than one take. And she did a lot of them in a dress!

Fortunately, she is also in the sequel to this, Supercop II. It's seven years old, and I can hardly wait to rent it. (When was the last time you were in a hurry to see an action flick almost ten years old?) Too bad I can't say the same for Rush Hour, which I had to click off after less than 10 minutes because Chan's co-lead character was such an obnoxious idiot.

I really hope Hollywood learns from Chan and his Hong Kong associates, and not the other way around. Indicators are not positive. Keep your fingers crossed. Meanwhile, watch Supercop and enjoy something fresh.

Great action scenes with a young Jackie Chan doing all his own stunts, including some pretty incredible ones. It is also a very funny comedy movie. Sure he's not an awesome actor or anything but he is definitely likable and a funny guy with an amazing level of talent for the physical fight scenes and stunt work. We really enjoyed this one.

Probably my fave Jackie flick so far, this has great story, GREAT stunts, great action, and great work from an awesome cast. The helicopter/train finale is an absolute rollercoaster. I'm fortunate enough to have scored a chinese-language DVD, and this cut is definitely better than the Americanized version, with more exposition, and probably more MICHELLE YEOH! She's the greatest, nearly upstaging Jackie every moment she's onscreen, and they work great together! And of course the terrific Yuen Wah always makes a good villain! All around a great, slick, fast paced action adventure, that anyone could enjoy! A blast all around! Oh, and let's not forget the gorgeous Maggie Cheung, pretty funny here...

This is a great film! Just last night I watched one of his not-so-great films and felt I needed to watch something that fits him, so I chose Supercop. I've forgotten how great it is!

Unlike most Jackie Chan movies, this one has a nice plot that is easy to understand and characters that you can easily take a liking to. The music isn't bad in some spots and the storyline is great. Let's not forget the action scenes, which are some of Chan's best (not his VERY best, but good nonetheless)!

I really recommend this movie to all Chan fans out there.