As a crime wave sweeps through Hong Kong, the police call on Jessica Yang, a rising star in their ranks, to help stop a notorious gang of thieves.As a crime wave sweeps through Hong Kong, the police call on Jessica Yang, a rising star in their ranks, to help stop a notorious gang of thieves.As a crime wave sweeps through Hong Kong, the police call on Jessica Yang, a rising star in their ranks, to help stop a notorious gang of thieves.
Featured reviews
This film is being billed in the USA as a Jackie Chan flick. Don't buy into the hype - Jackie has a short (2 minutes approx.) cameo in a scene that makes little sense and is hardly tied in to the rest of the film. His presence in drag is unexplained, and worse still his voice has been dubbed by somebody who apparently spent two hours at the dentist's before filming, and was still under the effects of the anaesthetic - or at least it seems that way.
The rest of the film is passable - some good shots of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, but some glaring plot holes as well. Nothing to write home about, but a fairly good performance from Michelle Yeoh at least brings this up to a 5 out of 10 effort.
The rest of the film is passable - some good shots of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, but some glaring plot holes as well. Nothing to write home about, but a fairly good performance from Michelle Yeoh at least brings this up to a 5 out of 10 effort.
Firstly, the script kicks ass! It's a local story, authentic dialogs, fast paced, straight forward and realistic, yet entertaining. Most of all, it got lots of authentic local cultures in it and it stands out. (Plz don't make movies just for the foreigners markets, draw foreign markets with your local culture - remember the success of Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Mr. Vampire series, & recently Pang Brothers movies???!!!)
What stands out is the time frame of the storyline is longer than most movies out there in the same genre and yet you don't feel bored or awkward. All the actors and actresses' performances' are so natural and believable. Don't know why, but it makes it so much relaxing to watch. Even the cameos all ditched in and made the movie better bit by bit.
Thirdly, the director is very smart in the sense that he acknowledged that he didn't have the luxury of getting the support from Jackie Chan's stuntmen group. Thus, you can't stuff the whole movie with those crazy stunts. Instead, he created a lot of exciting action scenes from various authentic settings - shoot em all scene from the worn down factory building, the underground banking, and the HK underground subway systems.
It's jam packed with action, drama, terrific fight scenes. In all it's a great movie because everyone in the movie knows what they're doing and did very well. It may not have the Hollywood production $$$ but definitely more entertaining than their recycled story lines & movie stars. It's a celebration of HK movie during the 90s era!
Top notch real S!#$% hk police action crime movie!!! 9/10!!! A must see! Go rent it today!!! (I bet Banlieue 13 stole some ideas from movies like this >
What stands out is the time frame of the storyline is longer than most movies out there in the same genre and yet you don't feel bored or awkward. All the actors and actresses' performances' are so natural and believable. Don't know why, but it makes it so much relaxing to watch. Even the cameos all ditched in and made the movie better bit by bit.
Thirdly, the director is very smart in the sense that he acknowledged that he didn't have the luxury of getting the support from Jackie Chan's stuntmen group. Thus, you can't stuff the whole movie with those crazy stunts. Instead, he created a lot of exciting action scenes from various authentic settings - shoot em all scene from the worn down factory building, the underground banking, and the HK underground subway systems.
It's jam packed with action, drama, terrific fight scenes. In all it's a great movie because everyone in the movie knows what they're doing and did very well. It may not have the Hollywood production $$$ but definitely more entertaining than their recycled story lines & movie stars. It's a celebration of HK movie during the 90s era!
Top notch real S!#$% hk police action crime movie!!! 9/10!!! A must see! Go rent it today!!! (I bet Banlieue 13 stole some ideas from movies like this >
As a crime wave sweeps Hong Kong, the police call on Jessica Yang, a rising Inspector, to help stop a notorious gang of thieves. I hurried to finish...
A sequence of 7 films, but this one in particular received so many titles with different numbers that it confused me, that when I marathoned them I forgot about this one, a forgettable, boring film, despite the wonderful Michelle Yeoh. Although Jackie Chan only has a cameo, some DVD covers featured Chan prominently, misleading the audience, briefly reprising his role as Inspector Chan... Few funny scenes (none), many fights (of course), I hurried to finish...
A sequence of 7 films, but this one in particular received so many titles with different numbers that it confused me, that when I marathoned them I forgot about this one, a forgettable, boring film, despite the wonderful Michelle Yeoh. Although Jackie Chan only has a cameo, some DVD covers featured Chan prominently, misleading the audience, briefly reprising his role as Inspector Chan... Few funny scenes (none), many fights (of course), I hurried to finish...
This spin-off of "Supercop" is one of my favorite Hong Kong action movies. "Once a Cop" ("Chao ji ji hua") kicks off with a rousing high-energy title sequence and never lets up. The story is meatier than most action yarns: a Chinese policewoman (Michelle Yeoh) tracks a gang of bank robbers to Hong Kong, unaware that their ringleader is her fiancé, an ex-cop (Yu Rong-Guang). This intriguing set-up searches the emotions of the main character as it explores the cultural clash between get-rich-quick Hong Kong and the duty-bound mainland. There's also a sympathetic subplot about a Hong Kong cop who's attracted to Yeoh but feels intimidated by both her and her fiancé. The action sequences are all superbly executed, credibly grounding their martial arts in the actors' own athletic abilities (rather than falling back on wires and special effects). And Yeoh's graceful gymnastic prowess has never been used to better advantage.
Unfortunately, not everything about "Once a Cop" clicks. The relationship between Yeoh and Yu isn't developed as deeply as it could be (though it's still more interesting than most action-movie romances), and it ultimately doesn't make the most of the premise's irony. Jackie Chan's cameo (reprising his "Supercop" role) is awkward and not well integrated into the story. And Alain Guernier as the central villain gives the worst impersonation of an Englishman I've ever seen (even if John Malkovich's Dr. Jekyll in "Mary Reilly" comes pretty darn close). But pound per pound - and punch per punch - "Once a Cop" is as thrilling and exciting as any reality-based martial-arts movie to come out of the Crown Colony. Anyone wowed by Michelle Yeoh's work in "Tomorrow Never Dies" should definitely check out this
Unfortunately, not everything about "Once a Cop" clicks. The relationship between Yeoh and Yu isn't developed as deeply as it could be (though it's still more interesting than most action-movie romances), and it ultimately doesn't make the most of the premise's irony. Jackie Chan's cameo (reprising his "Supercop" role) is awkward and not well integrated into the story. And Alain Guernier as the central villain gives the worst impersonation of an Englishman I've ever seen (even if John Malkovich's Dr. Jekyll in "Mary Reilly" comes pretty darn close). But pound per pound - and punch per punch - "Once a Cop" is as thrilling and exciting as any reality-based martial-arts movie to come out of the Crown Colony. Anyone wowed by Michelle Yeoh's work in "Tomorrow Never Dies" should definitely check out this
Depending on your whereabouts in the world, this film may go under any one of the following titles: Supercop 2 (USA), Once a Cop, Police Story 3 Part 2, Police Story 4: Project S, Police Story V, Project S (UK), Supercop (also UK). Whatever the title, do not be fooled into thinking that this is a Jackie Chan film; yes, he does appear in the movie, but only briefly and in a scene that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film.
Michelle Yeoh, however, plays the same character as she did in Police Story 3 (which was known as Supercop in the US and did star JCare you keeping up?), a hard-as-nails mainland Chinese cop named Yang. She is called to Hong Kong to lend her expertise and assist in the apprehension of a gang of Chinese criminals who are pulling heists right left and centre and peeing-off the local cops.
The police operations are going swimmingly until Yang recognises one of the criminals as Cheng Feng, her boyfriend from China who left for HK to find his fortune, and the two become reacquainted under somewhat difficult circumstances.
With a decidedly routine plot, Project S needed to be something special in the action department in order to compensate, but despite some cracking fight action towards the end, there is far too much quiet time spent between bouts. The action is also geared towards gun-play rather than martial arts, so those expecting a full on fight-fest will be disappointed. That is not to say that Yeoh and co-stars don't display some wonderful skills from time to time; the high kicking action is pretty good when it happensit just doesn't happen often enough.
The final half an hour, which has the gang attempt a daring bank robbery, offers the best dose of action, with Yang going up against a foe twice her size (and kicking ass, of course!).
Director Stanley Tong and star Michelle Yeoh have both made far better films than this, but if your expectations are not set too high, you may find Project S a reasonable way to spend your time (although 105 minutes was a tad too long for me!).
Michelle Yeoh, however, plays the same character as she did in Police Story 3 (which was known as Supercop in the US and did star JCare you keeping up?), a hard-as-nails mainland Chinese cop named Yang. She is called to Hong Kong to lend her expertise and assist in the apprehension of a gang of Chinese criminals who are pulling heists right left and centre and peeing-off the local cops.
The police operations are going swimmingly until Yang recognises one of the criminals as Cheng Feng, her boyfriend from China who left for HK to find his fortune, and the two become reacquainted under somewhat difficult circumstances.
With a decidedly routine plot, Project S needed to be something special in the action department in order to compensate, but despite some cracking fight action towards the end, there is far too much quiet time spent between bouts. The action is also geared towards gun-play rather than martial arts, so those expecting a full on fight-fest will be disappointed. That is not to say that Yeoh and co-stars don't display some wonderful skills from time to time; the high kicking action is pretty good when it happensit just doesn't happen often enough.
The final half an hour, which has the gang attempt a daring bank robbery, offers the best dose of action, with Yang going up against a foe twice her size (and kicking ass, of course!).
Director Stanley Tong and star Michelle Yeoh have both made far better films than this, but if your expectations are not set too high, you may find Project S a reasonable way to spend your time (although 105 minutes was a tad too long for me!).
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
