Police Story: Lockdown

It must be said that the anticipation for a Jackie Chan film has changed over the years. Chan himself had announced in last year's Chinese Zodiac 12 to be his last film with major action in it. We cannot go in expecting to be wowed by death-defying stunts or exhilarating fight choreography anymore. Instead of fights, he has chosen to switch into the dramatic.

Police Story 2013 is not a continuation of the original Police Story series, the title is in name only. Chan's character Zhong Wen is not Chan Ka-Kui, Jackie Chan's Supercop character from the original Police Story series. Zhong Wen is not hotheaded, not prone to solving conflicts with violence or even a great hand-to-hand fighter. The only similarity both characters share is their whole-hearted belief of the law and their obligation to do the right thing. Otherwise, Zhong Wen is a dramatic character exploring themes of old age and dealing with the consequences of being a poor father, and therefore it is a role that the older Jackie Chan naturally fits into. In comparison to Chan's dramatic turns in The Karate Kid remake and The Shinjuku Incident, this performance is the most honest.

The fights, which are not choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, are shot close and choppily edited. And sadly, there are not that many of them. For Jackie Chan fans that are hungry to watch a good fight or a stunt will be disappointed. Originally there were not going to be any fights in the film.

Director Ding Sheng, who previously worked with Chan on Little Big Soldier, constructs some tense moments and keeps the audience guessing with red herrings. Liu Ye plays the villain in true scenery chewing fashion, the cat-and-mouse game between Liu and Chan is the price of admission. Jing Tian, having been played the most annoying female police officer in Donnie Yen's Special ID earlier this year, fares much better in a more fleshed-out role. I'm curious to see what part she will play in the upcoming Chow Yun Fat-Wong Jing God of Gamblers rehash From Vegas to Macau.

As for the hostage situation itself, the bickering hostages are very annoying and it begs to question how they would be able to yak on the way they do without risking execution. The final reveal in the mystery plot is pedestrian, as one would expect a more epic conflict. Immense effort has been made to shift things to a ground level and while it succeeds at creating a gritty realism, it works against the film in terms of payoff. With a back catalogue full of dangerous stunts and action scenes, who could imagine a Jackie Chan movie made so humbly and low- volume?

Police Story 2013 ultimately is an incidental addition to the Jackie Chan canon and does not hold a close candle to the original Police Story series -though much better than the awful New Police Story-, but I did not expect it to be either. It was entertaining for its running time, but I won't watch it again. The 3D is a shameless cash grab as minimal design has been put in and it is counter-productively dulling down its colorful cinematography. Overall the average Jackie Chan fan might be happier to see it as a rental. Nothing here is worth being angry or disappointed over.

You might be thinking, why am I being so forgiving? Why am I giving Police Story 2013 a pass? The answer: I am not ready to live in a world without Jackie Chan movies in it.

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Police Story 2013 follows Jackie's character in a Die Hard scenario. A bunch of cage fighting criminals have taken hostages in a fortified building, one of them is JC's daughter and he must find a way to save them all by himself.

The premise itself is pretty interesting but the execution is sloppy. The movie takes forever to begin and spends way too much time on introducing unimportant characters instead of building on Jackie's relationship with his daughter. Then it relies on flashbacks which seems at first as an interesting plot device until you realize that they're there just for show and don't contribute to the plot itself. When finally we discover what the bad guys were after, it seems highly unlikely and ridiculous.

Low production values and lack of action turn this movie into more of a drama, but with Jackie being the only credible actor the result is cringeworthy. This movie, just like last year's CZ 2013 are a sad reminder that Jackie has aged, long gone are the days of crazy stunts and wild fights. Jackie's fights are short, over edited, CGI'd and even it's apparent that he uses stunt doubles. I know that he's not young anymore, but it's apparent that he's still in great shape and could've done a lot more if the crew knew what to do with him.

Overall, an interesting premise that is ruined by a lack of direction and relying too much on cheap tricks as flashbacks, CGI, Slo-Mo and fast cutting. Watch this only if you're a big fan of JC.

Although Police Story 2013 (警察故事2013) stars Jackie Chan and shares the same name as the first three 'Police Story' films that got him famous, they're unrelated and very different in tone. Similar to the unrelated New Police Story (新警察故事) released in 2004, this film uses a serious, darker and gritter approach as well.

The story is about a group of people gets kidnapped at a nightclub, all seemingly unrelated, until it is revealed that is not the case and Jackie need to save the victims and his own daughter as well. The first half of the film is slightly boring and uneventful for an action thriller. Some plot events that happens in the film are unnecessary to the story.

Despite Jackie's great performance in the film (especially the emotional ending scene where he's willing to do whatever it takes to save his daughter), the film greatly suffers due to its lackluster plot and lack of memorable strong developed supporting characters.There's aren't enough action sequences in this film and most of them were normally out of focus and hard to really see what is really going on at times, especially the brutal cage match between Jackie and a Thai fighter.

The film also lacks a compelling villain, his motivations for doing the kidnapping are very personal but the film doesn't provide any scenes for the audience to empathize with his loss. A great villain normally have a plan that is well thought-out and precise. They know when should they strike and where it hurts the most. They have a goal and clearly knows the best way to accomplish it. This one doesn't.

Furthermore, the Cantonese-dubbed version I've watched in the cinema ruined the experience as well. I would really prefer that they use the original Mandarin version instead. A disappointing film.

Rating: 6.5/10

Because of his dedication to duty and the demands of his job "Senior Inspector Zhong Wen" (Jackie Chan) has essentially neglected his wife and daughter for years. As a result, when his wife is seriously injured in a car accident he arrives at the hospital much too late and this causes his grief-stricken daughter "Miao" (Tian Jing) to want nothing more to do with him. However, sometime later things seem to change when Miao calls him and sets up a meeting at a night club. Unfortunately, when he gets there he is knocked unconscious and is taken hostage along with his daughter and several other people. It soon transpires that the kidnappers want more than just money and Senior Inspector Zhong Wen is the key to their plans. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this is yet another movie which focuses on the serious side of Jackie Chan. And while he certainly performs well enough I believe that this trend has somewhat diminished the overall entertainment value of his films. It's just not the same without the humor that normally accompanies the martial arts and action. Likewise, the technique used to tell the story resulted in a slow pace which didn't help either. In any case, this wasn't necessarily a bad film by any means but it clearly wasn't up to the typical standards of a Jackie Chan movie and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The reviews I have seen that rate this really low mostly have the same complaints. "Not enough action," Not enough humor." Personally I liked the fact that Jackie is going in a different direction. He is admitting that he's getting older. Instead of pretending he can still kick ass like when he was 30 ( *cough* Stallone, Schwarzenegger *cough* ) he is following more in the steps of Clint Eastwood.

In a way he reminded me of Robin Williams. When Robin gives up his clown persona and makes a movie like One Hour Photo, he shows he can really act. Well Jackie is moving away from his Kung Fu Clown persona and relying more on his acting. And he's showing that he has the chops.

I originally rated this movie higher, because I was unfairly judging it as a Jackie Chan movie.But I changed my score to a seven because I think that is a more objective rating. The movie does have some problems with the script, directing and editing. But it is by no means horrible. Perhaps some of the problems could have been fixed with a bigger budget. But then again, Hollywood size budgets are certainly no guarantee of quality either.

In short. If you do not require constant impractical martial arts action, or silly slapstick, then you will enjoy this for what it is. An action-drama, with enough action to satisfy your blood lust, but also an attempt at telling an interesting story.