[THE CHALK-OUTLINE]
Police Story: Part II a.k.a. Ging chaat goo si juk jaap (1988): Breakdown by Rantbo
Jackie Chan is still a cop, is still fighting Hong Kong crime.
[THE EXECUTION]
The film opens with Chan being stripped of his Inspector’s badge, forced back into a uniform and assigned to direct traffic. That’s what you get for being a ballsy hero under the rule of a tyrannical, pussy-ass superior officer. What’s worse, the villain he almost died putting away is released on compassionate leave. Apparently there is some dumbass law that says if you are diagnosed as deathly ill, you get to be set free from prison. God damn communist liberals. Oddly though, he isn’t the main villain. It’s some other mostly forgettable goons. But, the story is pretty much the same as the first.
POLICE STORY: PART II is a comparable direct sequel that follows the same format of the first. The only blaring difference is that Chan fights the Asian equivalent of the villain from THE DEAD POOL instead of a drug lord and they replace all the action sequences with new, yet equally exciting ones.
This time Jackie brawls in a diner, on a playground (which is easily one of his all-time greatest), in a bar, at a house and in a fireworks factory.
Problem is, unlike the first film, this one takes awhile to get going and then once it does, the action scenes seem almost like a reward for sitting through all the drama, as opposed to a natural flow of 50/50. The first bit of action you get is almost 20 minutes in and the next doesn’t happen for almost a half an hour later. After that, there are maybe 2 or 3 very brief bits of action, but nothing big until an hour later, just before the credits. The scenes are fucking great, but it’s borderline arduous getting to them.
In my opinion, no martial arts movie should be longer than 100 minutes. After that point, there is usually a problem with too much filler and the film suffers for it. When I watch martial arts, all I need (want) is a simple story that delivers the scenarios necessary to set-up the action. I’m not watching them for their dramatic ambiance. But, whatever, that’s just me. The film is still quite fun and the action and stunts are classic top-notch Jackie. It falls short of matching the first, but it’s still definitely worth a watch.
[HOW BAD-ASS IS THE MAIN CHARACTER?]
Jackie Chan is Traffic Officer Chan Ka Kui Part 2
-Runs across a freeway of speeding cars.
-Within the first 20 minutes, he gets reprimanded twice by his dickhead Sergeant and, tiring of the bullshit ‘rules’, turns in his badge. Officially making him a vigilante, and twice as badass.
-Knocks a guys head through a dish cabinet drawer with his foot.
-Beats off 10 steel-pipe wielding goons with his kung-fu.
-Jumps on top of a speeding car to avoid being smashed by it.
-Visits the home of his old rival in search of his kidnapped girlfriend, beats up the guards and throws a barbeque grill through a pane glass window.
-Gets tortured by having large snap-pops thrown on his face and bare chest.
-Defuses a bomb strapped to his chest with a pair of pliers and some wire stripped from a car.
-Fights two kung-fu experts and a lunatic deaf-mute fire-bomb throwing midget. At the same time. And wins.
-And according to his girlfriend, he looks very smart in his uniform.
[THE BODY COUNT: TWO]
Two guys get blowed up, but much like the first film, it’s all about the beatdowns which, like I said above, are superb—when they get around to them.
[MOST SATISFYING ASS-KICKING]
Chan vs. The Monkey Man
It’s odd to see a guy smaller than Jackie, that can kick as much, if not more, ass. What makes this fight so good, is that the villain was completely unassuming as a badass. Monkey Man (I call him that, ‘cuz he makes monkey noises, not because I’m racist) pretty much owns Chan, who only wins due to his perseverance and skill with adapting to his environment. The exchanges are crazy fast, and surprisingly brutal, despite all the comedy. It’s good stuff.
[DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO]
Once again, Chan spends most of his free time trying to salvage his fractured relationship with his girlfriend. Though he is so bad at relating to women that I am starting to wonder if this is his first time being in a relationship with one. There is also a scene in which she berates him for being such a douche all the way through his department and into the men’s locker room, giving the audience a healthy amount of man-ass eye-candy.
[EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY]
Chan’s girlfriend gets bitch-slapped, then punched by the evil Broken-Glasses Man. Later, Chan ditches her on a plane for his job, leaving her to fly out of the country (on their vacation, no less) alone without her passport and she gets detained in a foreign country, ‘cuz he forgets all about her and doesn’t make the calls necessary to remedy the situation. Then, when trying to win her back, Chan is attacked by The Broken-Glasses Man and when fired upon by a shit-slinging squirt gun, he ducks and she gets fapped in the face. Even more later, she is kidnapped and tortured by having large snap-pops thrown at her body.
Also, Chan body-slams a black market dealer’s girlfriend into a wall and lays down his pimp hand on her twice until she learns that women are meant to be seen, not heard (Bottom-Right).
[EPIC MOMENT AND BEST ONE-LINER]
[flashvideo filename=videos/PoliceStory2.wmv.FLV /]
Police Story 2 copyright held by Golden Harvest
There are quite a few spectacular stunts in this movie, and although this one may not look as impressive as some of the later ones, it’s probably the most dangerous, as that is REAL glass he hurls himself through off the top of that bus. Understandably, he cut his head the fuck-up and all because they didn’t have the time or money to replace it with candy-glass.
There isn’t much for one-liners, but the following made me laugh, simply because he is setting a dude’s crotch on fire while saying it…
[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]
Jackie Chan really hates crime—and women.
[THE GIST OF JACKIE: 5 outta 5]
[X] Breaks Into Someplace Or Escapes By Way Of Acrobatics
[X] Has An Annoying Tag-Along Companion
[X] Makes The ‘OW!’ Face And/Or Rubs A Soar Spot
[X] Performs A Ridiculously Dangerous Stunt
[X] Uses A Random Object To Defend Himself
[THE CHECKLIST: 19 outta 25]
[X] Athlete(s) Turned “Actor”
[X] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
[X] Crotch Attack
[ ] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is/Are
[ ] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket or A Towel
[X] Factory/Warehouse
[X] Giant Explosion(s)
[X] Heavy Artillery
[X] Improvised Weapon(s)
[X] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
[X] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
[ ] Manly Embrace(s)
[X] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting
[X] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
[X] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
[ ] Shoot Out(s) and/or Sword Fight(s)
[ ] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)/Death(s)
[X] Stupid Authoritative Figure(s)
[X] Substance Usage and/or Abuse
[ ] Tis The Season
[X] Torture Sequence(s)
[X] Unnecessary Sequel [Police Story 3: Super Cop]
[X] Vehicle Chase(s)
[X] Vigilante Justice
