Police Story 2
11/06/00
Review
Format: Dubbed VHS
Stars: Jackie Chan, Mars, Tai Po, Bill Tung, Maggie Cheung, Benny Lai, John Cheung, Ben Lam, others

Chu has been released from jail because he is ill and is expecting to die soon. Then some bad guys try to get Chan and some money.

The second part of the Police Story series is still action packed. Again, lots of stunts, good characters (with a Ken Lo cameo as a fireman), and a big finale that's worth every minute. Though the version I'm reviewing is the dubbed one, it's still excellent and is a VERY worthy sequel, unlike First Strike which is the 4th one. Much martial arts? No, but I'll go as far as saying that there's more kickboxing in this one than the first, plus lots of stuntwork.

Jackie starts things off by going to a cafe where there are some bullies who just beat up May (Mei), and on the way he just waltzes through some fast traffic, and then gets hit by a van which is coming to a stop, and I've heard of this technique where it looks like you actually get hit, and it works. He goes inside and has a good brawl with about 4 or 5 guys, and has stuff thrown at him constantly like chairs and bottles, and does a little bit of kickboxing. There's one part where he throws a stool, and is supposed to avoid getting hit with a chair, but it nails him and you can see it in the outtakes. Another part is where he's sitting against a table on its side and immediately after he rolls away a bottle smashes right where he was. He also axe kicks a guy's head through a drawer of dishes.



The fight at the playground is very impressive. Jackie fights 5 guys who all have little metal poles. Some kickboxing here and there, lots of stunt work again, and in the beginning Jackie kicks a guy who is climbing over a fence, and he falls right onto it with his stomach. He does some other stuff like tossing a guy upward and back while standing on one of those hemicircle things and he rolls off backwards. Jackie does some impressive rolls and uses a pipe later on and beats the hell out of all 5 guys. It's not too long, but it's around 2 minutes or so.



Jackie gets a little part where he does a few drops and some climbs and even does a bit of kickboxing with 2 guys, like one where he jumps off a piece of lawn furniture, grabs a rail up above and places his feet on the ledge right beneath it, and climbs up over it.



If the whole thing doesn't sound too impressive by now, let me assure you that the end scene is worth the wait. You name it, it's here. Jackie fights Ben Lam (who played the last guy in Legend of the Wolf), John Cheung, and Benny Lai, all at different times, each one does an awesome stunt, Jackie does some awesome stunts, and there are pyrotechnics up the wazoo. But before this, Jackie does a few stunts where he jumps onto the top of a moving truck, then a bus, then over some signs, and then dives into a BIG glass sign. The outtakes show that he was hurt by this, all cut up and he had a head injury. The fight with Ben Lam, who is extremely fast for his height, is spread out, during which Jackie falls down a shaft forever, hitting platforms all the way down, breaking through a tiny piece of glass at the end.



Poor Maggie gets beaten around a little bit by Benny Lai and she does a stunt of her own where she runs through some racks as they do a domino effect, and she actually gets nailed with one of them and it's shown in the outtakes, with her having a bloody head and everything. Jackie gets little flame balls (like those tnt poppers you can get for 50 cents) thrown at him, and knocks Ben Lam out a window and someone, if it's not Lam himself, rolls down the roof of a staircase and breaks through at the bottom. Amazing. Jackie does a stunt where he's going down a plastic chute, and Benny Lai throws a big bag of those balls down there and blows a big hole right at Jackie's feet and the whole thing tears in half with Jackie holding on right at the bottom.



John Cheung and Jackie have a small impressive kickboxing match right after that, and Cheung seems to overpower Jackie by a long shot, but Jackie tosses him out the window, and here's ANOTHER great stunt where someone falls down and scrapes through a ton of lights, hits a wooden sign, rolls down and hits the ground. Lai immediately comes up to Jackie, kicks like no 5 foot tall guy can kick, and jumps up and does 3 bike kicks in the air. ... Real? I dunno, I watched it a few times and it looks like Lai was able to get extreme height in his jump, and he didn't even use both legs, so I suspect it was wire assisted. Too good to be true, oh well. Still, they have an awesome kickboxing match, and Lai almost beats Jackie to a pulp, but Jackie throws the flame balls at Lai, who seems to know what to do while on fire, and at the end Jackie tosses him WAY down onto a huge heap of plastic barrells. The whole place explodes at the end because it was a storage for explosives. Pretty convenient eh?



Well, based on the end fight, I'd give this movie a 5 even if it didn't have anything else, maybe. But man, it's impressive, and this is a VERY good sequel to another great movie, and I recommend to all, and sometimes it's on USA (you can tell by the pics). Great cast, some great bad guys, and like I said, one of the best finales I've ever seen. Something for everyone.

5/5

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