I’m genuinely excited for the latest episode of the Film After 11 podcast, because this week I get to introduce my son Thomas to the cinematic wonder that is Jackie Chan at his prime, in 1985’s Police Story. I don’t think the kid had any idea what to expect, and had never seen a real human being move the way Jackie does. Can any other human being move the way Jackie does? Very few indeed.
I don’t think I’d call Police Story Jackie Chan’s best film, or even the best of its own trilogy. As I say in the podcast, the movie has some very long stretches between the big action scenes, and I’m sure even Jackie would acknowledge that crafting a good story or plot were of little concern to him. The humor is also very broad, and some of it hasn’t aged well at all. However, even with all that, I think Police Story may be the most emblematic of Chan’s work, with the star’s full charisma and physical dexterity on display, and his ability to craft astounding stunts and action scenes at their peak.
And a baby-faced Maggie Cheung, so adorable!
| Title: | Police Story (A.K.A. Ging chaat goo si) |
| Year of Release: | 1985 |
| Director: | Jackie Chan |
| Watched On: | Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Criterion Channel HBO Max Shout! TV Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The Blu-ray
What I watched for this viewing was a Region B-locked Blu-ray released in 2018 by Eureka Entertainment in the UK, which was part of a double-feature box set containing both Police Story and Police Story 2 A year later, the Criterion Collection released essentially the same set in the North American market, with video masters licensed from Eureka.
At present, only the later sequel Police Story III: Super Cop has been released on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format in the United States. However, all three movies are available on 4K UHD in the UK. Rather than spend more money to import again, I decided to just watch the Blu-ray I already owned.
I feel the Blu-ray is satisfying and don’t think I need to upgrade at the moment. The 2.35:1 image is decently sharp most of the time, aside from random shots or scenes photographed with obvious focus issues. The cameras and lenses used also frequently show distortion at the left and right edges of the frame that cause people standing in those spots to look squished. None of that is the fault of the video transfer. Color is good, and the picture has been cleansed of any dirt, scratches, or other damage usually seen on prior home video copies of the film.
The original Cantonese mono soundtrack is available in PCM format, along with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remixes in both Cantonese or an English dub. For this viewing, I went with the Cantonese 5.1, which I think sounds pretty great. I have no doubt that many of the original sound effects were replaced during the remix, and I’m usually a purist about such things, but Hong Kong movies from this time period typically had lousy sound effects and poor mixes anyway. Authentic or not, I like the reworked version in this case.
Gunshots sound terrific, and punches land with a firm hit. Effects of all kinds zing and zoom around the room in a manner that’s never overbearing. This is an action movie, after all. It’s more fun in surround.
Dialogue lip sync is terrible, but it’s always been that way. The movie was filmed with no live audio recording. All dialogue was dubbed later in post-production.
[Note: Initial pressings of the Eureka Blu-ray suffered audio dropouts on the 5.1 track. This was later fixed and replacement discs were sent out to buyers.]
The packaging boasts of an, “Alternate English audio track featuring a rarely heard dub sourced from a rare Dutch VHS release of Police Story that has never been officially released on any other version of the film.” While that’s a fascinating bit of trivia, I’ll be honest that I’m never going to watch the movie that way.
In addition to the original 101-minute theatrical cut, the disc also contains both a 105-min. extended version released to Japanese home video, and a shortened 84-min. cut made for American home video.
Further supplements include deleted scenes, vintage interviews, and trailers. An accompanying booklet offers an essay by critic James Oliver and a lot of behind-the scenes photos. I absolutely adore that Eureka’s video transfer notes explicitly state: “Any ‘motion smoothing’ settings should be switched OFF so the film can be viewed as intended. Please calibrate your display settings in order to experience this film optimally (many factory default settings are neither suitable nor desirable.)” Go Eureka!
Related
- Jackie Chan
- Maggie Cheung
