Crime Story Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Crime Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Crime Story (also sometimes referred to as New Police Story) is based on and inspired by real events related to the 1990 kidnapping of the successful business tycoon Teddy Wang. Produced by Lam Chua (Mr. Nice Guy, Story of Ricky), Crime Story was released in Hong Kong cinemas June 24^th 1993. Executive produced by Leonard Ho (Police Story, Rumble in the Bronx), Crime Story was filmed in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Distributed by Golden Harvest, Crime Story is something of a departure from most Jackie Chan films – the film doesn’t feature much in the way of action or sunt-work. Crime Story approaches the storyline with an emphasis on the procedural element of the story and the crime-drama. Co-starring Kar-Ying Law, Christine Ng, Kent Cheng, Ken Lo, and Pui-San Auyeung, Crime Story offers a dark crime saga.

Inspector Eddie Chan (Jackie Chan) is a special operative agent involved in the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau. The Inspector finds himself overwhelmed and struggling with PTSD after shooting a number of men during an act of self-defense. Inspector Eddie is now assigned to a new case. A successful businessman, Wong Yat-Fei (Kar-Ying Law), has been kidnapped.

Eddie must find the kidnapped businessman as soon as possible and there are numerous individuals working against him and his investigation – including someone working from inside the police, double-crossing the investigators. Along the journey to solving the kidnapping, Eddie travels from Hong Kong to Taiwan. Can Eddie solve the case before its too late?

Jackie Chan is impressive in the leading role. Chan delivers a different type of performance compared to most of his roles. Chan doesn’t showcase as much stunt-work compared to some of his other films. As Crime Story places a greater emphasis on drama and procedural elements, Chan delivers a (mostly) dramatic performance.

Despite the emphasis on a more grounded performance, Chan still had to perform some stunt work in the film. In the memoir I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Jackie Chan wrote about having his legs crushed between two cars while filming Crime Story. Chan had to overcome this during the film’s production.

The production design by Tony Au (The Grandmaster, Lady Reporter), Bill Lui (Black Mask, Infernal Affairs II), and Tze-Fung Luk (City on Fire, A Better Tomorrow II) is one of the more impressive components of the film. The production capably creates a solid atmosphere for the film.  The art direction by Tony Au (The Grandmaster, Profiles of Pleasure), Bill Lui (Infernal Affairs II, Infernal Affairs III), and Tze-Fung Luk (City on Fire, School on Fire) is comparably impressive and the work fits the film and its tone well.

The costumes by Nelson Cheung (Legend of the Brothers, Love Au Zen), Che-Leung Chong (Twin Dragons, School on Fire), Chui-Wah Ng, and Man-Lai Siu add a lot to the film. The costumes were well-done and especially-so for Jackie Chan. Chan has some excellent costumes during the production and the film provides a more grounded aesthetic for the serious role.

The cinematography by Kwong-Hung Joe Chan (Shock Wave 2, The Legend Is Born: Ip Man), Ardy Lam (Once Upon a Time in China, Bullet in the Head), Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Infernal Affairs II), Hang- Sang Poon (Kung Fu Hustle, Ip Man 2), and Arthur Wong (The Warlords, Bodyguards and Assassins) is impressive looking and adds some visual flair to the film. The cinematography is a nice highlight of the film. The darker aesthetic of the filmmaking is well showcased by the cinematography.

The score composed by Mark Lui (The Lovers, An Empress and the Warriors) and James Wong (A Chinese Ghost Story, Once Upon a Time in China) is reasonably engaging and fun. The score provides a quality backdrop to the crime- saga. The score adds some tension and works well with the dramatic scenes.

Edited by Peter Cheung (The Way of the Dragon, Fist of Fury), Crime Story could have used some better editing cohesion. The editing is one of the areas where Crime Story could have been improved. The filmmaking is uneven at times and the editing might have helped this aspect of the film. Alas, the production sometimes feels a bit sloppy and inconsistent in parts and the editing wasn’t tight.

The screenplay by Tin-Nam Chun (The Warlords, Bodyguards and Assassins), Man-Keung Chan (Kung Fu Hustle, Summer Snow), Lai Ling Cheung (A Bloody Fight, The Nocturnal Demon), Chi-Sing Cheung (Seven Swords, Love and Sex Among the Ruins), and Teddy Chan (Black Mask, Two of a Kind) is one of the film’s weakest elements. The script feels unfocused, underdeveloped, and over-wrought at times. This may be because of how many scriptwriters worked on this film – one can sense that there were a lot of rewrites and revisions from the myriad of writers involved.

Directed by Kirk Wong (The Big Hit, Gunmen), with some uncredited direction added by Jackie Chan, Crime Story is a mixed-bag. Though the film is ultimately entertaining and worth seeing it has odd pacing, inconsistent editing, and some weak elements. Director Wong could have made a more entertaining film and ultimately this is one of the shortcomings of the production.

Crime Story is underwhelming at times. Some scenes are highly entertaining and other scenes just drag-on and are lackluster – especially during the middle of the film (with the emphasis on being a procedural drama). Wong’s vision feels unfocused. Even so, Jackie Chan fans will want to see Crime Story for his more dramatic performance (and to see the stunts done in a few scenes).

Crime Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Shout Factory, Crime Story is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen. The high-definition presentation looks impressive on the release. The transfer is nice and filmic looking and retains a good amount of detail in the image. The color reproduction on the release is excellent looking. The scan is free from egregious issues with print wear or damage. A solid encode by Shout Factory.

Crime Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio is provided in Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 5.1. English subtitles are provided. The lossless audio sounds clear and engaging on the release. Dialogue is well reproduced. The score is highlighted well during the audio presentation. The stunts are given adequate emphasis with the presentation.

Crime Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary from James Mudge, Veteran Hong Kong Film Critic at Easternkicks

Criminally Creative: The Story of a Stylistic U-Turn (HD, 10:19)

Interview with Bruce Law (SD, 57:03)

Interview with writer Teddy Chan (SD, 11:42)

Interview with director Kirk Wong (SD, 10:31)

Deleted Scenes from the Singapore Version (SD, 6:38)

Original Theatrical Trailer (HD, 4:13)

Crime Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Crime Story is an inconsistent crime-saga with some weak editing and average directing by Kirk Wong (The Big Hit). Even despite some drawbacks to the film, Jackie Chan delivers a solid performance and showcases both a strong dramatic side as an actor while still delivering a few scenes notable for the stunt work. The Blu-ray release provides a solid video and audio presentation alongside a plethora of bonus features. Highly recommended.