Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 8, 2013

Jackie Chan is one of the most recognizable international superstars of the past several decades, but as with many celebrities, that universal recognition didn’t come easily. Chan had already been working in the Hong Kong film industry since he was a child, and eventually gaining some adult work as a stuntman (including in such legendary fare as the Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon ). But as odd as it may seem to us now, there really wasn’t that huge of an international market for martial arts films back in the day (despite the success of the Bruce Lee outings), and Chan, once he matriculated into starring roles himself, found his career hobbled and he actually left the film industry for a brief time in the late seventies. Despite a couple of stellar opportunities (including a role in an early John Woo film, the brass ring seemed to be frustratingly out of reach, even in Chan’s native land. That finally all changed with the release of Drunken Master in 1978, and that film became a formidable template for much of what was to follow in Chan’s film career. Broad physical comedy mixed with over the top action sequences and some incredible stunt work (always performed by Chan himself) became the norm for many (maybe even most) Chan outings from then on, and the Police Story films are certainly no exception. 1985’s Police Story, also co-written and directed by Chan, was Chan’s intentional choice to mimic the high octane approach of American action films mixed with liberal doses of character based comedy (think Lethal Weapon with a Chinese accent). And what could be more American than a sequel to an incredibly successful franchise starter—hence Police Story 2.

For a complete wrap-up of the first Police Story, check out the Police Story Blu-ray review .

For a complete wrap up of the second Police Story, check out the Police Story 2 Blu-ray review .

Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For a complete wrap-up of the first Police Story, check out the Police Story Blu-ray review .

For a complete wrap up of the second Police Story, check out the Police Story 2 Blu-ray review .

Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a complete wrap-up of the first Police Story, check out the Police Story Blu-ray review .

For a complete wrap up of the second Police Story, check out the Police Story 2 Blu-ray review .

Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Police Story

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 2:18). Some of these "scenes" are just a few seconds long. These are windowboxed and appear to have been mastered from a video source.


• Outtakes (480i; 2:40)


• Alternate Ending (1080p; 3:34). As with the Deleted Scenes, this is windowboxed and appears to have been sourced from video.


• Extended Opening (1080p; 6:55) is once again windowboxed and looks like it was sourced from video. There's a different credits sequence and a long setup scene in the police station.


• Police Story U.S. Trailer (1080i; 2:21). Guess what? Windowboxed and sourced from video.


• Police Story Original Hong Kong Trailer (1080p; 2:45)

Note: These supplements are authored a bit strangely. It's impossible to skip through them—once you've chosen one, you are locked into either watching it or being forced to fast forward through them to get to the end.

Police Story 2

• Police Story II Outtakes (480i; 2:06)


• Police Story II International Trailer (1080i; 1:53) is windowboxed but does not have the sourced from video look of some of the supplements on Police Story.


• Police Story II Original Hong Kong Trailer (1080p; 4:01)


• Police Story II Alternate Outtakes (1080i; 3:14) are windowboxed and do look sourced from video.

Note: As with the Police Story supplements, it's impossible to chapter skip through these.

Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It will be at least a little disappointing to some fans of this franchise that only the first two films are included, but for many the first Police Story is the best, despite its unabashedly cheesy elements. This Blu-ray two-fer has a few decent extras, and the audio is generally quite good, but the image quality leaves quite a bit to be desired. Whether or not there's a better release possible for these films will probably be hotly debated.