Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 14, 2018

Jackie Chan's "Police Story II" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailers for the film; alternate versions of the film; audio commentary by film critic Miles Wood and stuntman and film critic Jude Poyer; outtakes; and more. The release also arrives with a collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film and rare archival material. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Happy times

The second film in Jackie Chan's Police Story trilogy begins exactly where the first one ended -- after his clash with Chu Tao's men, Chan Ka-Kui (Chan) is demoted to a traffic cop; May (Maggie Cheung, Days of Being Wild) has forgiven him and this is all that matters to him. Hoping to further improve their relationship and finally spend some time alone, the two decide to leave the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong for a few weeks.

Before Ka-Kui and May manage to leave, however, Chu Tao's goons appear and begin harassing them. Later on, they also humiliate May's mother. Ka-Kui decides that enough is enough and openly confronts them. After a violent scuffle with Tao's men, he is summoned by his bosses (Lam Kwok-Hung and Bill Tung), and ordered to forget about them.

Things become complicated again when Ka-Kui is asked to assist with a serious blackmail case, and May ends up alone and without a passport on a plane to Bali. Later on, the two are kidnapped, and Ka-Kui is nearly killed after a serious altercation with a group of traffickers. May finally decides to part ways with Ka-Kui, realizing that he is never going to change.

If you liked the original Police Story then you would love Police Story II. Though not as charming as Police Story, this film has double the amount of action seen in the first film, while Chan looks a lot more relaxed in front of the camera. As expected, though, its story is rather straightforward.

The success of Police Story guaranteed that its sequel would have a decent budget, and Chan and his team certainly took advantage of it -- in Police Story II the explosions are bigger, the stunts a lot more complex and the camerawork better. Even the supporting cast is of higher caliber.

Still, a lot of the same issues from the original film that bothered the critics are again on display here -- the character development is unsatisfactory, editing problematic, and soundtrack incongruous with the film's tone. Nowadays, Police Story II also looks dated, but it is certainly not as charming as the original film.

This may not matter much to Chan fans, however, as they have never held him to the same standards the critics have. As long as he delivered more of the same breathtaking action that made him a star, success was guaranteed. Unsurprisingly, this is exactly the type of film Police Story II is -- a more elaborate, and expensive, version of the original film meant to please Chan's fans.

Cheung's contribution to Police Story II is a lot more impressive. She is awarded substantially more time in front of the camera and even asked to do a couple of very challenging stunts resulting in her suffering a major head injury (see the outtakes at the end of the film). Like Chan, she also appears a lot more relaxed.

Benny Lai (The Legendary Tai Fei), a longtime member of Chan's stunt team, gives a surprisingly nuanced and memorable performance as a deaf criminal with exceptional fighting skills. The final scene where he faces Ka-Kui at the large warehouse is amongst the best in the film.

Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jackie Chan's Police Story II arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

This release is sourced from a new 4K remaster of the film, and is included in this two-disc box set.

I assume that the same team that remastered the first film also worked on this film because the color grading is virtually identical. Unfortunately, some of the main issues that I highlighted in our review of the other release in the box set are even more pronounced here, so the end result is a lot more difficult to tolerate. Indeed, the color grading is again questionable and there are pretty large portions of the film where it is now very obvious that its native dynamic range is compromised. To be clear, the entire film appears very warm with black levels basically destabilizing delineation and depth. The unnatural effects are very noticeable during well-lit footage (see screencaptures #2, 5 and 14) and during darker footage where entire nuances are either partially or completely lost (see screencaptures #4, 9, and 17). The black crush and the flatness that emerge become quite distracting. Some of the haziness is present on older inferior releases of the film, but it is very clear that what is on the new remaster has a digital origin. (For reference, many of the exact same anomalies can be observed on the 4K restoration of King Hu's Dragon Inn). The good news is that there are no traces of sharpening corrections. Overall density and images stability are impressive as well. Finally, the entire film has been thoroughly cleaned up and looks spotless. All in all, while the new remaster is clearly superior to the old standard definition remaster that Kam & Ronson Enterprises used years ago for the first Blu-ray release of the film, I think that the current presentation is indeed quite underwhelming. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese: LPCM Mono, Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I viewed the entire film with the Cantonese lossless Mono track. It is very healthy and has the type of stable dynamic range that older releases of Police Story II simply lacked. There is no doubt in my mind that it has been fully remastered because during the action sequences and music motifs there isn't even a whiff of age-related deterioration. Truly impressive.

Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Hong Kong Version - presented here is an original release version of Police Story II, with a slightly shorter plot. In standard definition, with original Cantonese audio and optional English subtitles. (106 min).

• Audio Commentary for the Hong Kong Version - this vintage audio commentary was recorded by film critic Miles Wood and stuntman and film critic Jude Poyer. Most viewers that own older releases of Police Story II are almost certainly familiar with the commentary. The two critics deconstruct the film very nicely and in the process offer a wealth of information about its production history, Jackie Chan's career, and the Hong Kong film industry.

• Alternate UK VHS Version - presented here is a version of Police Story II that was created for the film's UK VHS release. It uses a unique English dub track. In standard definition, without optional English subtitles. (106 min).

• Jackie Chan: Son of The Incredibly Strange Film Show - presented here is an archival episode of Son of The Incredibly Strange Film Show, which was shot during the production of Miracles - Mr. Canton and Lady Rose. The main topic is Jackie Chan's extraordinary athleticism and the qualities of his films. The episode is offered with the kind assistance of Jonathan Ross. In English, not subtitled. (42 min).

• Interview with Benny Lai - in this archival interview, martial arts specialist Benny Lai discusses his background and involvement with Police Story II. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles. (16 min).

• Outtakes - a collection of hilarious but also quite dangerous and painful outtakes. With music. (3 min).

• Alternate Outtakes - additional outtakes. With music. (4 min).

• Original Theatrical Trailer - vintage trailer for Police Story II. With music. (4 min).

• Alternate Video Trailer - vintage trailer for Police Story II. In English. (2 min).

• Booklet - a collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film and rare archival material.

Police Story 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The same team that remastered Police Story almost certainly worked on Police Story II. I thought that the first release was a little easier to recommend because it had the older remaster of the longer Japanese version of the original film, but I was not impressed by the 4K remaster. I find the work that was done on the second film to be equally unconvincing, though the new remaster is very clearly a lot better than the standard definition remaster that Kam & Ronson Enterprises used years ago for the first Blu-ray release of Police Story II. Fans of the film will probably want to pick up this release for their collections, but as far as I am concerned this is yet another missed opportunity to produce a definitive release of a popular genre title.