Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Police Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 29, 2019

Jackie Chan's "Police Story" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; vintage interview with Jackie Chan; new interview with filmmaker Edgar Wright; additional vintage interviews and archival footage; and more. In Cantonese or English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

There is no denying that without Jackie Chan Hong Kong Cinema would have looked quite different. Similar to fellow actors Chow Yun-Fat and Jet Li, he enjoys a massive and very loyal fan base that has greatly influenced the manner in which films are produced and sold in Hong Kong. Unsurprisingly, during the years Chan also became an inspirational figure for a number of young actors and directors outside of his home country.

The first installment in his Police Story trilogy is arguably one of the actor's best films. It is about a young cop, Chan Ka-Kui (Chan), who has been ordered to protect an important witness, Selina (Bridget Lin), who the local authorities hope would testify against a powerful drug lord, Chu Tao (Yuen Chor). Ka-Kui does his best to keep the beautiful Selina out of harm's way -- even though she creates all sorts of problems for him -- which eventually leads to a serious dispute between him and his girlfriend, May (Maggie Cheung).

While trying to sort things out with May, Ka-Kui gets framed by Tao's men for the murder of a corrupt cop (Kam Hing Ying). In the meantime, Selina is kidnapped and all of the charges against Tao are dropped. Forced to hide from his former colleagues as well as Tao's men, Ka-Kui decides to take matters into his own hands -- he saves Selina and proceeds to destroy Tao and his gang.

I remember the first time I saw Police Story, I could not stop laughing. Someone had given me a German VHS tape with two Chan films on it, but they were both dubbed in German. I have no idea who the person dubbing Chan in Police Story was, but I remember quite well how inappropriate his voice was -- a raspy, deep baritone that would have been more suitable for a tall and strong German bodybuilder, not a short and extremely agile Chinese man. It was a total mismatch that made for a very unique viewing experience. Much later, after I had bought my first Region-Free DVD player, I imported Police Story from Hong Kong. I had already seen the film with its original audio intact, but this was the first time I saw it in its original aspect ratio.

I mention all of the above because Police Story is one of those films that reached all sorts of different people in all kinds of different versions. It was dubbed, cut, edited, and then sold by practically everyone, practically everywhere. Really, contrary to what is often claimed by Hong Kong Cinema pundits, this was the film that made Chan big outside of Asia.

Nowadays, Police Story certainly looks dated, but this further adds to its charm. Seeing Chan desperately trying to earn back the respect of his girlfriend -- played by the sweet and still innocent looking Cheung -- and then trying to defeat an army of, literally, unbreakable goons is still quite a show.

As Chan became more respected outside of Hong Kong, however, his films began looking more polished. The budgets got bigger and the scripts he had to work with became more complex. The sweet innocence and rawness that made Police Story so enjoyable disappeared.

Then Hollywood stepped in and things got even worse. The Rush Hour films did a good chunk of money for their producers, but those who followed closely Chan’s career during the years knew exactly why he came to Hollywood.

In 2009, Chan appeared in Yee Tung-Shing's much anticipated Shinjuku Incident, a violent and disturbingly graphic film about an illegal Chinese immigrant looking for his loved one on the streets of Tokyo. Despite positive reviews and some very unexpected free publicity, courtesy of the communist authorities in China who banned Shinjuku Incident, however, the film did little to revive Chan’s career.

Police Story 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 arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"These 4K digital restorations (for Police Story and Police Story II) were undertaken by Fortune Star Media Limited at L'Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy. New digital transfers were created from the 35mm original camera negatives on an ARRISCAN film scanner.

Police Story's monaural soundtrack was restored from the original soundtrack negative, and its mix was confirmed against an out-of-print DVD track provided by Irongod2112 and sourced from a Japanese laserdisc release. The alternate English-dubbed soundtrack for Police Story is a fan-preferred monaural dub featuring original voice performances from the 1980s and was also provided by Irongod2112 from a Dutch VHS. The 5.1 surround soundtracks for both films were provided by Fortune Star Media Limited."

As the technical credits that are quoted above confirm, this new release is sourced from the same 4K remaster that the folks at Eureka Entertainment worked with when they prepared this Region-B release of Police Story in the United Kingdom. There are no new adjustments on the remaster, so below I am reposting my initial comments on it from our review of the Region-B release.

The Good: The density levels of the new 4K remaster are outstanding. I think that this is very important to underscore because as bigger TVs and projectors become more affordable, more people will notice that density is a key quality. Fluidity is dramatically better as well, though any proper high-definition master would have excelled in this area. Image stability is fantastic, which means that all of the annoying flicker from old Hong Kong Blu-ray release of Police Story has been completely eliminated. There are no traces of compromising degraining corrections. Also, there are no traces of sharpening adjustments. So, the basic qualities of the new remaster are all very solid and as a result the old release is now irrelevant.

The Not So Good: I don't know where the film was graded -- update: I do now -- but some of the issues that I noticed while viewing it are of the kind that I have seen introduced by European labs. For example, virtually all skin tones have a stronger than usual darker brownish hue. Blacks appear slightly elevated and remain such throughout the entire film as well. As a result, quite often there is noticeable black crush, and even during daylight footage with plenty of natural light there are nuances that are clearly lost (see screencapture #6). Also, there are subtle but noticeable shifts in the film's dynamic range, which I am fairly certain were introduced during the grading process, and they produce light flatness that is not part of the original cinematography (see screencapture #19). So, I feel that the overall color balance is slightly warmer than it needs to be, and then the entire film looks marginally but noticeably darker than it should be.

To sum it all up, a more careful color grading would have produced quite a stunner as the basic qualities of the remaster are excellent. (I actually feel that for the most part the color temperature of the Japanese version that is included on the Region-B release is vastly superior, so using it as a blueprint would have gotten the job done). On the other hand, considering the alternative, it is very obvious that currently this is without a doubt the best overall presentation of the film on the marketplace. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Police Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese: LPCM 1.0, Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), and English: Dolby Digital Mono (192kbps). Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The big and important news for fans of Police Story is the presence of the new Cantonese Mono track, which was sourced from the original soundtrack negative. So, kudos to Criterion for doing the extra work to deliver what fans have been asking for over the years. This being said, I am unsure if casual viewers will be able to hear a dramatic difference in quality if they compare it to the Mono track that is present on the Region-B release of Police Story. There are dynamic nuances and balance discrepancies that I think are very subtle, because I actually had pretty difficult time telling how the Mono track differs while viewing the film from start to finish. There are no transfer issues to report.

Police Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers -
  
  1. Original Theatrical Trailer - vintage trailer for Police Story. With music, and optional English subtitles. (3 min, 1080p).
  
  2. Janus Rerelease Trailer - new U.S. trailer for the recent 4K restoration of Police Story. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles and English text. (2 min, 1080p).

• Jackie Chan: My Stunts - presented here is a collection of segments from an archival documentary in which Jackie Chan discusses martial arts choreography and his unique performing style. Also, there are comments that address the production history of Police Story and the stunt work that were done in it and the sequel. The documentary was co-directed by the actor and was released in 1999. In English, not subtitled. (65 min, 1080i).
  
  1. Films of fury
  2. Training for danger
  3. Police Story stories
  4. Stunt lab
  5. Wheels, bullets, and bangs
  6. Idea wall
  7. Master class
  8. One from the heart

• Edgar Wright -
  
  1. Interview - in this new video interview, filmmaker Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), a big admirer of Jackie Chan and his work, recalls his initial impression(s) of his films and explains what makes them special. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2019. In English, not subtitled. (14 min, 1080p).
  
  2. The Talkhouse Podcast - presented here is an archival episode of The Talkhouse Podcast in which Edgar Wright talks with Jackie Chan about the evolution of his career and the lasting appeal of his films. Also, there are some very interesting general observations about the limited life that an action star has. The conversation was recorded on October 12, 2017. In English, not subtitled. (36 min, 1080p).

• Becoming Jackie - in this new program, Grady Hendrix, author and co-founder of the New York Asian Film Festival, discusses Jackie Chan's emergence as a action star, the maturation of his work, and the key differences between the performing styles that he and Bruce Lee promoted. There are additional interesting comments about his character from the two Police Story films, Chan Ka-Kui. The program was created in 2019. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080p).

• The King vs. Kings ll - presented here is an archival segment from a TV program in which Jackie Chan performs his Police Story theme onstage and is then reunited with the original members of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. The footage was shot in 2017. In Cantonese and Mandarin, with optional English subtitles. (13 min, 1080i).

• Jackie Chan - in this vintage video interview, Jackie Chan discusses his approach to action choreography and the different and often quite dangerous stunt work that he did during the production of Police Story. In English, not subtitled. (20 min, 1080i).

• Leaflet/Poster - featuring critic Nick Pinkerton's essay "Law and Disorder" and technical credits.

Police Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A couple of older classic Jackie Chan films have been remastered in 2K and released on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom, and while I don't know much about the people that did the work, there is no doubt in my mind that Fortune Star should have put them in charge with the remastering of the two Police Story films. (You can see what they did with City Hunter here). The Criterion crew would have done a superior job with these films as well, so they were another great option. The 4K remaster that L'Immagine Ritrovata produced for Police Story is yet another one in a long list of questionable 'restorations' that basically replaces the film's native identity with a digital one. Sadly, this is actually a very frustrating trend with a wide range of older color films that are being 'restored' at L'Immagine Ritrovata, so I don't quite understand why changes are not made to end it. Anyhow, considering the alternative, it is very obvious that currently this is without a doubt the best overall presentation of the film on the marketplace, but it is not what its fans deserved. RECOMMENDED.