7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Ka-Kui, a Hong Kong police inspector, goes rogue to bring down a drug kingpin and protect the case's star witness from retribution.
Starring: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill TungForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 33% |
Crime | 19% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Note: This title is currently available only in this bundle: Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story 2.
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.
Police Story is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.33:1. The good news is that based solely on a comparison of screenshots with the Hong Kong release of this title reviewed by my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov, this version boasts somewhat better saturated color, less noise and a perhaps relatively sharper image (I do not own the Hong Kong version and so cannot do a direct disc to disc comparison and so want to make clear this is done "unscientifically" by simply looking at screenshots). The bad news is, it's still pretty shoddy looking. According to Shout! Factory the HD masters for both of these films were provided by Fortune Star, and some have claimed that these are upscales (I'd be prone to believe it for this film, but Police Story 2 looks noticeably better). The film is downright fuzzy in midrange and wide shots, though to be fair things approach a decent if low grade high definition appearance in some close-ups (see the first and third screenshots accompanying this review for some examples). Overall, though, the bulk of this film is still very soft and pretty grainy looking. Some of this is obviously endemic to the source elements and should not be blamed solely on the transfer. Unfortunately it's fairly evident that some digital sharpening was employed to help overcome some of these issues and edge enhancement is pretty noticeable in some scenes, though it doesn't seem to rise quite to the level of that seen in the Hong Kong release (compare the screenshots of Chan and Lin in the hallway from the two versions to see what I mean). The elements have their fair share of issues as well, with fairly consistent specks and scratches cropping up.
Police Story features loss DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes in both Cantonese and English. "Original" language purists might be a little disappointed with the Cantonese mix, since it's patently obvious that large swaths of this language were dubbed just like the English mix. That means in both of these tracks there are significant quasi-sync issues where lip movements don't quite match the sounds emanating from them. One rather interesting thing is how much louder the dialogue is mixed in the Cantonese track—it's actually kind of startling if you toggle between the tracks. Both of these tracks are pretty resolutely front heavy in their 5.1 versions, though some of the big action set pieces do fitfully engage the surround channels. There are a number of excellent sound effects which help give the film a rather wide dynamic range. Fidelity is very good, though the film's underscore is kind of grating and some might wish it had been mixed a bit softer.
Police Story is a bumpy ride at times, but it's still a lot of fun. Chan has an instantly ingratiating style that helps the film to overcome its rougher moments. This Blu-ray offers a marginally better image quality than the Hong Kong version, and perhaps this is as good as we're likely to get from a film that was made for a relative pittance and may not have been curated especially effectively through the years. There are some okay if kind of underwhelming supplements on this disc, and the audio is fine (if not spectacular), so this is going to be one of those "glass half full, half empty" scenarios where an individual's love for the film may have to compensate for some of the technical shortcomings of the actual disc.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Police Story II / Ging chaat goo si juk jaap
1988
Armour of God II: Operation Condor / Fei jing gai wak / Project Eagle
1991
The Armour of God / Lung hing foo dai
1986
Fai can che / Kuài cān chē / 快餐車
1984
Zui quan
1978
'A' gai wak
1983
The Big Boss | 唐山大兄 | Collector's Edition
1971
Sing si lip yan / Chéng shì liè rén / 城市獵人
1993
警察故事3超級警察 / Gíng chaat gu sih sāam: Chīu kāp gíng chaat | Standard Edition
1992
'A' gai wak juk jaap / 'A' ji hua xu ji / A計劃續集
1987
Se ying diu sau
1978
Banlieue 13
2004
Shuang long hui
1992
À bout portant
2010
Lik Wong
1991
Hai Phuong
2019
In the Line of Duty II | Huáng jiā shī jiě | Wong ka si jie | 皇家師姐 | 2K Remastered
1985
The Way of the Dragon | 猛龍過江 | Collector's Edition
1972
Sai hak chin / Xi hei qian / 洗黑錢
1990
Fuk sing go jiu / Fu xing gao zhao / 福星高照
1985