Police Story III: Supercop Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Police Story III: Supercop Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 18, 2023

Some lovers of cult television may remember a relatively short lived but still somewhat influential detective opus from the early to mid-sixties called Burke's Law, which starred Gene Barry as a patrician police commissioner named Amos Burke who occasionally departed from his Beverly Hills mansion in his chauffered Rolls Royce to attend to a homicide or two. The series was notable for its conceit of naming each episode "Who Killed. . .?", with that ellipsis being filled by that week's victim. It also arguably attracted a somewhat more notable guest star cast than many episodic detective shows did during that period, but what is probably most memorable about its show is its fantastic theme song, kind of ironically written by a guy with Burke in his very name, Herschel (Burke) Gilbert. (For those interested, I highly recommend the swingin' rendition of this tune by Si Zenter, though his take omits that seductive female voice intoning "It's. . .Burke's Law" from the broadcast version.) What many may not remember, though, is that in one of the more interesting examples of a show being morphed into something else entirely right before the viewers' eyes, Burke's Law was "reimagined" as Amos Burke, Secret Agent for its final season, in a seeming response to the spy craze that had swept the globe in the wake of James Bond on the big screen and several small screen "wannabes" that had started to replace westerns and traditional cop shows as the default genre du jour. Something at least a little akin to this change in emphasis was at play with regard to Jackie Chan and Police Story, Police Story 2, and the film currently under discussion, with Chan's Hong Kong policeman Chan Ka-Kui becoming something more of a spy himself in the third installment (with an early overt reference to James Bond, just to make the connection even more obvious).

If Amos Burke, Secret Agent didn't exactly set the world on fire, this third Police Story film actually is rather enjoyable from both comedic and action standpoints, and it has a surprisingly provocative political angle, even if it's not overtly addressed, in that Ka-Kui is on a mission to so-called mainland China, replete with its Communist ideology and militarized mien. That latter element may be played for some unexpected laughs when it's revealed that one of Ka-Kui's contacts is a Chinese Interpol officer named Inspector Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh). This "gender bender" aspect is introduced but later dispensed with in favor of Yang pretending to be Ka-Kui's sister when he needs a quick pretend family to maintain an undercover identity.

Police Story III: Supercop received both 4K UHD and 1080 releases last year from Eureka! Entertainment, and those interested are encouraged to read Svet's Police Story 3: Supercop 4K Blu-ray review and Police Story 3: Supercop Blu-ray review for more detailed plot information, as well as lists of supplemental material. Svet's reviews are also a good resource to do some screenshot comparisons, for those interested.

Police Story III: Supercop Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Police Story III: Supercop is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films with an AVC encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Despite offering a rather gorgeous perfect bound insert booklet included with the 4K UHD release (which was sent for purposes of this 1080 review as well), there's no real verbiage about the transfer included with this release in it, and even the back cover misstates the aspect ratio as being 2.35:1. The insert booklet does offer the data points that restoration was done by Filmfinity, audio sync and Dolby Atmos were handled by Þorsteinn Gíslason, and encoding and authoring was done by David Mackenzie and Fidelity in Motion. There are a number of manifest differences between the Eureka! Entertainment and 88 Films presentations (judging solely by screenshots), including this being slightly wider than Eureka's 2.35:1 framing and also to my eyes noticeably brighter and perhaps a bit more yellowish. As I am wont to say, different reviewers means different opinions, and this gets especially tricky when dealing with what are apparently different masters, so I wouldn't read too much into any score differences, but this is a largely very pleasing looking 1080 presentation and again judging solely by screenshots (I do not have the Eureka release), I actually preferred the overall brightness and vividness of the palette in this version. There are some rather noticeable variances in color temperature throughout the presentation, with some of the outdoor material popping in really gorgeous warmer tones and the first part of the film in particular looking decidedly cooler and emphasizing more of a blue-green range of hues. Detail levels are typically excellent, and close-ups in particular can offer some appealing fine detail levels. This offers some kind of quaint looking anamorphic oddities in the corner of the frame in particular. Grain can be quite thick at times, and is fairly chunky looking in any number of dark scenes (including one rainy sequence).

Police Story III: Supercop Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Police Story III: Supercop has a number of different audio options for the two versions of the film included on the disc. The Hong Kong cut offers Cantonese Dolby Atmos, Cantonese DTS-HD 2.0 Mono and a so-called Home Video Mix in Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, as well as an English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. The U.S. Cut features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 in English and Cantonese in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. The Atmos track will probably be of most interest to those wanting some kind of audio upgrade, and it springs to considerable life in the action sequences, especially the manic activity toward the film's climax. I was personally not very fond of the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on the U.S. Cut, which may have some spaciousness but which also tends to make the dialogue sound like it's emanating out of a very deep well. All of mono tracks offer good support for dialogue, effects and score. Optional English subtitles are available.

Police Story III: Supercop Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Original Hong Kong Version (HD; 1:36:30) and U.S. Version - Supercop (HD; 1:30:42) are accessible under the Choose Version option on the Main Menu.


• Audio Commentary by Hong Kong Cinema Expert Frank Djeng does not seem to be the same Djeng commentary that was on the Eureka! Entertainment release.


• Dancing With Death (HD; 23:12) is an interview with Michelle Yeoh.


• The Stuntmaster General (HD; 19:33) is an interview with director Stanley Tong.


• The Fall Guy (HD; 21:45) is an interview with Jackie Chan's training partner Ken Lo. Subtitled in English.


• Stanley Tong Interview (2004) (HD; 17:16) is subtitled in English.


• Outtakes and Behind the Scenes (HD; 51:33)


• Hong Kong Trailer (HD; 4:05)


• English Trailer (HD; 2:10)


• U.S. Theatrical Teaser (HD; 1:39)


• U.S. Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:38)


• U.S. TV Spots (x7) (HD; 2:49)


• U.S. Video Screener Promo (HD; 1:37)


• Japanese Teaser (HD; 00:41)


• Guy Laroche 1984 Commercial with Jackie Chan & Michelle Yeoh (HD; 00:33)

88 Films sent their limited edition Police Story III: Supercop 4K release for purposes of this review, and so I can't state authoritatively as to whether or not the standalone 1080 release has the same collection of packaging and non disc supplements that the 4K UHD release does, but there is a complete listing of those extras in my review of the 4K UHD release.

Police Story III: Supercop Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Police Story III: Supercop is a fun and often quite funny vehicle for both Chan and Yeoh, both of whom acquit themselves spectacularly in both the action and comedy arenas. 88 Films offers a release with solid technical merits and some very appealing supplements. Highly recommended.