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Review: New Police Story (新警察故事) (2004)
Another typical Jackie Chan movie. I have watched this movie before, but it was a long time ago. I enjoyed that this movie had more involved supporting characters that made the movie feel more engaging. The action was decent.
Spoilers.
Story
Chan Kwok-wing goes through a very generic heroic redemption arc. He was a proud and well-liked cop but due to being targeted by a group of hooligans, he lost his entire team. Afterwards he went on leave and became a drunkard. A young whippersnapper inspired him to take the case back up and to regain the heroic personality he had before. He tracks down the perpetrators, saves the young whippersnapper, and reunites with his girlfriend now fiancée.
I actually had the most fun watching this movie at the beginning when we had the big group of police officers that reported to him, because not only were they fun to watch because they engaged in shenaniganery, but because they built up such a big social setting, it forced Wing to play a role and to develop a character in order to interact with the others. It was still cringey and holier-than-thou, but at least it didn’t take up as much screen time.
Daniel Wu always gets cast into these roles in Jackie Chan’s movies where he plays the young guy who’s been led astray. He’s giving his best but it’s always a pity that his character ends up being scolded by Jackie Chan’s character who is the most good, the most moral. The reason I remembered having watched this movie was that final confrontation between Wing and Joe, in which Wing told Joe that he hated himself and that was why he was doing all this; the immediate change from Joe being confident to questioning life always stuck out to me was really sudden and unrealistic. I did also remember the part of the movie where Wing had promised to have a spar with one of the other villains (Tin Tin) and afterwards was so desperate for call for an ambulance to save his “enemy.” Just really high up on his horse.
But like I said, the supporting characters made this more bearable. I haven’t watched Nicholas Tse in much but his role as Siu-fung was fun. And of course, Wing was his saviour when he was a kid. Of course.
Very typical Jackie Chan movie story. Not as bad as the others, but not great.
Production
The action is obviously the bigger draw, and I did enjoy the fight scenes. Maybe because there were more people to fight, people who meant something to the story. There were different types of fights, like the one where Wing and Siu-fung were at the bar, or when Wing fought Tin Tin (twice).
Like in previous police story movies, Wing also caused massive structural damage to the city. It did feel more impressive this time though, maybe because it happened outdoors.
Honestly I was pretty hyped to see so many actors I recognized. They made the movie so much more fun, even if they were only in the movie for a short period, like Hung Tin-ming and Carl Ng. Like I said, Nicholas Tse did well to balance Wing (basically being the only one with personality between the two if I’m being honest).
Characters
Chan Kwok-wing
Generic hero man. At the beginning of the movie, he was shown to be very stern. He had high expectations for his team, but there was some self-awareness, as the other characters could tease him for it. It was fun. Then he had his tragic event, which didn’t move me at all. Because it was only about Wing and how the villains wanted to put him in his spot. What about all of the guys I had fun watching?
Wing became a drunk, but Siu-fung put the thought back in his mind and they got to reinvestigating. I think a reason why Wing’s redemption arc doesn’t work is that it’s still about him. Yes, he lost his entire team, but they just felt like fodder. It was always about his own ego, even at the end. He was single-handedly defeating the villain group.
Cheng Siu-fung
Siu-fung first posed as a cop to approach Wing under the guise of being assigned to him. He whipped him into shape, cleaning his house, setting up his girlfriend’s birthday. Siu-fung also helped with investigating and had his share of action scenes. Siu-fung was also a reminder to Wing of the team members he couldn’t save, and so a point of redemption was for Wing to successfully save Siu-fung. Which again came back to Wing.
It turned out that Wing was not a cop at all. When he was a kid, his father was killed while stealing food to feed him. While the cops treated his corpse like trash for stealing, Wing white-knighted in, telling the other cops that thieves deserve respect and dignity as well. The most cartoonish scene I’d ever seen.
Like I said, I haven’t watched Nicholas Tse’s acting much, but he was pretty fun in this movie.
Joe
Joe was the main villain. He was the rich kid of an abusive cop father (the deputy commissioner) and a rich mother who excessively doted on him. Due to his upbringing, Joe hated cops. He and his friends enjoyed the X-games which was why they enjoyed extreme sports and activities.
Joe himself was not too nice to his friends either. He shot Sue after she had become injured, and he shot Max for wanting to defect when his parents were brought to the scene. In the end, Wing pointed out his self-hating nature which changed everything and then he decided to suicide by cop. A bit sudden to be honest. Not the best villain. He was kind of generic.
Sasa
Sasa was a cop who helped with the investigation. She worked in some kind of computer monitoring capacity. She constantly helped Wing and Siu-fung with their investigation. I thought she was pretty cute.
Overall
A very typical Jackie Chan movie, but slightly more bearable on account of the other characters and the action.
Spoilers.
Story
Chan Kwok-wing goes through a very generic heroic redemption arc. He was a proud and well-liked cop but due to being targeted by a group of hooligans, he lost his entire team. Afterwards he went on leave and became a drunkard. A young whippersnapper inspired him to take the case back up and to regain the heroic personality he had before. He tracks down the perpetrators, saves the young whippersnapper, and reunites with his girlfriend now fiancée.
I actually had the most fun watching this movie at the beginning when we had the big group of police officers that reported to him, because not only were they fun to watch because they engaged in shenaniganery, but because they built up such a big social setting, it forced Wing to play a role and to develop a character in order to interact with the others. It was still cringey and holier-than-thou, but at least it didn’t take up as much screen time.
Daniel Wu always gets cast into these roles in Jackie Chan’s movies where he plays the young guy who’s been led astray. He’s giving his best but it’s always a pity that his character ends up being scolded by Jackie Chan’s character who is the most good, the most moral. The reason I remembered having watched this movie was that final confrontation between Wing and Joe, in which Wing told Joe that he hated himself and that was why he was doing all this; the immediate change from Joe being confident to questioning life always stuck out to me was really sudden and unrealistic. I did also remember the part of the movie where Wing had promised to have a spar with one of the other villains (Tin Tin) and afterwards was so desperate for call for an ambulance to save his “enemy.” Just really high up on his horse.
But like I said, the supporting characters made this more bearable. I haven’t watched Nicholas Tse in much but his role as Siu-fung was fun. And of course, Wing was his saviour when he was a kid. Of course.
Very typical Jackie Chan movie story. Not as bad as the others, but not great.
Production
The action is obviously the bigger draw, and I did enjoy the fight scenes. Maybe because there were more people to fight, people who meant something to the story. There were different types of fights, like the one where Wing and Siu-fung were at the bar, or when Wing fought Tin Tin (twice).
Like in previous police story movies, Wing also caused massive structural damage to the city. It did feel more impressive this time though, maybe because it happened outdoors.
Honestly I was pretty hyped to see so many actors I recognized. They made the movie so much more fun, even if they were only in the movie for a short period, like Hung Tin-ming and Carl Ng. Like I said, Nicholas Tse did well to balance Wing (basically being the only one with personality between the two if I’m being honest).
Characters
Chan Kwok-wing
Generic hero man. At the beginning of the movie, he was shown to be very stern. He had high expectations for his team, but there was some self-awareness, as the other characters could tease him for it. It was fun. Then he had his tragic event, which didn’t move me at all. Because it was only about Wing and how the villains wanted to put him in his spot. What about all of the guys I had fun watching?
Wing became a drunk, but Siu-fung put the thought back in his mind and they got to reinvestigating. I think a reason why Wing’s redemption arc doesn’t work is that it’s still about him. Yes, he lost his entire team, but they just felt like fodder. It was always about his own ego, even at the end. He was single-handedly defeating the villain group.
Cheng Siu-fung
Siu-fung first posed as a cop to approach Wing under the guise of being assigned to him. He whipped him into shape, cleaning his house, setting up his girlfriend’s birthday. Siu-fung also helped with investigating and had his share of action scenes. Siu-fung was also a reminder to Wing of the team members he couldn’t save, and so a point of redemption was for Wing to successfully save Siu-fung. Which again came back to Wing.
It turned out that Wing was not a cop at all. When he was a kid, his father was killed while stealing food to feed him. While the cops treated his corpse like trash for stealing, Wing white-knighted in, telling the other cops that thieves deserve respect and dignity as well. The most cartoonish scene I’d ever seen.
Like I said, I haven’t watched Nicholas Tse’s acting much, but he was pretty fun in this movie.
Joe
Joe was the main villain. He was the rich kid of an abusive cop father (the deputy commissioner) and a rich mother who excessively doted on him. Due to his upbringing, Joe hated cops. He and his friends enjoyed the X-games which was why they enjoyed extreme sports and activities.
Joe himself was not too nice to his friends either. He shot Sue after she had become injured, and he shot Max for wanting to defect when his parents were brought to the scene. In the end, Wing pointed out his self-hating nature which changed everything and then he decided to suicide by cop. A bit sudden to be honest. Not the best villain. He was kind of generic.
Sasa
Sasa was a cop who helped with the investigation. She worked in some kind of computer monitoring capacity. She constantly helped Wing and Siu-fung with their investigation. I thought she was pretty cute.
Overall
A very typical Jackie Chan movie, but slightly more bearable on account of the other characters and the action.