Sunday, January 23, 2005

Rush Hour 3 this ain't...

My parents and sister went to Hong Kong recently so naturally I asked them to do some shopping for me. One of the things I asked for was the DVD of the new Jackie Chan movie, "New Police Story." I was surprised to find out when they came back and reported that it was sold out everywhere so they had to buy a pirated copy for me (I wanted to be legit and it didn't work, go figure). I was even more shocked to find that the DVD worked perfectly and things like subtitles and chapters even worked. Do they make the best cheap stuff in China or what?

Anyway I watched the movie last night and I liked it a lot. I'm glad Jackie Chan returns to Hong Kong to do stuff that isn't all slapstick. Now I admire his efforts to make his movies more artistic and fun (kind of like a Chinese MacGuyver, really. "Don't use guns! Just kick the crap out of people 15 times, tied them up with the coats, hop on their back and propel yourself into the next guy's chest... before they even turn around!"...well, maybe not), but it's good to know he can still be dramatic displaying some angst...and angst there are...the movie centers on Jackie Chan being the head of an elite team in the HK police. Their arrogance catches up to them though when some extreme-sports loving bank robbers lures them into a trap. Jackie feels guilt over the distastrous operation, takes a long leave from the police to be a drunk, until a new recruit gets partnered with him and tries to convince him to get it together and solve the case. Some parts of the movie is pretty intense for a Jackie Chan flick, especially the beginning when his team gets ambushed. I have to say though, the bad guys are regular boy scouts with the rope tying skills. They drag someone out of the room and they next thing you know they are tied up and hanging from the ceiling. All in all a really solid movie, with some great acting and yes, still the great action that is the signature of a Jackie Chan movie. Being a HK flick he does have more control (it was made by his production company, after all) to do things his way....probably the best pirated movie I ever saw.

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