Movie Review – New Police Story (2004)

By Manofyesterday

Director: Benny Chan

Stars: Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse and others.

After a raid on bank robbers goes awry, a hero cop (Chan) descends into drink. After being approached by a new partner (Tse) he goes back on the trail and tries to bring the robbers to justice.

New Police Story is not that new really, but it is enjoyable. I liked how the film began, with the hero failing in a very inventive way. The robbers were chaotic young people with chips on their shoulders and too much time on their hands, and they proved adept at thinking up ways to kill people. Once Wing gets back on his feet he trails the gang and finds out who they are and what their motives are, leading to some good action sequences involving rubber ducks and lego.

The characters and the plot are more focused on drama while the action has a lot of comedic elements and I thought it was mixed well, even though there was a lot of death. By now (and by now I mean a decade ago) Jackie Chan has found his rhythm and he shows some powerful emotions here. The action scenes were great, and he still isn’t slowing down. I thought some of the plot elements were contrived, mostly the stuff with his wife.

But really, if you like Jackie Chan films you’ll like this one. It’s a pretty decent plot with some cool action. I liked the last scene as well, it actually came across as heartfelt. It’s worth checking out.