Police Story 2 [VHS]
Jackie Chan, acting as writer and director as well as star, was quick to follow up the huge success of his contemporary action hitPolice Storywith a film that, despite a number of excellent action sequences, comes off as second-rate Jackie. Busted down to motorcycle cop due to his unconventional tactics and tremendous property damage, Jackie finds himself the target of the vengeful mobster he put out of business in the first film while simultaneously hunting down a team of bomb-happy extortionists and trying to salvage his unraveling love life (poor Maggie Cheung, who winds up almost as bruised and battered as Jackie). Jackie is chased by radio-controlled cars armed with bombs (à laThe Dead Pool), ambushed in a playground in a terrifically choreographed tour-de-force where he single-handedly battles a dozen armed baddies while leaping through a jungle gym of obstacles, and makes his last stand in a fireworks warehouse just itching for a light. The generic story generates little interest and even the half-hearted slapstick misses the spark of his better work (such as the spectacular, stunt-filled follow-upSupercop), but Jackie is magic on the screen, a gymnastic dynamo with the clean-cut charm of the boy next door. The postfilm montage of outtakes is a painful reminder not to try these stunts at home. The American version features a rock-tinged score and sloppier dubbing than usual. Jackie again provides his own voice.--Sean Axmaker