Jackie Chan returns in his iconic role of Hong Kong police officer Kevin Chan and this time, he’s met his match with the returning Michelle Yeoh as his new partner in this action packed adventure.
The drugs market has been a serious problem all over Asia and it has been decided that the best Hong Kong officer must join forces with the top ranking Mainland China officer in an effort to bust the dealers. The Hong Kong police officer chosen is Sgt. Kevin Chan, who wants to go on another dangerous mission, knowing that his longtime girlfriend May, will object. However, he tricks her into thinking he is going on a police retreat. Upon arriving in Mainland China, he meets female officer Yang Chienhua, who will become his partner on this dangerous assignment.
Chan will go undercover as Lin Fu Sheng, a refugee who is to bust out notorious drug boss Panther to earn his trust. Yang goes in undercover as well as Hana, Lin’s little sister while Chan’s superior Bill comes in as their mother. When Chan and Yang eventually earn Panther’s trust after getting him out of a few jams, they meet the real mastermind, Panther’s brother Chaibut. When the partners head to Thailand, they incur the wrath of a general and his rebel army but after getting out of that jam, they head to a resort in Malaysia where Chan gets the biggest shock of a lifetime: May is there as a tour guide. What will happen if May finds out that Chan is there and what will be the consequences?
While Jackie Chan is back as Sgt. Kevin Chan, this time, he gives longtime stuntman turned filmmaker Stanley Tong take over the director’s chair for this third installment in the series. This would be the first in a series of films in which Chan and Tong would work together on, showing that these two have a high amount of respect for each other. However, Tong decided to up the ante with this installment when it was announced that he would be bringing in a female as Chan’s partner.
It has been known that Jackie Chan had never been too fond of female action heroes. However, when Michelle Yeoh came in and proved herself, Chan definitely changed his tune. Yeoh, fresh off her divorce from D&B Films founder Dickson Poon, said goodbye to retirement and said she was coming back to kick some serious butt and in this film, she does just that. While she doesn’t strut her stuff until midway through the film, she matches Chan verbally at first and once she unleashes her martial arts skills, it is clear she has not lost a step. As a matter of fact, like Chan, she performs all of her own stunts here. The most impressive being a motorcycle stunt where she jumps onto a moving train. The stunt double who had originally done the stunt missed and ended up breaking his leg. Yeoh did the stunt herself and makes it safely onto the train.
Maggie Cheung and Bill Tung return to bring some comic relief to the film while Kenneth Tsang and Yuen Wah are quite to watch as the villains of the film. The final act has Chan hanging onto dear life on a helicopter ladder as the copter flies all over Kuala Lumpur. In a very shocking outtake, Chan himself is sideswiped by the passing copter as he hangs on to the side of the train. He even does a nipup on a bar in between two train cars and nearly falls over until stuntmen Ailen Sit and Ken Lo save him in time in another outtake. The final fight on the train is quite nicely shot with Chan adding some very funny tactics to trick Lo.
Police Story III: Supercop definitely is worth seeing for its insane stunt work involved and the return of Michelle Yeoh. Jackie Chan nearly outdoes himself even with the assistance of Yeoh as his partner. A match made in action heaven? Truly indeed.
WFG RATING: A-
Golden Harvest Pictures presents a Golden Way Films Ltd. production. Director: Stanley Tong. Producer: Willie Chan and Edward Tang. Writers: Lee Wai-Yee, Fibe Ma, and Edward Tang; based on characters created by Tang and Jackie Chan. Cinematography: Ardy Lam. Editing: Cheung Ka-Fai and Peter Cheung.
Cast: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Kenneth Tsang, Yuen Wah, Bill Tung, Josephine Koo, Kelvin Wong, Phillip Chan, Lo Lieh.
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