By 2004, Jackie Chan thought that it was time to reboot the “Police Story” series, which eventually led to the 5th installment in the franchise, with him playing not Chan Ka-kui anymore, but Inspector Chan Kwok-wing. The most important difference with the previous installments, however, is that “New Police Story” is essentially a drama, almost completely leaving the comedic premises of the previous series to the background.
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The movie begins with Inspector Chan being a total mess, completely drunk, with even the taxi drivers avoiding him. Flashback one year earlier, he and his group of young cadets are about to be in a showdown with Joe, the leader of a gang, and his crew of youths who, apart from robbers, are also cop killers. The fight between the two groups ends up in a devastating defeat for the police, with Chan being the sole survivor and all the other members of his team, including his fiance's brother, dead. In the present again, a young rookie cop, Frank Cheng, decides to help him get back on his feet, and to finally arrest the members of the notorious gang, who are soon revealed to be the sons and daughters of some of the richest and most influential families in Hong Kong.
As mentioned in the prologue, there is very little fun in the “New Police Story”. Chan is a mess, as he gets repeatedly beaten in the worst way, as the tactics of Joe's gang also aim at harming the people around him, which eventually even include his fiance, whom he had already pushed to the side due to guilt of the initial events. The drama essentially never stops, with more and more people falling victim to the gang, while Sam's role, a cop who eventually becomes a mob man, is probably the most tragic of all. Even the finale actually, in the way it unfolds, is quite dramatic, as the gang members' parents appear, while the victim count continues non-stop.
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This approach actually allows Jackie Chan to show some range, with his despair, angst and overall rock-bottom attitude being quite well-presented, while providing a nice break from the usual cockiness and buffoonery his characters used to exhibit. Essentially that role is left for Nicholas Tse as Frank, who is essentially the comic-relief character here, even if in a good-looking style, and although he is also an integral part of the action. The antithesis his character creates with Chan's is also excellent, highlighting the chemistry of the two actors, in the most entertaining fashion. Daniel Wu as Joe Kwan is also excellent in the role of Joe, a true blood-thirsty villain who considers everything a game. He also gets his dramatic moment close to the end (as Frank also does) in the part of the film, though, that is evidently the weakest, with the story becoming melodramatic to the point of annoyance, and the behavior of the members of the gang being completely unrealistic, particularly considering their previous actions. Lastly regarding the acting, Dave Wong as Sam is also quite convincing as a policeman who is a complete failure, on a number of levels.
Regarding the comments here, Benny Chan focuses on how guilt can destroy a man, and how hitting rock bottom and finding help is a necessity in order for anyone to recover from intense trauma. That parents do not really know their children also emerges in the context here, while an accusation towards the young and rich is also presented throughout.
Nevertheless, considering that this is an action movie, its quality is mostly defined by the action scenes, and it is easy to say that Benny Chan and Jackie Chan, who was also the stunt director, ace the whole thing, with the latter's stunt team presenting another astonishing work. The labyrinth-like set the tragedy takes place is quite impressive in its presentation, with a number of scenes that remind intently of Johnnie To's style, while the many one-on-ones that take place in the movie are great to watch, also because Chan loses in a number of them. Apart from the fights, the big action set pieces are not missing from this Jackie Chan movie either, with the disaster with the bus, the one with the climbing down from the skyscraper terrace and the final one being utterly impressive. The trademark ending titles highlight how difficult and dangerous the stunts were, thus adding even more to the impression they emitted. Anthony Pun's camera captures everything in the most impressive fashion, with the scenes in the warehouse in the beginning and the many long shots of the stunts definitely staying in memory. Chi-Wai Yau's editing results in a frantic tempo that suits the overall aesthetics to perfection.
On another note, it is always surprising to me to see how much punishment the police suffers in the hands of criminals in Hong Kong movies, and “New Police Story” actually provides one of the apogees of this tendency, with dozens of cops killed, one turning a traitor, and one higher up revealed as directly connected with the gang.
“New Police Story” has some issues, particularly regarding its finale, but in general emerges as an excellent action film that continues the legacy of Jackie Chan in the best fashion.
