Well, I'm Back

Police Story III: Supercop is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Like Casablanca, it's a genre masterpiece featuring industry regulars at the height of their powers. Unlike Casablanca, it has dazzling martial arts, outrageous stunts and no characters or plot worth mentioning. But I'm convinced, after repeated viewing over a span of years, that it's the finest Hong Kong action-comedy flick I've seen. I actually enjoy it more each time, which is quite remarkable for this kind of movie.

What makes it so great? At the core, it's Jackie Chan near his best (possibly not as good as he was in Drunken Master 2, but very close). That means more than just martial arts; it means a certain style of humour, action and direction. Police Story III adds variety by laying on gun-fu and explosions to a much greater extent that you normally see in Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies. But what really sets it apart is the pairing of Jackie Chan with Michelle Yeoh, who is phenomenal, matching him in martial arts and slapstick.

She also matches him in doing her own stunts. It really adds to the enjoyment knowing that when she appears to jump a motorbike onto a moving train, she really did jump the motorbike onto the moving train --- despite not having ridden a motorbike before. In the out-takes you can see that the crew thoughtfully provided a pile of cardboard boxes for her to land in, should she overshoot the train --- which she did, twice. Top that, Casablanca.