Police Story/Police Story 2 (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Pristine remasters of both of these classic Jackie Chan movies in full HD. Both movies look and sound glorious, with HK and international cuts included. Comes with a gorgeous cover also. What a steal! The only way this could've been a 6/5, is if they included Police Story 3: Supercop. Police Story aka Glass Story: In my opinion, this is the movie with the greatest stunts in the history of cinema. Real people doing real stunts with real objects, and not just props. The action gets visceral at times, yet not too gory and ultraviolent. It is one of the more serious movies of Chan with his finesse for action-comedy still in abundant display. Police Story 2 aka one of the most underrated Chan flicks: Slightly darker than the first, this continues the compelling action-packed adventures of Inspector Chan Ka-Kui aka Kevin Chan. The final fight is super satisfying that is equal parts high-octane awesomeness plus goofiness, something that Jackie pulls off so effortlessly! A must-have for any fan of the genre, or just any movie buff! Please don't be that person that knows Jackie Chan only by his American movies like Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon et al. He has done far-far-far better work with his Hong Kong action movies. His run from the late 70s to the late 90s is nothing short of legendary.

This is one of the best action movies of all time. The stunts are incredible and the authenticity of practical effects and the actors doing their own stunts makes a difference on camera compared to CGI. The film's comedy is universal and isn't hampered by language or culture differences from the viewer. The only drawback is a lot of these original Cantonese versions can run long and have some scenes that seem unnecessary. I would like to see a version that cuts some of these scenes more like the English dubbed version, but with the original Cantonese dialogue. The advantage is that the original dialogue is a lot better and the jokes are funnier, and if you are a Jackie Chan fan you will enjoy the extra content. This is one of Jackie Chan's best movies and belongs in any action movie collection.

I can't add much more to the dialogue of how great these two movies are. They're just fun, exciting, humorous, action-packed and wildly entertaining films that capture the charm and optimism of 1980's Hong Kong action cinema. Criterion's collection really does these movies justice, with amazing production values, visual quality, bonus features, audio options, and overall presentation. It's more than just a cheap bundle set; they really honored these films for fans of Jackie Chan's film legacy. I just hope Criterion and 88 Films continue releasing amazing Jackie Chan collections like this!

CRITERION Blu-Ray Edition comments: Finally! Not since laserdisc have we been able to hear the original audio mixes for both POLICE STORY films. For reasons that remain unexplained the Hong Kong film studio in control of these films has only allowed us to have inferior 5.1 remixes on DVD, Blu-Ray etc. Time and time again we were given disappointing releases with audio that was amateurishly mixed, picture quality through a potato lens and subtitles that were just atrocious. The only viable alternatives were fan made editions (some of which I was involved with). But NOW we have the ultimate Criterion release and they knocked it out of the park by including the original audio tracks, despite their needing to source them from some strange places (and shame on numerous so called review sites that did not even mention the inclusion of the original audio). There is no need to bore you with the details. Just know that in addition to the original audio we have outstanding picture quality that is likely superior to the theatrical prints. I pray Criterion can work similar miracles with other Hong Kong films because nearly all of them have been neglected and even disrespected.

An over-enthusiastic young cop in Hong Kong often takes matters into his own hands with messy but successful outcomes. He and his commanders are in a love-hate, fired-rehired relationship. A familiar formula but usually works. The plot is somewhat forced with rather poor performances. The fun is a young Jackie Chan doing his comical acrobatic fights. His manner of fighting is in the class of Buster Keaton. Unlike other martial arts films, no chopped heads, no gore, no sex and he does not take himself too seriously. So credit that to Jackie Chan’s genius. This Criterion 3-disc collection services as an example of Jackie Chan’s achievement, be that the movies themselves are so-so at best. The third disc is full of extra features as he explains how they arrange those fighting sequences with his old-school methods. BTW, the Cantonese soundtrack is better if you understand it.

Top tier Jackie Chan movies

The qualityof the restoration done on both movies is absolutely stunning. The Fidelity is incredible, even for Blu-Ray. The 4K sourcing is obvious--the film was definity downscaled from a high resolution source and even at an average bitrate of around 25,MBps , looks mind-blowing with zero noise, film grain and emulsion debris. Criterion's restoration capability deserves some kind of award. The audio, both the original monaurual and remastered 6 channel uncompressed tracks, are impressive as well. The remastered has been expertly corrected in Pro Tools and has had all pops, hissing and reverb filtered out and the dialogue cleaned up and improved -- they sound as if they were recorded in a modern sound room instead of being sourced from 35 year old magnetic stripS. Really just mind-blowing stuff here, well worth the $35 asking price. As for the movies, the stunts are without a doubt some of Jackie's best and.most death defying. My favorite scenes are when he runs down a steep mountain and hitch-rides a bus using nothing but an umbrella handle in the beginning of the first film, the white knuckle mall sequence at the end of the first film, and the unbelievable, stunning pipe-fight sequence half-way into the second movie. Unreal!! Eat your heart out John Woo. 5/5 would buy again if I somehow lost this copy, no hesitation. It's worth that.much.

The Criterion Collection provides a fine product every time.