Police Story: Lockdown

For an actor like Jackie Chan, whose skills are almost completely physical, age is his enemy that will eventually kill even the weakest of fighters. For fans of Chan (example, every human being able to experience pleasure and joy) his rarely skillful combination of martial arts, crazy stunts, and slapstick comedy has long been the reason why people love him. However, the Jackie Chan in “Police Story: Lockdown,” released in 2013, a harsh action thriller in the “Die Hard” level, is in his late 50s, and even though he’s incredibly active for someone his age, his movement is way more limited and he doesn’t have the acting ability to balance. It doesn’t help that this movie has the same title of one of Chan’s most popular franchises, even though there’s zero overlap when it comes to character and mythology, to say nothing of tone. The “Police Story” franchise was at the height in 1992 with “Supercop,” which had him act alongside Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh for so many memorable setpieces, but two decades in the life of an action actor have really caught up to him.

Scott Tobias said in his review, “The second attempt to reboot the franchise after New Police Story in 2004, Lockdown is mostly a humorless bore until the obligatory bloopers and outtakes in the end credits—and even those are drawing from a flat vein, since there’s so little play in the movie. Though it was a big hit in China, the film boasts production values with a direct-to-video quality that’s reinforced by a story grounded in stock villainy and tacky sentimentality.” Chan plays Zhong, a Beijing police captain who goes to a nightclub by his separated adult daughter Miaomiao, played by Jian Tian, who blames him for her mother’s death. Hoping to resolution, Zhong instead finds Miaomiao dressed up like a rockstar (colorful wig, neck tattoo, etc.) and being in love with the club’s owner, Wu Jiang, played by Liu Ye. When Wu takes Miaomiao and several other prisoners, Zhong has to fight him and his henchmen while seeing a flashback that explains why the kidnapping took place.

Tobias mentioned, “The single-setting “Die Hard in a...” premise eventually combines with a Rashomon-esque series of flashbacks from multiple perspectives to produce an actioner bogged down by an exceedingly talky third act. Writer-director Ding Sheng, who previously worked with Chan on 2010’s Little Big Soldier, tries to goose up the tension with gimmicks (like having the hostages in explodable neck collars) and fake-out fantasy sequences, but the film only really comes to life when Chan and Wu’s burliest bodyguard have it out in a cage match. Though neither comic nor balletic, the scene does showcase Chan’s still-impressive compactness and speed, and adds a bone-crunching violence that goes along with the seriousness of the rest of the film. This is a grittier Jackie Chan largely because it has to be, but a depressing sign that there simply aren’t many tools left in the box.”

I’m sorry to say guys, but the franchise really wore thin with this latest installment. After this one, they never made another reboot or sequel, and you can see why. This one just looked really tired for trying to make it updated with the current times. It just doesn’t work when they tried it in this sort of way. If you liked the franchise, it’s best to stay away from the two reboots because they were just bad. You don’t want to see Jackie Chan in a bad movie, and these reboots are a couple of bad movies that you should avoid.

Alright everyone, we have reached the end of “Police Story Month.” Now that I have done three months of Jackie Chan movies, it’s time to move on and look at other franchises or actors that were in films. Sorry if everyone started to get tired of the constant reviews of Jackie Chan movies, but now I won’t do that since I have done enough Jackie Chan movies for the year. Stay tuned next month to see what I will review next.