Police Story 2

Story: Ka-kui (Jacky Chan), who demolished nearly the whole town in order to arrest drug lord Chu, is degraded and has to work as a traffic officer. Moreover, Ka-kui soon has to find out that Chu was released from prison because he is fatally ill and only has 3 months left to live. These three months Chu wants to make Ka-kui's and his girlfriend May's (Maggie Cheung) life a living hell. When his girlfriend actually gets threathened Ka-kui wants to withdraw. He quits his job as a police officer and together with May wants to go on a trip to Bali.
However, it's just now that the owner of a chain of department stores is getting bomb threats. The culprits already made it clear with a detonation in one of the facilities, that they are professionals and that they better get the money they demand. The police tries everything to get Ka-kui back in action, since he seems to be the only one capable to deal with the criminals. Apart from the life-threatening situations Ka-kaui slides into over and over again while investigating the case, he also has some private difficulties with May, because he left her on the plane. When May is abducted by the same criminals he is looking for, Ka-kui starts to go wild.

Review: Of course it's arduous once again to summarize the story, because there isn't much to tell about it. Chan's focus is exactly where it has also been in the first part: the stunts and action stand definitely in the focus. As one would have expected, this works out pretty well again.
There is nearly no break between the events of the two parts and so "Police Story 2" continues where the first part ended. Ka-kui has to bear the consequences for his actions and Chor Yuen is casted as the drug lord again to act in the sidestory of the movie. A lot of small innuendos, like the promotional Cop-poster or a small scene, that is a direct hint to the telephone scene of the first part, add to the amusement factor of the film. Naturally, all the other actors and familiar faces have found their way back into the movie and so you have the feeling that you are coming home again, after a long absence.

You can't miss the fact that there is still your typical Chan-humour, but this time it's used a lot more decent than one would have expected. The film is more harsh, serious and melodramatic than "Police Story" was. This is the more the case in the latter half. In my opinion, this was a smart decision. The beginning is an introduction, that establishes certain surroundings with humour and then the action starts to kick in.
Unfortunately, there is a somewhat futile middlepart, which is all around the observation and pursuing of the bomb planters. There is seldomly any tension here and the pacing of the movie unnecessarily gets pulled down. Apart from that it's amazing how fast two hours can fly by, when there is just enough action and mindless entertaining packed into a movie.

I was positively surprised by the quality of the fights, because they are by far better than in the first part. There aren't only breathtaking stunts to be impressed by, but also some very good and solid old school Kung Fu. There is even something like a final fight that found its way into the movie, and this one is really striking, too. Therefore, Martial Arts enthusiasts will also get their money's worth.
The movie lives and dies with its stunts and Chan delivers some incredible bone-breaking stuff again. However, on the whole the movie lacks the surprise effect the first part had on its side. Even though the stunts are still very impressive, we meanwhile don't expect anything less from Chan.
Nevertheless, the film has some nice highlights and as always there were also some actors hurt besides Chan. One of the really not unhazardous stunts went wrong, of course, and Maggie Cheung did sustain an injury at her head, which prevented her from finishing the movie. Fortunately, there were only a few scenes that had to be played by a double, which luckily is only hard to notice since we never get to see her face. Anyway, somehow you have to feel pity for Cheung... Well, the road to success is a hard one indeed and she proves that she really deserves to be where she is nowadays.

As we are already talking about her, Maggie Cheung does also a good job with her performance. She can show a little bit more of her skills, because this time the relationship between her and Ka-kui is more in the center of events than it was in the first part of the series, and the movie also deals with it in a more serious way. This works quite well and is a good contrast to the more action-orientated rest.
Nonetheless, except for this you shouldn't expect all too much from the protagonists and their acting abilities, but as always that's also not necessary in Chan's movie.
A little sidenote: If you pay attention you might see Lau Ching-Wan ("Lost in Time") in a little supporting role. Even he had to start from the scratch!
Another sore point, as it is often the case with HK-movies, is the sometimes annoying soundtrack, but it's endurable.

Naturally, there is one great finale to be seen, this time it is in a fireworks fabric. It's a matter of honour that there just has to blow up lots of stuff and besides it also looks very cool.
Very good stunts, the already familiar cast, a good portion of humour and a little bit more melodramatic scenes make Jackie Chan's second Police Story installment a well done sequel. Some very nice Kung Fu sequences complement the good overall picture and make "Police Story 2" an absolutely recommendable action flick in good old Jackie-Chan-tradition.

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