All right, all you rapscallions,
You were privileged to experience some wonderful kung fu cinema this week. I'm a very jealous man, because that is one of my favorite genres of film. Ever.
You just watched New Police Story. Now, I have heard that Mr. Chan has attempted serious films with serious stories before, but until this film, I had never seen one. Much like Bollywood films, Hong Kong cinema is known for throwing action, comedy, romance, and all sorts of zaniness in its movies. And, they are indeed zany. I mean, Mr. Vampire anyone? There are more reasons than I know for why this is I'm sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if, similar to the Indian film culture, people in Hong Kong wanted - and thoroughly enjoyed - getting a bit of every genre for the price of one ticket. And, one of the funniest guys in Hong Kong has always been Jackie Chan.
Why do you think this film, a 2004 release, was more serious? Was it Jackie Chan getting up there in years, he's no spring chicken anymore (although you wouldn't guess that sometimes, the dude is still as agile as heck), and wanting to show the world he is a serious actor? Was it because Americans, who typically have less of a liking towards mega-genre-mixing movies, are now starting to see more and more films from Hong Kong in their theaters? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was monumental in bringing Hong Kong cinema to mainstream audiences. The film came out in 2000, four years before this one. Do think that has anything to do with it?
This is interesting to me. The film had, in places, a very Dark Knight vibe, with the scary masks worn by the evil dudes...
Yet, this film came out four years before The Dark Knight (2008). Initially watching it, my gut feeling was how much it was trying to mimic that movie, but upon realizing it came out first... was Nolan trying to mimic Hong Kong cinema? Maybe the pendulum swings both ways? Maybe, as the world gets closer and closer together, thanks to the internet and more and more theaters showing international films, maybe we're just all borrowing from each other all the time. Which is cool.
Anyway, your questions:
Did you like this film? Why or why not? Did you like it more or less than Iron Monkey? It's a different movie, different fighting style, different time period. Which did you like more? Why?
All around, what is your opinion of Hong Kong cinema so far? And, what is your personal opinion as to why this film had a more serious edge than most Jackie Chan films?
This film reminds me how i felt the first time i saw this, it just totally blew my mind away since i wasn't used to seeing Jackie Chan being in a serious film like this one. I really did like this film though, it was really interesting to see something different from Jackie rather than his usual work. Instead of action, comedy, and fighting this was more just based on drama. Which is what i like about this film, it was more different from all the other films he made and just seeing more serious. If i had to choose which film i liked more between Police Story or Iron Monkey i would pick both of them. I thought that both of these films were great and are part of my favorite films.
ReplyDeleteI think Hong Kong cinema is awesome. It was part of my childhood watching people fighting with martial arts. It inspired me to get into martial arts myself when i was around the age of 12. But since then i stopped and now this makes me want to get back into martial arts, maybe one day that will happen. Well what i think why this had a more serious tone to the film is maybe Jackie Chan wanted to try something different. Instead of what you usually see from him, he wanted to try this drama type of film to give people a view that he can do other stuff rather than just action and crazy stunts.
I saw this film on Fox 13 a long long time ago so all I could remember is Inspector Chan watching as his time die. So when I heard we were going to watch this I got all hyped up!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Will this movie is more serious than other Hong Kong films but still had a lot of slap stick comedy. And I feel it did have an array of genres placed in it but done in such a settle way we didn't decipher it as well. Of course there was drama and comedy but also horror, romance, detective and action. One thing that really stood out for me was that the action in this movie wasn't predominantly kung-fu but more weaponry (firearms).
I love this movie, period. This gave a pretty accurate description of 2000's culture with the crazed hair, BMXing at its height, etc. Man deciding which one of these two films is hard because they were going for two different purposes and techniques on how to pull it off. They did both well but I'm at a standstill with this honestly, I can't decide. One thing I'm glad is that both didn't use much CGI and used more Real-Live Action.
Overall I love Hong Kong cinema, they've left a mark in the way we view movies, but if only more people would notice that. Just taking this class has made want to make scripts and try to make them overseas. Jackie Chan I feel can pull off more serious roles in edgy movies. He's been type casted (especially in the US) as a man who's a goofball who can fight.
You know what? i actually really liked this film. Personally i don't like too much of the action/ kung-fu genre, but i did like this movie. i felt like it had enough other genres to make me really enjoy it but not so much where it is over the top. I did like this one more than iron monkey but that is due to the fact that i don't particularly like kung-fu movies.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion of Hong Kong cinema so far would be that i do enjoy it but i'm still not too big of a fan of action and kung-fu. About Jackie Chan i don't really feel like I've seen enough of him to actually make any valid points, but i think he did an amazing job in this movie.
This film brought back so many memories it about blew my mind. Back when I was 13, I was Jackie Chan's biggest fan. I went to the library almost weekly and always looked to see if one of his movies was there. These film watching experiences are still among my favorite film-related memories. This is also when I first saw Hero, by the way! But, my favorite was none other than the very first Police Story. It had everything, the fastest and most furious fight scenes, an awesome comedic romance, a dead-serious plot about Inspector Chan's fight against some serious crime lords. It was all done masterfully, by the master himself Jackie Chan. Which is why when I found out we were watching the fourth film in the franchise, I just about lost it in excitement. It did not disappoint.
ReplyDeleteI loved this film a lot, because it was exactly what I had hoped for in a sequel. A darker tone, a new younger character (That wasn't hammy or too much of a sidekick character), extremely well done kung fu segments, and nail-biting stunts and situations that one can expect from the master. Though this film does take a darker tone than the rest of the franchise, it's never overkill. You still get some (minor) comic relief and even a little slap stick action. While some will definitely find this strange or annoying, I absolutely loved it.
I love Hong Kong cinema, it is one of my favorites by far. The kung-fu, the amazing and thoughtful films, and the astounding culture all make it to be one of the best film community's out there. I would go as far to say that it's on par with Hollywood. It's actually a little dream of mine to film an award-winning kung-fu Hong Kong film.
You were right on how well the Choreography was done in this film but I still don't think that it should be called a Kung Fu flick if there was only but a few hand-to-hand combat. Now some people would say even with the firearms, they are weapons and a lot of Martial Arts use weapons, but would you compare a knife to a gun? Chance I think you need to create a new style of Martial Arts with gun use.
Delete