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Police Story 3: Supercop

AKA: Supercop, Police Force 3, Jackie Chan's Police Force 3

1992

Director: Stanley Tong

Stars: Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Yuen Wah, Kenneth Tsang, Bill Tung, Phillip Chan, Kelvin Wong

Once again, Jackie stars as Kevin Chan, the notorious HK "supercop." This time he's sent to the Mainland to help a Chinese officer (Yeoh) stop a deadly drug dealer (Yuen), whose brother (Tsang) is about to launch a major shipment onto the streets of Hong Kong. Of course, Chan's ever-present girlfriend May (Cheung) shows up when she's least expected and/or wanted and fulfills her mandatory damsel-in-distress role.

My personal favorite in the Police Story series, mostly due to the infusion of Michelle Yeoh. Sequels, especially after the second film, often have the problem of falling into repititious storylines and action. Yeoh's character was the perfect solution to this. Not only is she the antithesis of many of Chan's ditzy female co-stars by providing a strong female character, she proves she can hold her own (and sometimes surpass) Chan at his own game.

The stunts in Supercop are simply amazing and among the best Chan has ever done-- the one where Chan hangs onto a flying helicopter while it crashes through billboards never ceases to amaze me (even though the blooper reel takes away from it a bit by showing how it was done). Yeoh shows her stuff in several key stunts, including a daring motorcycle jump, which actually broke the leg of the stuntman that tested it out. Fight-wise, the action centers more on the big brawl-style popularized in Armour of God and perfected in Drunken Master II. Fans of realistic one-on-one fighting will most likely be disappointed, but I found the action to be well-paced and fun to watch, just like the rest of the movie.

RATING: 9

Note: the US versions (simply called Supercop) have been edited about ten minutes from the original Hong Kong cut. This is common across the Miramax/Dimension, Dragon Dynasty, and Echo Bridge releases.

Supercop

Blu-Ray Information

Budget label Echo Bridge's release uses Miramax's source material, which means it's been re-titled to Supercop, been edited from the Hong Kong version, and is in English only. The picture, while a slight upgrade from the US DVDs previously released by various companies, is re-cropped from the original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to 1:78.1. Audiowise, the DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack is fine, but the movie begs for a 5.1 mix. As for extras, the lone entry is a 29-minute interview with Michelle Yeoh (billed as Michelle Khan) that is presented in SD 4:3 full frame. If you're in the mood for a cheap Blu-ray, this is decent material, but otherwise, there's really no reason to upgrade if you already own this film in another edition or format.

The Blu-ray is available from Amazon.

Check out a clip from the movie here.

Reviews for various US DVD versions can be found here: Dragon Dynasty, Miramax, and Echo Bridge (via "The Jackie Chan Collection" 8-movie set).

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