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Like many Americans, my introduction to Jackie Chan’s peculiar and wonderful style of kung fu action came with 1995’s Rumble in the Bronx. While Chan had been working in Hong Kong for many years and had made tentative attempts to break into American movies before, this time, the spark caught, and a new audience for his films emerged. To stoke that interest, Chan’s 1992 effort Police Story 3 was quickly given a new English dub and released in North America as Supercop.
Supercop hits the sweet spot in Jackie Chan’s career as a martial artist/actor. After first appearing in Hong Kong cinema as an intentional heir to Bruce Lee, he truly came into his own after beginning to blend his martial arts prowess and Chinese opera background with slick slapstick humor, melding them into a unique blend that has defined his career ever since. Those films that emerged in the late ‘80s through the end of the ‘90s showcased a deft actor and action choreographer who still retained a young man’s speed and agility.
In the film, Chan reprises his role as Chan Ka-Kui, a top officer of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force on assignment to infiltrate and bring down a mainland Chinese drug cartel. He’s partnered up with an Interpol agent named Jessica Yang, played by the equally talented Michelle Yeoh. While Chan and Yang successfully ingratiate themselves into the cartel, matters become much more complicated when they accidentally cross paths with May (Maggie Cheung), Chan’s girlfriend, who’s unaware that he’s operating undercover.
While the plot isn’t particularly complicated, that’s seldom the point of a Jackie Chan film. Compared to some of his earlier work, Supercop is a little darker and tenser, but the spotlight still clearly shines on the stunt work, featuring several memorable fights and culminating in a spectacular chase over Malaysian rooftops onto a speeding train. As with so many of Chan’s films, some of the best moments occur during the traditional credits montage of stunts gone wrong. No matter how many of them I see, it never fails to amaze me how much Chan is willing to risk to do a stunt himself—and how easy he makes it look when it goes right.
Once again, I’m pleased with the quality of this rerelease by Dragon Dynasty. The picture is sharp, and the colors are vibrant, reflecting not only the greater budgets that Chan had worked up to at the time but the quality of the transfer as well. Both Cantonese and English language tracks are available, and resident film historian Bey Logan returns with a commentary track that sheds a great deal of light on the filming, those involved, and some of the cultural subtleties that Western audiences are probably not aware of. Special features consist of a series of interviews with Chan, Yeoh, director Stanley Tong, and one of Chan’s stuntmen.
While not as successful in North America as Rumble in the Bronx or the various series he’s made since, under Western directors with Western co-stars, Supercop is an excellent entry in the tradition of Hong Kong action cinema, as well as Jackie Chan’s own impressive body of work.
