New Police Story

New Police Story
Hong Kong film poster
Traditional	新警察故事
Simplified	新警察故事
Mandarin	Xīn Jing Cha Gu Shi
Cantonese	San1 Ging2 Chaat3 Gu3 Si6
Directed by	Benny Chan
Produced by	Benny Chan Jackie Chan Willie Chan Barbie Tung Solon So
Written by	Alan Yuen
Starring	Jackie Chan Nicholas Tse Charlie Yeung Charlene Choi Daniel Wu Ken Lo Liu Kai-chi
Music by	Tommy Wai
Cinematography	Anthony Pun
Edited by	Yau Chi-wai
Distributed by	JCE Movies Limited Emperor Motion Pictures China Film Group Corporation
Release dates	23 September 2004 (2004-09-23)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$21,109,502

New Police Story is a 2004 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Benny Chan, and also produced by and starring Jackie Chan. The film was released in the Hong Kong on 24 September 2004. The film is a reboot of the Police Story series and is the fifth film in the series. New Police Story relies much more on drama and heavy action than its predecessors.

Plot

The film begins with police Inspector Chan Kwok-wing (Chinese: 陳國榮; pinyin: Chén Guóróng; Jyutping: Can4 Gwok3 Wing4) drinking one whiskey after another. Later, he collapses in an alley, and is found by a stranger, played by Nicholas Tse.

The timeline then moves back a year, to show the heroics of Inspector Chan, as he disguises himself as a news cameraman in order to subdue a victim of man holding a victim of woman hostage in Central.

Soon after that incident, a group of rebellious youths rob a bank. They explicitly ask a bank worker to call the police, and are confronted by the police outside the Legislative Council building. They play a sadistic game, in which they are awarded money for shooting police officers with assault rifles, before making their escape.

Inspector Chan and his squad are called to arrest the gang after their hideout is revealed. However, the hideout is rigged and the ten man police squad fall into various traps one by one. Chan then finds his men in a large warehouse, suspended from the high ceiling by ropes. The gang challenges him to training regimes that are taught to policemen, betting lives of his men each time. Under mental pressure and the taunts of the gang, Chan loses and is left with only his would-be brother-in-law to save, who soon dies nevertheless. He tries to save the bodies of his comrades for burial before explosives blow up the building.

Being the sole survivor of the incident, Chan takes a year long leave from the police force, drinking heavily to drown his sorrows and guilt.

The timeline jumps back to the present day. The stranger, who first featured at the start, brings him home. When Chan wakes up, the man identifies himself as PC 1667, Frank Cheng (Chinese: 鄭小峰; pinyin: Zhèng Xiǎofēng; Jyutping: Zeng6 Siu2 Fung1), his new partner. Frank tries various means to convince Chan to cancel his leave and take up the case but Chan refuses. However, he comes to his senses eventually by apprehending the same two youths that robbed him in an earlier scene while Chan was drunk. At the police station, Frank tells Chan that he is Kwong's younger brother, which convinces Chan to relook into the case. Chan's superior Chiu Chan (Yu RongGuang), initially believing that Chan's overconfidence alone was responsible for the disastrous raid one year earlier, challenges them to solve the case before he does.

Frank and Chan convince Sam Wong, a former colleague of Chan, to reveal a clue from the night of the first robbery, a watch which he snatched from one of the robbers during a confrontation in. He tells them all he knows is that one of the gang members is a woman and that they like to play X-Games. This is confirmed by fellow police officer Sa Sa(Charlene Choi). Chan and Frank are tailed by the Chiu Chan and the police as they go in search of the owner of the watch at an upcoming X-Games event; Sam Wong had been arrested by the police to assist in the investigation. At the event, held on the rooftop of a skyscraper, Frank and Chan manage to locate one of the gang members, Fire (Terence Yin) while Sam and the police interrupt the event and single out the woman robber, Sue (Coco Chiang). Before they can apprehend her, however, Fire sneaks up on the police and fatally shoots Sam and starts a gunfight in which Sue and several policemen are wounded, allowing the two gang members to escape. Before dying, Wong confesses to Chan that he was blackmailed by the gang into revealing their rigged hideout to Chan's team a year ago, due to the bag of money he took from Sue to pay off his debts. Chiu Chan, upon overhearing this, has a change of heart.

Fire and Sue both manage to rappel down the building, with Chan and Frank pursuing Fire. To distract Chan, Fire shoots at a bus driver and sends the vehicle out of control. Chan quickly jumps onto the roof of the bus in an attempt to stop it. After the careening bus has caused a great deal of havoc, Chan finally manages to climb in and hit the brakes, while Frank rams a truck full of rubber ducks in front of the bus' path, thus halting it from falling into Victoria Harbour.

After the incident, Chan discovers that Frank is not really a policeman, and confronts him. Frank attempts to explain to Chan, but Chan refuses to believe the story. Regardless, they stay together to continue to track the gang leader, Joe (Daniel Wu). They are informed by Officer Sa Sa that the gang members all come from rich families and Joe is actually the son of the police chief.

Sue and Fire return to the gang's new hideout. Sue is badly wounded, after being shot by Frank earlier. Seeing her injury, Joe shoots and kills her. Joe's gang access Chan's police file on a computer, with Joe bent on taking revenge.

Joe then arranges to meet Chan's girlfriend, Ho Yee, in the police station. He wraps a time bomb around her neck before leaving. When Chan learns of the bomb he desperately tries to free her. Ho Yee cuts the wires, with no effect, leading the police to believe that it is a fake. But when the two get ready to leave, a small wire attached to Ho Yee's back pulls out the secondary trigger, causing the bomb to explode. Before she can escape, it explodes and some falling pipes land on her, knocking her into a coma. Unfortunately for Chan, he is charged with assisting the impersonation of an officer (Frank) and for acting as an officer while under suspension.

Due to the police department's hatred of the gang, Sa Sa and her father, the jailer, release Chan and Frank illegally. The two sneak out of the police station, with everyone deliberately ignoring their escape. Commander Chiu Chan even makes his handgun available to Chan and tells Chan to "bring it back when you're done". Chan, Frank, and Sa Sa then investigate and find out the gang's next target is the Bank of Hong Kong, located in the New Wing of the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

A squad of police officers arrive, but this time Chan stops them from rushing in, assigning them the task of calmly escorting the public out of the building. Once the public are moved to safety, the gang members' parents are sent in, much to their dismay. One of the gang members, Max, is so ashamed of himself that he attempts to run down the escalators to his parents, only to be shot dead by Joe, who felt severely betrayed.

Afterwards, Chan and Frank run up to engage the three remaining gang members. Frank manages to shoot Fire in the leg with his own gun, disabling him. Chan chases another gang member, Tin Tin, into a Lego exhibition. When the exhibition hall is emptied, Chan reminds him that they had struck a draw the last time they fought. The two engage in hand-to-hand combat, with Chan defeating Tin Tin. Joe then chases Frank into the hall and shoots at him. In the crossfire, Tin Tin is shot in the chest.

Joe manages to chase Frank out of the room just moments before the Special Duties Unit of the police arrives. Tin Tin grabs a gun from the floor and points it at Chan's back. Chan, oblivious to what's happening behind him, calls out to the squad to bring in a medic for Tin Tin. Contemplating what he has done and how Chan is helping him, Tin Tin decides not to shoot Chan.

Chan finds Joe on the roof of the Convention Centre. Having captured and tied up Frank, Joe threatens to throw him to his death. Joe challenges Chan to a race to assemble a semi automatic pistol, a rematch of an earlier challenge, and wagering Frank's life in the process. This time, Chan chambers the bullet first and wins the game, much to Joe's disbelief. A number of policemen arrive on the roof, along with Joe's father, the police chief. Joe's father reprimands him, while Chan tells Joe that he knows that he doesn't hate cops, he merely hates his father for berating him.

Due to what Chan and his father have said, Joe finally admits defeat and deliberately unloads the single bullet in his gun and aims the empty gun at Chan for the police to have a cause to kill Joe. Not knowing that Joe's gun is empty, a police sniper then fires and injures Joe. He weeps and aims at his father, causing the sniper to fire once more, hitting him in the chest and presumably killing him despite Chan's yelling that the gun was empty. Chan rushes to rescue Frank and both of them fall off the building. They eventually land onto a fireman's inflated cushion.

In the hospital, Ho Yee has recovered and prepares to leave. She is met by several policemen and nurses who persuade her to accept Chan's marriage proposal. At first, she tries to hide her facial scars from Chan, but eventually accepts the proposal to the crowd's applause. Meanwhile, Frank is led away by Officer Sa Sa. He leaves his jacket on a railing. When Chan looks at the jacket, he suddenly recalls an event from years ago: a homeless man from the mainland arrives without much money, and his son is starving. He tries to steal some food for his son from a 7-Eleven store. While running across the road to escape from the shopkeeper and the police, he is hit by a truck and killed. Whilst another officer sneers at the dead man, Chan arrives at the scene and uses his jacket to cover the body of the boy's father, telling the other officer that even a thief has dignity. Chan then buys the boy a loaf of bread. He comforts him, saying that the best thing do is to try to forget the past and look forward to the future. He gives the boy his jacket and asks his name to which the boy replies "Frank Cheng".

Cast

• Jackie Chan as Senior Inspector Chan Kwok-wing
• Nicholas Tse as Frank Cheng Siu-fung
• Charlie Yeung as Sun Ho-yee
• Daniel Wu as Joe Kwan
• Lee Ting-fung – Joe Kwan at Age 6
• Charlene Choi as Sa Sa
• Dave Wong as Sam Wong Sum
• Hayama Go as Max Leung
• Terence Yin as Fire
• Yu Rongguang as Commander Chiu Chan
• Chun Sun as Joe Kwan's father
• Lui Yau-wai as Joe Kwan's mother (as Lisa Lui)
• Coco Chiang as Sue Chow
• Andy On as Law Tin-tin
• Liu Kai-chi as Chief Tai
• John Shum as Eric Chow
• Ken Lo as Kwong, Wing's team member
• Asuka Higuchi as Kwong's wife
• Steven Cheung as Green-haired thief
• Kenny Kwan as Red-haired thief
• Wu Bai as Father of Frank Cheng
• Deep Ng as Rocky, Wing's team member
• Tony Ho as Chui, Wing's team member
• Timmy Hung as Tin-ming, Wing's team member
• Sammy Hung as Tin-chiu, Wing's team member
• Carl Ng as Carl, Wing's team member
• Andrew Lin as Hoi, Wing's team member
• Samuel Pang as Sam, Wing's team member
• Philip Ng as Philip, Wing's team member
• Winnie Leung as Female Hostage
• Eric Kwok as Male Hostage
• Mandy Chiang as Chui's girlfriend
• Mak Bau as Negotiator
• Ringo Chen as Tourist
• Park Huyn-jin as Disco Bouncer
• Ng Kong as Disco Bouncer
• He Jun as Disco Bouncer
• Anthony Carpio as Disco Bouncer
• Chan Tat-kwong as Disco Bouncer
• Stephen Rohn as X-Game Player
• Stephen Julien as X-Game Player
• Ho Wai-yip as Police Officer Outside Convenience Store
• Audiotraffic – Jazz Bar Band
• Victy Wong as Cop
• Zac Koo as HKCEC Police man
• Stephen Julien as X-Game Player
• Stephen Bohn as X-Game Player
• Mars (extra) (uncredited)
• Roderick Lam as Sam's subordinate
• Jason Yip as Student's father
• Nic Yan as Detention Suspect

Jackie Chan Stunt Team

• Bradley James Allan
• Paul Andreovski
• Nicky Li
• Ken Lo
• Mars
• Wu Gang
• Park Hyun-jin
• He Jun
• Lee In-seob
• Han Kwan-hua

Production

Principal photography took place in Hong Kong between from 1 January until 31 December 2003.

Box office

New Police Story opened in Hong Kong on 23 September 2004 where it made HK$5,625,746 in its first three days. It ended its run with HK$21 million to making it the fourth highest-grossing domestic release of the year.

On 13 October 2006, the film received a limiting release in the United Kingdom. In its opening weekend the film grossed $19,332 having been shown in 16 theatres. It ranked #21 at the box office and averaged $1,208 per theatre.^[1] As of 22 October 2006, New Police Story had grossed a total of $33,404 in its two-week release in the UK.^[2] British film critic Jonathan Ross gave the film a fairly positive review and felt that Chan could "still do the business".^[3]

International version

New Police Story was released straight-to-DVD in the United States by Lions Gate on 16 May 2006. The DVD included an English dubbed with participation by Jackie Chan. Also included is an introduction by Jackie himself and a message not to buy an unlicensed copy of the film. When played in its original language it contains dubtitles. A cut was made towards the end of the film wherein a young Frank Cheng was being escorted back to the PRC by Chan.

A Blu-ray version was released in the United States on 24 November 2009.

Awards and nominations

See also

• Crime Story
• The Protector
• SPL: Sha Po Lang
• List of Hong Kong films
• Jackie Chan filmography

References

External links

• New Police Story at the Internet Movie Database
• New Police Story at AllMovie
• New Police Story at Rotten Tomatoes
• HK Action Films review of New Police Story
• Official UK Site for New Police Story