Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)

Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)

5/10

Starring

Jackie Chan

Wu Chen-chun

Jackson Lou

Directed by Stanley Tong

As you are watching this movie you keep getting the feeling that something is missing. Then when you finally put your finger on it, you start to wonder why Jackie did not just restrict the movie to Hong Kong as he did in the first three films.

There he was an Hong Kong cop whom trouble follows every where he goes. Here he moved his base from Hong Kong to moving about Europe. This international version of Police Story lacked the intensity of the previous three films and the movie falls in the grade of those Jackie films that are just average.

The movie plot has Jackie being asked to work with the CIA. This was supposed to be a quick task which will also be a form of vacation for Jackie. The case was for him to follow a girl who is believed to be the lover of a person-of-interest.

This led to Jackie getting to Russia where he is then working with the Russian intelligence still tracing the person-of-interest.

He was enjoying his new assignment because it also took him to Australia, so all this travel was good for him and he saw his assignment as fun. Everything changed when the person-of-interest a nuclear scientist caught Jackie and told him that Jackie is way over his head in the case and there is more to what is going on than he knows.

Now Jackie is torn and wanted to leave, to go back to Hong Kong, when his present knowledge upgrade puts his life in danger. Now Jackie must survive and also resolve the case.

I think one thing I missed in this movie was Jackie being paired up with someone.

In Police Story 1 Jackie was introduced as the slightly crazy cop, but there he had his girlfriend played by Maggie Cheung. In Police Story 2, she too was a main part of the plot, but Police Story 3: Supercop introduced Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh was like a partner, who was just as good martial art wise as Jackie, which gave us twice the power, fun and action. Also, we had Maggie Cheung as his girlfriend who also added the comic element needed.

So Jackie being on his own in foreign soil, just felt odd and did not fit the formula they have crafted and have worked in the first three movies.

The movie like Police Story 3: Supercop was not directed by Jackie Chan (like the first two films were) but by Stanley Tong. Also this movie will be the first not written by Jackie, (as he co-wrote the first three).

Now, this is an okay movie to see, but I can tell you now that you may be disappointed by the plot and the way the screenplay is crafted.