Delayed Reaction: Police Story: Lockdown

Premise: Jackie Chan is a police officer trapped in a night club by a crime boss with a convoluted revenge plan.

 

This is not the movie I expected. I've been catching up on all the Police Story movies over the last year or so. The first three movies are very much of a piece. Recurring characters. Consistent narrative. Stunt-forward. There's a little tinkering with how serious the movies want to be, but that's about it. The fourth movie, First Strike fits in too, although it does drop a little continuity. After that, it seems like "Police Story" became more of a brand than a series. 2004's New Police Story, which I haven't seen, gives Jackie Chan a different character and is apparently much darker. Police Story 2013 (aka Police Story: Lockdown) again gives Chan a new character and is unrecognizable from the early movies. There's no reason to call this part of the Police Story franchise. In fact, I wondered if the title was a lazy translation, like when other countries will call Bruce Willis movies a Die Hard movie (ex. The Sixth Sense is Die Hard with a Ghost).

 

Ignoring how this fits as a Police Story movie, this isn't my favorite mode of Jackie Chan. I'm sorry. I like the stunts and the jokes. This movie is light on both. Instead, it's a pretty heavy thriller with fewer stunts than I've come to expect. It's still an action movie. It just lacks the "holy shit" stunts that I'm used to in Jackie Chan movies. By the end, the movie turns into a cool kind of Rashomon movie. It requires some sweaty plot mechanics to set up though and it's such a jarring shift that I had trouble enjoying it. I like the idea though. I wish they would've gotten to it sooner.

 

Jackie Chan is 67 and hasn't made a Police Story movie in 8 years. I think this means the series is done. It's a shame that it went out on a lesser note like this. It's a relic from a time before studios had masterplans, so the arc of the series does make sense. Luckily, there are about 100 other Jackie Chan movies I still have to get to.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend