capsule : the best place to start if you’re a jackie chan newcomer .
roars along , never stops for breath , and frequently hilarious .
to talk about jackie chan as a ” stuntman ” is to miss a million things .
jackie is not only one of the most accomplished and fearsomely unafraid physical adepts on the screen today , but also a very funny guy .
he reminds me of the way arnold schwartzenegger * used * to make me laugh — he’s funny just standing there , copping a look .
supercop has jackie making us laugh , scream , duck , root , and gasp for breath , often all in the same scene .
it’s actually the third in a loosely related series of movies , each with jackie playing kevin chan , a hong kong policeman who has a knack for getting neck-deep into trouble and then karate-kicking his way out of it .
( the others are also worth seeing . )
it’s a little slow to start , but once it gets moving , it’s a field day .
the movie has a fairly sophisticated plot for movies of this kind .
kevin is tapped for a dangerous dea assignment to be accomplished in mainland china , which requires him to collaborate with the attractive ( and ass-kicking ) chief fo chinese security ( played here by the ever-enjoyable michelle yeoh ) .
there’s a fun chemistry between the two of them , especially in an early scene where she tries to brief him and he keeps making wondering comments about how great she looks in that uniform .
kevin is assigned to help spring a known gangster from jail — all undercover , of course — and have him lead the two of them to a noted drug boss .
the drug boss , however , has problems of his own : his wife’s on trial for many of his own crimes , and she’s got the key to an account with all of his drug funds .
this means , of course , endless trouble — not the least of which is that kevin bumps into his girlfriend while he’s out in the field , and she sees him with this other woman , and . . . but that’s one of the movie’s unique pleasures : the way it crosses from action to comedy effortlessly .
action . there is , of course , non-stop action in this movie — everything from one-on-one kung fu to all-out gun battles to a sppedboat with eight engines ( ! )
outrunning the hong kong coast guard .
there is also a virtuoso climax , which features , among other things , jackie danging from a ladder tied to a helicopter , a wrong-way freeway chase ( which requires michelle to do an awesomely difficult handstand stunt ) , a fight on top of a moving train that also involves the ‘copter as well as a motorcycle .
you get the idea .
this is to action movies what a burger with everything on it is to fast food : quick , enjoyable , filling .
watch it with friends .
when they stop making movies like this , the world will be a tad greyer .