Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Police Story 4: First Strike (1996) – S. Tong

I didn’t know there was a fourth installment to Jackie Chan’s Police Story series but First Strike is it (and I watched the full 107 minute version not the heavily cut US release).  Following his usual formula for blockbusters, Jackie travels to several different locations (Ukraine, Australia) and sets the action in some tough to navigate places (ski field, underwater with sharks). As usual, the plot is incidental to the action (a nuclear device has gone missing and Jackie has to get it back, because the Hong Kong police are working with the CIA and the replacement for the KGB, the FSB).  Jackie’s relationships also take a back seat here; even though Uncle Bill is still his boss (in a glorified cameo), sadly May is absent (Maggie Cheung had clearly moved on).  So, the full-on Jackie magic isn’t really present, but not for want of trying -- the major stunts are pretty tremendous (Jackie jumps from snowboard to helicopter and drives a car onto a boat).  However, I _was_ glad to see some hand-to-hand fighting (with a stepladder) to remind me of the old Jackie. And what more can you expect from Chan when he was already in his ‘40s (and still with his American breakthrough yet to come)? But if you are interested in Jackie, Police Story (1985) and Supercop (1992) are the better movies in this series; they are part of the reason Jackie deserves his stardom.