Movie Info
Movie Name: Police Story 4: First Strike (Jackie Chan’s First Strike)
Studio: Golden Harvest
Genre(s): Martial Arts/Action/Adventure
Release Date(s): February 10, 1996 (Hong Kong)/January 10, 1997 (US)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Go Jackie with your bad-ass seal hat!
Chan Ka-kui (Jackie Chan) is back and working with the CIA to track down a secret nuclear deal. The Ka-kui fails to stop the deal, he must team with forces in the Ukraine to travel to Australia and bring it back. Framed for murder, Ka-kui must track down the warhead and learns that to get it back he must not only face the gangsters…but the sharks.
Directed by Stanley Tong, Police Story 4: First Strike (警察故事4之簡單任務 or Jǐngchá Gùshì Sì zhi Jiǎndān Rènwu) is the follow-up to the popular Police Story 3: Super Cop from 1992 (released as Supercop in the United States in 1996). The film was released in the United States as Jackie Chan’s First Strike and wasn’t released as a sequel. The film was met with a strong box office but was not as critically acclaimed.
There haven’t been many improvements in fake sharks since Jaws
I think Jackie Chan’s First Strike was the second Jackie Chan movie I saw after Rumble in the Bronx finally made him a U.S. star. The movie was released to theaters here and like most Jackie Chan movies was a fun ride.
The story for Police Story 4 is a little unnecessarily complex. While some of the other Police Story movies feel a bit more serious, Police Story 4 feels a bit too light in comparison. The movie does keep moving and the action is fast and furious so the story really isn’t necessary…and making it dense isn’t very necessary.
The real fun of a Jackie Chan movie is Jackie Chan who brings life to all his films. The movie is hurt by the loss of Michelle Yeoh who helped make Police Story 3 fun (she spun out into her own movie Once a Cop or Supercop 2 in 1993). Here, Jackie Chan must carry more of the movie (and in American versions he’s just called Jackie). The movie also lost the subplot of Jackie and his girlfriend May played by Maggie Cheung who did not return.
You know it is a big stunt when they do it in slow motion with multiple cameras…
The stunts and action are fun. Chan always takes the fighting and thrills to the next level at the risk of his life and that is why you can always go into one of his movies expecting to see something new. The fake shark fighting is a bit much but the movie still is enjoyable.
Police Story 4: First Strike is a downgrade from Police Story 3: Super Cop but still maintains fun. This movie like many of Chan’s movie is “action-lite” which relies more on the spectacle than hard-core action. Police Story 4: First Strike was followed by New Police Story in 2004.
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