This 1993 spin-off of the POLICE STORY\SUPERCOP saga was originally released in China as CHAO JI JI HUA which roughly translates to ONCE A COP, but has been previously released on import VHS as PROJECT S.  Buena Vista Home Video’s Dimension films branch chose to release it as SUPERCOP 2 and rightly so. Jackie Chan is no longer the main focus; that honor goes to Michelle (TOMORROW NEVER DIES) Yeoh, who pretty much stole the show in SUPERCOP anyway. Yeoh reprises her role as tough mainland cop Jessica Yang, and is joined by SUPERCOP holdovers Uncle Bill and Inspector Chan (Jackie Chan), although Chan is limited to one hilarious cameo. This time around, Michelle Yeoh is joined by some likable new associates and she even has a love interest. The film does not try to carry on the Chan tradition, instead it charts new ground for the characters. The movie has a serious tone, and there is a lack of humor until Chan’s cameo. The film plays out sort of like a PG-13 version of  HARD BOILED minus John Woo’s kinetic direction and emotion.

Credit must go to BVHE for giving this film a truly great treatment as far as "Americanizing" goes. Previous Disney Chan films (and others like BLACK MASK) have been "Americanized" (meaning cut footage, rescoring the soundtrack with MTV friendly rap and alternative bands, among other sacrileges). Well, I’m happy to report that the film is uncut and there are no rap/rock bands on the soundtrack! The only downside worth mentioning is that there is no Chinese language version with English subtitles; the film is dubbed (and it is actually a good dub job) in English. Besides the dubbing, Disney Home Video is only guilty of one sin, but it actually made for a better movie: Composer Michael Wandmacher, the man who recomposed the score for TWIN DRAGONS works his magic, and composes a very good Hollywood-style score, which mixes very well with the many big budget Hollywood-style action set pieces.

The movie was directed by Stanley Tong, who directed RUMBLE IN THE BRONX and JACKIE CHAN’S FIRST STRIKE and then went on to direct Leslie Nielson as MR. MAGOO! Other notables from Hong Kong cinema include Bill Tung as Uncle Bill. Yu Rong (IRON MONKEY) Guang plays David Chang, Michelle’s shady love interest. Athene (THE HK TRIAD) Chau is police inspector Martin Lee, who has a crush on Michelle (as do most people). Fan Sui (ORGANIZED CRIME AND TRIAD BUREAU) Wong portrays Martin’s partner, Alan Wong, who is engaged to Martin’s sister. Chinese character actor Dick (IN THE LINE OF DUTY 3) Wei is corrupt explosives expert Ah Chuen.

Jessica Yang single-handedly busts up a crazed hostage situation and receives a medal of honor. Her boyfriend David, an ex-army special forces commander is threatened by her accomplishments. He wants to provide a life for her, but he has no money making abilities outside of his war experience. He tells her he loves her, but he must go to Hong Kong to try to make something of himself (although he never says by doing what) so he can settle down with her. After arriving in the city, he reforms his special forces unit, and recruits the misfit war veterans to work for him. David forms an alliance with an underworld figure (Alain Gurnier) who also happens to be a bank vault designer, and with this new alliance, David uses his ally’s knowledge of bank vault security and his crack special forces unit to rob Hong Kong’s biggest banks.

During one such robbery, hot-shot cops Martin (Chau) and Alan (Wong) stumble over the escaping special forces unit, and gunfire ensues (lots of it). Despite a heated battle, the crooks escape. Uncle Bill later assigns the case to Martin and Alan, and calls in Jessica Yang to advise since she knows the military records of these army men gone bad, and she is ordered not to take part in this police investigation. Martin and Alan manage to locate the building where the bad guys are holding up and another gun and martial arts battle takes place. They escape but the explosives expert Ah Chuen (Wei) is captured and taken to city jail. David runs into Jessica and tries to resume their romance. The charlatan manages to convince her to take him to police headquarters and he gives the captured Ah Chuen the means to escape. Soon the police station is a fiery wreck and Chuen escapes.

The special forces squad is now back to full strength and about to pull of their biggest caper yet with the help of the safe designer. They plan to break into a gigantic, futuristic, underground vault. They manage to seal the building off from the police, but Jessica, Alan, and Martin manage to sneak in to foil their plans. But, the safe designer has plans of his own that don’t include the special forces team or the police. Suffice to say the 3 way conflict results in a very explosive conclusion.

There is a lot more to the plot that I choose not reveal because I don’t want to spoil everything. I will say the film explores the emotions of the Jessica Yang character and her cultural clashes between modern sell-out capitalism, and duty-bound mainland traditionalism. There is also a subplot about Martin’s attraction to Jessica, but he feels intimidated by her and her ex-army leader boyfriend. The action sequences are superbly executed, and are credibly grounded using the actor’s own martial arts skills and athletic prowess as opposed to the wire and cable tricks or special effects to pull off the stunts and fights. Speaking of stunts, there are some truly amazing stunt work that really make you gasp, most notably by Ms. Yeoh.

The relationship between Jessica and David isn’t developed as deeply as it could have been, and it does not capitalize on most of the film’s irony. There is also some plotting problems, but they are the same ones that plague most action films. The film is a little slow moving in the setup (mostly to due to the mandatory romantic subplot) but once the movie shifts to the last half hour look out! Dynamically explosive action from not just Michelle, but the entire cast. Michelle's fight scenes are very impressive, and she looks great doing them. In one scene, she battles a mercenary squad where her male opponents are several feet taller than her!

SIGHT

A definite surprise that this 1993 foreign film looks like a new film on DVD! The transfer is widescreen 1.85.1 and has a glossy, Hollywood luster, despite a few scratches in the source print and some grain. The image is sharp with excellent detail. Colors are extremely vivid for a Hong Kong film. Contrast and brightness are superior with good shadow detail. The cinematography is very detailed in the transfer and the because of this, the death-defying stunt scenes will leave your jaw dropping. There are some really tremendous sets in the movie, mainly the inside of futuristic skyscrapers and giant chrome-covered walk-in bank vaults. The black levels are solid, and you can perfectly see the many shots that occur in dark subway tunnel sequences. The cityscape of Hong Kong looked so real and detailed that I wanted to step through the screen and walk around town. This is, without a doubt, one of the best transfers of a Hong Kong film to DVD that I’ve seen to date.

SOUND

Disney has done a very good job with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is lots of activity in the sound field. There is tremendous panning and separation between the left and right speakers and the rear sound stage. The sound field is clear and crisp with no distortion or dropouts. The rear sound stage is active and particularly lively during the gun fight, car chase, train tunnel escape, and flood scenes. My only complaint is that the .1 bass channel should been stronger. The dubbed English dialogue sounds natural and is limited to the center channel. The dubbing is right on, and thankfully the voices are varied and never sound like the same person. For once, the character’s voices and tone match their look. A highlight of the soundtrack is Michael Wandmacher’s symphonic/electronic score which really complements the action scenes nicely. Except for the low bass channel, all the sound effects, score, ambient effects, and dubbing are perfectly synchronized. If the bass was stronger, this could have been reference quality DD 5.1.

FEATURES

No extras. Subtract a half point from the overall score*.

CONCLUSION

Despite the loss of Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh proves to be a great presence, plus she can act. The action and excitement in SUPERCOP 2 sets a very high standard (and is superior to most US action films) though hardcore Chan fans may be put off by the gun play and heavy-handed treatment of crime and death. There is no goofy clowning that we’ve grown accustomed to in the Chan films (save for his riotous cameo). SUPERCOP 2 is as thrilling and exciting as any martial-arts film to come out of Hong Kong, and has a definite Hollywood appeal. Anyone who was mesmerized by Michelle Yeoh’s talents in TOMORROW NEVER DIES should check this out! With decent Americanization, and great audio/video quality, a Hong Kong film is finally done justice by a major studio. Highly recommended, but I always have to complain about something, so to the people at Dimension: Where are the extras? At least a trailer would have been nice.

SUPERCOP 2 is available from DVDEmpire.com

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