Ging chaat goo si juk jaap [Jackie Chan’s Police Story 2] (1988)

(On Cable TV, June 2022) Amazingly enough, my Jackie Chan binge-watching mania of the 1990s apparently didn’t include Police Story 2. I probably made the jump straight from the first to the third film, which makes sense – both of them are acknowledged Chan classics, whereas the second instalment is merely… good. This time, mad bombers are going wild in Hong Kong and it’s up to Chan to stop them. Let’s be blunt: there’s little here that competes with the glorious madness of the first film’s shantytown destruction, bus-catching or glass-smashing climax. But it’s impressive in its own lower-key way. Once again, the Chan team of stuntmen goes for broken bones in capturing great sequences and fights on-screen. The pacing of the film is generally slower but more controlled: there’s a better sense here of action progression, with the set-pieces becoming bigger and better until the (at last!) explosive finale. Chan gets to have a few fights taking advantage of his environment, always a trademark, and there’s even a distinctive enemy to fight against. Police Story 2 is a decent follow-up to the first film even if it’s not as impressive – you seldom go wrong with Jackie Chan films of the 1980s, and this one proves it.