Police Story 3: Supercop (Chinese: 警察故事3超級警察; Cantonese Yale: gíng chaat gu sih sāam: Chīu kāp gíng chaat), released as Supercop in the US, is a 1992 Hong Kong action film starring Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. Jackie reprises his "Kevin" Chan Ka-Kui character, a Hong Kong cop from Police Story and Police Story 2. It is the third installment of the Police Story series, as well as first in Police Story franchise not to be directed by Jackie, with Stanley Tong taking over the helm. It is also the last appearance in the series for Maggie Cheung as Jackie's girlfriend, May.[1]
Police Story 3: Supercop | |
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Traditional | 警察故事3超級警察 |
Simplified | 警察故事3超级警察 |
Mandarin | Jǐngchá Gùshì Sān Chāojí Jǐngchá |
Cantonese | Ging2 Chaat3 Gu3 Si6 Saam1 Ciu1 Kap1 Ging2 Chaat3 |
Directed by | Stanley Tong |
Written by | Edward Tang Ma Fibe Yee Lee Wai |
Produced by | Willie Chan Edward Tang Jackie Chan Leonard Ho |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Ardy Lam |
Edited by | Cheung Ka-Fai Peter Cheung |
Music by | Mac Chew Jenny Chinn Jonathan Lee Joel McNeely (U.S) |
Distributed by | Media Asia Golden Harvest Golden Way Films Co. Ltd. Dimension Films Miramax (U.S) |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes 91 minutes (U.S) |
Country | Hong Kong |
Languages | Cantonese Mandarin English Malay |
Budget | $900,000 |
Box office | US$34.4 million (est.) |
Ka-Kui is the "supercop" of the Hong Kong police with amazing martial arts skills. He is sent to Guangzhou, where the Chinese police force's Interpol director, Inspector Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh), briefs him on his next assignment. The target is Chaibat, a drug lord based in Hong Kong. To infiltrate Chaibat's organization, Ka-Kui is to get close to Chaibat's henchman Panther, who is in a Chinese prison. Ka-Kui, posing as a petty criminal prisoner, manages Panther's escape with the connivance of the guards. Grateful, Panther invites Ka-Kui to go with him to Hong Kong and join Chaibat's gang. Panther meets up with some of his other men, and vouches for Ka-Kui. The group heads for Hong Kong.
On the way, they pass through Ka-Kui's supposed home village, and Panther insists that Ka-Kui visit his family there. He does not actually know anyone in the village, but is pleasantly relieved to be greeted by undercover police posing as his family, with Yang as his sister. The local police pretend to arrest Ka-Kui in a restaurant, but Ka-Kui and Yang (also a martial-arts expert) escape after a big fight, which concludes with the faked killing of a policeman. This confirms Panther's trust in them.
In Hong Kong, Chaibat welcomes Ka-Kui and Yang to his luxurious hide-out. He takes them with him to a big opium grower's fortified compound in the Golden Triangle military camp of Thailand, for a meeting of big-time heroin traffickers. During the meeting, Chaibat's gang attack from outside while Ka-Kui and Yang protect him inside. In a huge gun battle, Chaibat's gang kill the rival traffickers and their guards, and smash up the compound. The grower survives, but will now sell only to Chaibat at Chaibat's price.
The action then shifts to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Chaibat's wife, Chen Wen-Shi, is in prison, facing the death penalty for an unspecified crime. Chaibat needs to get her out of prison, because only she knows the secret codes to his Swiss bank account, and will not reveal them to him unless freed. Chaibat brings his gang, now including Ka-Kui and Yang, to Kuala Lumpur to stage a jailbreak.
A new difficulty arises when Ka-Kui sees his girlfriend May, a tour guide, in Kuala Lumpur leading a party of Hong Kong tourists. He has told her he's on assignment. Ka-Kui evades May at first, but she sees him at the luxurious hotel where Chaibat's gang are staying, with the beautiful Yang, and confronts him in a jealous rage. This nearly blows Ka-Kui's cover, but Panther is persuaded that May is angry because Ka-Kui tried to proposition her as a prostitute. Later, Ka-Kui gets May alone and explains the situation, and she finally calms down. At one point, May even manages to keep Ka-Kui from inadvertently blowing his own cover. But then, in an elevator, May tells a co-worker about Ka-Kui, and is overheard by one of Panther's men. Chaibat takes May hostage, and forces Ka-Kui and Yang – their cover now blown – to help free Chen.
Chaibat's scheme is successful and May is released, as per their agreement. However, the exchange turns sour when Chaibat pushes May from his helicopter, though she survives. Furious, Ka-Kui and Yang pursue Chaibat and his men over the roads, rooftops (where Ka-Kui and Yang defeat Panther and his partner), and skies of Kuala Lumpur. In the climax on top of a speeding train, Chaibat is killed after his helicopter collides with a bridge and lands on him. Yang and Ka-Kui also recapture Chen. Since her husband is dead, she decides to tell Yang and Ka-Kui the password to Chaibat's bank account. The two partners argue whether Hong Kong or China will get the money.
A significant aspect of this film is that it was the first Jackie Chan film from Hong Kong to use sync sound, allowing all the actors' voices to be recorded as they spoke on scene, rather than dubbed over by different actors later.
Exterior scenes were filmed in Hong Kong Island, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Interior scenes were shot in Kuala Lumpur.
According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Chan dislocated his cheekbone during a stunt scene.[2]
The Dimension Films version, which was distributed theatrically in North America in 1996, was dubbed into American English with the participation of Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh.
Among the changes was the addition of a new score composed and conducted by composer Joel McNeely. Tom Jones' rendition of "Kung Fu Fighting" plays over the end credits, followed by a song specially written and performed for the film by the band Devo, entitled "Supercop".
This release was cut by approximately 10 minutes. These cuts include:
The film was given a theatrical and VHS release in the United Kingdom.
Police Story 3 grossed HK$32,609,783 (US$4,212,833) in its Hong Kong theatrical run.[6] In Taiwan, it grossed NT$64,576,200[7] (US$2,607,187).[8] In Japan, it earned ¥763 million (US$6.95 million) at the box office.[9] In South Korea, it grossed US$3.71 million,[10] adding up to US$17,530,020 grossed in East Asia.
In the United States, the film was screened in 1993 at the Hogg Memorial Auditorium in Austin, Texas, along with the original Police Story, with both films well-received among Austin audiences at the time.[11] After the North American success of Rumble in the Bronx, Police Story 3 received a wide release in North America on 25 July 1996. Opening at 1,406 theatres, it grossed US$5,503,176 ($3,914 per screen), on its way to a total gross of US$16,270,600[12] from 3.7 million ticket sales.[13]
In France, the film sold 61,402 tickets in 1994,[14] equivalent to an estimated €276,309 (US$328,670) in gross revenue.[15] In Italy, the film sold 2,385 tickets in 1997,[16] equivalent to an estimated €11,925 (US$13,523) in gross revenue.[15] In Spain (released 1999),[13] it sold 61,402 tickets,[17] and 1,100 tickets in Romania,[18] equivalent to an estimated €233,328[15] (US$248,681) in gross revenue.
Combined, the film grossed an estimated US$34,391,494 (equivalent to $66,000,000 in 2021) from the worldwide box office.
In the United States, the home video release grossed US$14,430,000 (equivalent to $24,000,000 in 2021) in video rental revenue during 1997, making it the year's second highest-grossing Dimension rental video (after Scream).[19] This adds up to an estimated US$48,821,494 (equivalent to $94,000,000 in 2021) grossed from the box office and US video rentals.
The North American release by Dimension was well received. The U.S. version of the film holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 92% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 53 reviews.[20]
James Berardinelli of website ReelViews wrote: "As is usual in a Chan film, the end credits (which show out-takes of failed stunts) are one of Police Story 3's highlights. There are more laughs in this hilarious three-minute sequence than in the whole of Kingpin. I can't think of a better reason to stay through the entire movie. Ultimately, the closing montage points out one of the chief differences between Chan's stylized, fast-paced films and those of his American counterparts: this is action with a smile, not a grimace".[21]
In the Washington Post, Richard Harrington said: "Chan seems to have met his soul mate in Khan [Yeoh's credited name], Asia's top female action star. Like Chan, Khan does her own fighting and stunts. Unlike the Hollywood action contingent, Chan and Khan don't rely on cinematic trickery. Theirs are not special effects, just spectacular ones. Connoisseurs will find Chan's helicopter-train chase far riskier, more exciting and more believable than its mates in Mission: Impossible and The Living Daylights".[22]
Furthermore, in 2009, director Quentin Tarantino named Police Story 3 as one of his favorite films of the past seventeen years.[23] He said that Supercop features the "greatest stunts ever filmed in any movie ever".[24] In 2016 during a roundtable discussion, when asked which movie scene he would love to save for the last of humanity to see, he named the final scene of the movie as his choice.[25] In 2014, Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films.[26] Supercop was listed at 75th place on this list.[27]
Michelle Yeoh went on to star in a 1993 spin-off called Supercop 2 or Project S. Though it features a cameo appearance by Jackie Chan and Bill Tung reprises his role as "Uncle" Bill, this film is not a proper part of the Police Story series.
The film inspired two missions in the 2004 videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, both of which were taken from the film's final scenes. The game's last mission, "End of the Line", in which C.J must chase a firetruck with a red open-top car and catch Sean "Sweet" Johnson, was taken from the scene in which Jackie must chase a van using a red open-top car to catch Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh).
The mission "Wrong Side of the Tracks", in which the player must follow a train from a dirt bike, was taken from the scene in which Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh) follows the train on a similar dirt bike.
The film briefly appears in a scene in British police comedy film Hot Fuzz in which Danny Butterman sees the film in a supermarket's bargain bin and reads it while Nicholas Angel pursues a shoplifter.
Two songs "I Have My Way" (我有我路向) sung by Jackie Chan and "I Just Want You to Understand" (我只想你懂) sung by Taiwanese musician Jonathan Lee, both lyricized by Hong Kong songwriter James Wong and composed by Lee,[28] are featured as theme songs for the Asian versions of the film.
A soundtrack containing alternative rock and hip hop song was released on 30 July 1996 by Interscope Records. It peaked at #133 on the Billboard 200.
POLICE STORY 3: SUPERCOP hits Blu-ray on September 26th, courtesy of Eureka Entertainment
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Stanley Tong filmography | |
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