Police Story (1985)

I heard this classic Hong Kong action movie was technically a Christmas film, so I decided to give it a rewatch, only to discover that wasn't possible. To rewatch a movie, you need to have seen it before, and I discovered a ways in I actually hadn't. I'd have sworn otherwise, but while I've seen numerous of the movie's various stunts and set pieces in clips, the rest was new to me.

First, let's jump to the Christmas stuff, with the caveat there's very little. For the record, I'm going to defend this as a Christmas movie for the same reason I defended the label being attached to Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! - films set at Christmas in a time and place where the holiday is afforded less importance tell us about how those cultures relate to Christmas. The holiday doesn't belong to Hollywood or the United States, and I think it would be a mistake to limit our viewpoint to the tropes, conventions, traditions, and assumption of our own nation.

That said, there's probably a easier argument for Detective Bureau than Police Story. The 1963 Japanese crime comedy used the holidays for tonal levity, while Police Story seems to select the setting only to enhance some stunts set in a mall with decorations. Even that may be an overstatement: given the movie's budget and time constraints, it's possible the decorations were simply present at the location they wanted when they needed to film.

I will note I caught one line seeming to foreshadow this earlier in the film. During a court case, the defense argues that Chan (conveniently Jackie Chan's character's name) couldn't have clearly seen a suspect since the interaction in question occurred early in the morning, prior to the time the sun rises in December. Granted, I'm taking it on faith this detail wasn't changed for the subtitles after the fact, but let's set that aside for the time being.

Of course the detail is relevant - daylight becomes scarce as we approach the winter solstice. In this respect, I could argue the timing is significant to the story and not simply a throwaway joke. I could argue that, but I'd be being disingenuous: the context makes it clear this is one of numerous details embarrassing Chan, who's unable to keep up with the lawyer's spinning of the truth, mostly for comedic effect. Also, the earlier scene we're now being told was set around 6:00 AM clearly took place in broad daylight, but that scene involved some absolutely jaw-dropping stunts, so who the hell cares?

What I do think is worth mentioning is that, in this movie at least, facilitating stunts is worth taking seriously. In a very real sense this whole film exists to justify action set pieces, elaborate fights, and insane stunts: if some of those are built around Christmas decorations, it's nothing to scoff at. Though, again, I'm not sure whether they were built around the decorations or simply found those decorations present when they were trying to shoot. Though even the latter is a breadcrumb of information about Hong Kong's relationship to the holidays (enough for decorations to be present but not omnipresent).

It's also worth noting holiday decorations might not just have been relevant to some stunts but perhaps the movie's final iconic stunt. Maybe. See, the movie ends with Jackie Chan sliding down a pole in the mall covered in lights, which are exploding around him. The lights certainly look as though they could be holiday decorations. At the same time, they could just be decorative elements always present in the mall. I lean towards the former, but I have to admit either is possible. Anyone more familiar with the location from either personal experience or other media from the era is encouraged to comment below.

So now that we've covered the Christmas elements in far more depth than was necessary or even reasonable, let's talk a little about the movie itself. Police Story is one of Jackie Chan's early films and widely considered one of his best action movies. In terms of the stunts and action, I'm inclined to agree - what Chan and his stunt team were able to accomplish is astonishing (even more astonishing is that they were willing to try).

That said, while the stunts are incredible in isolation, the movie isn't really anything more than the sum of its parts. The action is incredible and the comedy is entertaining, but it would be a while before Chan's movies started integrating them effectively. Compounding this issue are a number of dramatic beats that don't serve either the action or slapstick sections. In short, this is a far better action movie than it is a movie.

To be fair, Police Story does an admirable job stringing its action sequences together with a storyline, at least compared to other movies where the script is created as an afterthought to justify fight choreography and locations. The story mostly makes sense (mostly), though even then the finale hinges on a deux ex machina MacGuffin introduced in the third act that's literally printed out of a machine.

If you're a fan of action it's an essential film, both in terms of Chan's career and the evolution of the genre... and of course simply to appreciate the stunts. But those who only have a passing interest in this stuff could just as easily look up clips of the various set pieces and iconic stunts on YouTube: these sequences are legendary, but they're just as good out of context. It's also worth noting that while the action may have peaked here, the stunts certainly get more audacious and cinematic in Chan's later films (e.g.: no one drives a motorcycle onto a train in this one, for example). If you're new to Chan and Hong Kong cinema, this probably isn't the best place to start.

Likewise, while I'm not backing down my assertion this needs to count as a Christmas movie, that doesn't mean I'd recommend it to American audiences looking for something festive or even anti-festive. The holidays are very much a background element here, and then only in the finale (the December callout is interesting, but it certainly doesn't make the movie feel Christmasy or anything). However, whether a technicality or not, Police Story belongs on the list of iconic '80s Christmas action movies, alongside classics like Die Hard, First Blood, and Lethal Weapon.