POLICE STORY 2013 (Ding Sheng, 2014)

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We love Jackie Chan. He has been an indelible part of our childhood that we are willing to forgive him for mishaps such as "THE SPY NEXT DOOR" and "CHINESE ZODIAC". Imagine my excitement upon learning of a new POLICE STORY movie, which is also darker than the previous one (which co-starred Daniel Wu). 

In POLICE STORY 2013, Chan is Mainland Police Detective Zhong Wen, who is set to meet her estranged daughter Miao (Jing Tian) at Wu Bar, owned by Wu Jiang (Liu Ye). A hostage taking situation ensues, and both Zhong and Miao are caught in the crossfire. But not everything is as it seems.

An elaborate plan of revenge is revealed to be the objective of the hostage taking. But for what? The film uses flashbacks and hints, yet the muddled storytelling gets in the way of an entertaining presentation. There is not much action as we'd like there to be, and Chan's age is undeniable especially during close up shots. He seems to be functioning at 20% his regular self here, when we were expecting he will beat bad guys silly. 

There was my fear early on in that Chan will spend the entire running time of the film tied to a chair. That did not happen, fortunately. But there wasn't enough action going on either. 

In the end, what the film amounts to is a morality confrontation where responsibility must be upheld and so on and so forth. For more than an hour of dragging storytelling, the film (almost) redeems itself by its final scene at the subway, which shows us that Chan has mastered the art of heavy drama as well. But this film is far from great compared to another heavy drama Chan-starrer entitled SHINJUKU INCIDENT. 

Nevertheless, we still forgive Chan. But please, if he wants to make another sequel, do RUSH HOUR 4 already. 

RATING: 2/5 

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