Police Story 2

Police Story 2 picks up not much after the end of the first movie. Chu Tao has been arrested and convicted, but Officer Chan caused so much property damage he's been demoted to traffic cop. Sadly, this does not result in Jackie Chan pulling any sick stunts on a motorcycle. Bummer.

Initially, the movie looks as though it'll be about Chu Tao trying to take revenge. He's able to be paroled because he's contracted an illness that's going to kill him in three months, and I guess he can't think of anything better to do with his money. Despite various threats against both Chan and his girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung), all they really succeed in doing is breaking the couple up. Mostly by bringing May's fears that Chan's always going to be devoted to his job first, and she'll just be a distant second.

While the relationship drama carries through the movie, Chu Tao drops out partway, replaced with a group of bombers trying to extort money from a large company. So there's scenes of the surveillance unit Chan joins trying to track the suspected bomber across town and through subways to his hideout and things like that. There's also a part where Chan tries to approach the guy selling the explosives while wearing a cheesy fake '70s mustache, which made me laugh every time I saw it.

The movie climaxes in a fight between Officer Chan and the crew of bombers in an old factory loaded with all kinds of fun stuff. Explosives, flammable stuff, chutes and ladders. It's a wonderful feeling when you see the setting and just know rad shit is about to happen. Jackie gets knocked down some immense funnel thing at one point and keeps bouncing off slanted metal surfaces for about three stories. Earlier on, I was really stoked when Chan chases this one annoying goon of Chu Tao's (who keeps getting his glasses busted by Jackie) into a playground, because you know they're gonna have fun with the slides and jungle gyms.

Not nearly as many people getting thrown through windows in this as the first movie, but still quite a few people with bleeding skulls if the credits are anything to go by. I know they're all trained professionals, but it's amazing to me any of these people survived this stuff.