88 FILMS 4K UHD AND BLU RAY RELEASE: Police Story III: Supercop (1992)

Jackie Chain is back as “Kevin” Chan Ka-Kui, the Hong Kong cop he played in Police Story and Police Story 2. It’s also the first movie that the former Michelle Khan, now Michelle Yeoh, would make after her divorce. The two stars got into a stunt competition during filming and both kept doing more dangerous stunts, until Chan had to admit that they were both going to die.

He’s not lying. This movie is famous for the scene where Yeoh jumps a dirt bike onto a train — I love that people say, “Well, it was on a track” and they don’t realize that she’s still riding a dirtbike onto a moving trail — and that’s just one of the many stunts that keep on escalating.

How wild does it get?

In a Hollywood Reporter round table, when asked what scene he would put in a time capsule or to show to aliens, Tarantino picked the last scene of this movie. As big time directors like Ridley Scott and Danny Boyle laughed at him, he said, “Aliens would watch and be amazed at what they saw” and the scene “could actually give you an understanding of cinema and all its bells and whistles and the movement.”

Ka-Kui is sent to Guangzhou, where Interpol director Inspector Jessica Yang (Yeoh) explains his next assignment: he must stop drug lord Chaibat (Kenneth Tsang) by getting close to him. To do that, he’s to go undercover and break the crime boss’ henchman Panther (Yuen Wah) out of prison. A thankful bad guy, Panther invites Ka-Kui to join the gang.

The first problem? They end up in Ka-Kui’s supposed hometown, but the cops are ahead of the criminals and have set up a family for him, with Yang as his sister. They also make it look like the brother and sister team kill a cop, making them seem like even better choices to join Chaibat.

Chaibat tests the heroes by sending them on dangerous missions, like killing everyone that deals with his main grower and rescuing his wife Chen Wen-Shi (Josephine Koo) from a huge prison in Kuala Lumpur. She won’t give him the password to his Swiss bank accounts otherwise, so it’s not motivated by love.

The problem? Ka-Kui’s girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) is also there, leading a group of tourists, and thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her once she sees him with another woman. She ends up taken by the gang and the cops are forced to break Chen Wen-Shi from jail, which leads to the near-twenty minute long action that closes the film, the scene that Tarantino picked as the one he would save above all other movie moments.

He’s not serving hyperbole. That scene is that good. The rest of the movie is, too. Sure, Jackie made better, but if you judge this purely on how entertaining it is, it’s really hard to beat.

The 88 Films limited edition of 3000 for Police Story III: Supercop has a slipcase with new artwork by Sean Longmore, an 80-page collector’s booklet featuring new writing by C.J. Lines and interview with John Wakefield, six lobby cards and a double-sided poster.

The film is available as both a 4K UHD presentation of the Hong Kong cut and a 4K UHD presentation of the international U.S. cut. There’s audio commentary by Frank Djeng, features on all of the actors and the director, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, trailers, T.V. commercials, teaser trailers, and even the TV commercial where Yeoh first met Chan. I honestly don’t know if there will be a better version of this movie ever released. You can get it from MVD.

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