Jackie Chan’s Police Story 1-2 | Blu-ray (Criterion)
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray set for Jackie Chan’s Police Story (1985) and Police Story 2 (1988), both with a Brand New 4k Restoration, as well as a endless amount of extra features.
The director/star/one-man stunt machine plays Ka-Kui, a Hong Kong police inspector who goes rogue to bring down a drug kingpin and protect the case’s star witness (Chinese cinema legend Brigitte Lin) from retribution. Police Story set a new standard for rock-’em-sock-’em mayhem that would influence a generation of filmmakers from Hong Kong to Hollywood.
Jackie Chan followed up the massive success of Police Story with an even bigger box-office hit. Having been demoted to a lowly traffic cop for his, ahem, unorthodox policing methods, Chan’s go-it-alone officer Ka-Kui quits the force in protest. But it isn’t long before he’s back in action, racing the clock to stop a band of serial bombers and win back his much-put-upon girlfriend May (the phenomenal Maggie Cheung, reprising her star-making role). Police Story 2 confirmed Chan’s status as a performer of unparalleled grace and daring.
Order Police Story 1 and 2 from Goodie Emporium today!
Pingback: POLICE STORY 1 & 2 Starring JACKIE CHAN To Return To U.S. Theaters In 4K | M.A.A.C.
Im glad part two is a just a bonus, its not a very good film and certainly a letdown compared to part one.
Criterions are pretty overrated. The best extras they have are generally things that already exist and were made for television years before.. Like the extras for Breathless.. And its good these things are included.. But Criterion tends to have have stuffy academics or even worse, film festival curators chiming in on things rather than the actual filmmakers.. Its a pretty elitist cannon of films and so I shouldn’t be surprised about their pretty elitist treatment of cinema.. One example of a great Criterion that never was is Tarkovsky’s STALKER, which could have included the only western release of the FANTASTIC documentary THE OTHER SIDE OF STALKER, but because the release was done in cooperation with the Tarkovsky estate, they objected to the inclusion (too many truth-bombs), which made is very weak-sauce indeed. But dont overreact to what Im saying, Criterion are quite good, its just that they are overrated and never truly make my jaw drop with a release and what it entails. I would love a Criterion Buffalo 66 one-day, with a plethora of extras like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP-03bF1MvQ
Overrated? Maybe. Overpriced? Definitely. I’ve seen Special Editions from other companies (with more love and care) for 1/3rd of the price. Mainly, their price point is why I hardly buy their titles. In my opinion, the Criterion name is all about “Perceived Value” and more power to ’em for that. But for Police Story I and II, they can piss on me R. Kelly-style.
I agree, there are plenty of special editions that blow any Criterion out of the water ..
I find it annoying that they choose a film like Police Story that is readily available, when as far as I know, The Killer has never had a satisfactory disc release .. Its like coming late to the party .. Or my 79yo Dad walking into the room and performing hip-hop ..
Readily available for non-U.S. audiences. Don’t forget, we hardly get official U.S. releases like this. We have to rely on importing them, which is no big deal, but we gotta pay the extra buck. Criterion had the rights to distribute THE KILLER/HARD BOILED back the 90s, so who knows… maybe if these sell good, they’ll jump back in for more JK releases or renew some old flames.
Police Story not readily available in the U.S?? Has been quite easy to get in Australia ..
Yes, not sure if they still have the rights to those John Woo films .. They weren’t anamorphic releases, so they did annoy a few DVD purists.
One thing I dislike about Criterion releases is their often sterile and misrepresentative cover art ..
As far as I know, there hasn’t been an official U.S. release since the DVD days, and from what I can remember, it was a lame release. There is some great artwork (by great artists) being done for Blu-ray/DVD cover art these days, but I’ve always preferred the original theatrical poster art. There are some exceptions though.
Ah, I must admit Im still stuck in the DVD days and have never actually watched a blu-ray …
It’s still all about of the movies, man. The 1080p/4K/5K takes a back seat. Take your time.
Sure is! I have a friend and all he talks about is his amazing TV and how good it is and how he wont watch DVD anymore, bla bla bla .. Really makes me cringe.
I still dust off my Laserdiscs..
The Criterion Laserdisc of Cronenberg’s CRASH (1996) is still the only release that has the awesome directors commentary.
Nice to see Criterion taking a break from releasing every Japanese movie ever made to acknowledge another part of Asia.
Haha. True.
I don’t understand all of this complaining about a Criterion release of Police Story on Blu Ray. Criterion is about as good as it gets for giving the best video transfer, good audio quality and typically nice extras, as well. Most “Blu-Ray” imports have been pretty bad in terms of video quality, just upconverting a DVD transfer onto a blu ray and charging a premium price. The only good recent transfer, on Blu-ray, has been from Eureka. I have a region free player, but many don’t. Even though I have some old imported Fortune Star DVD’s of the Police Story Trilogy, I’m absolutely picking these up from Criterion to see them as they were meant to be seen. I was super excited to see this news. For me it will be one of the best releases of the year. Like when Criterion released Zatoichi or Lone Wolf and Cub.
Absolutely. The Fortune Star DVDs have gotten me by (As well as the Dragon Dysentery DVDs. Thanks Mike Leeder) but Criterion’s release ought to be great.
Yes, Criterion is expensive, and it’s easy to go broke trying to buy up their catalogue, especially since other companies put out great releases for cheaper, but their releases of Kurasawa’s films, Melville’s films, Godzilla and even Heaven’s Gate have excellent transfers and extras.
Criterion posted a clip comment from Edgar Wright a few days ago. Also, checked Amazon, and it got pushed back a few days.