Movie Review: Supercop 2

A sequel to the earlier Jackie Chan movie, this one takes Michelle Yeoh's character Inspector Jessica Yang as the lead. Here, she is sent to Hong Kong to assist in tracking down a gang that has broken into a security firm's computer, allowing them access to any of the firm's clients. The twist is that the leader of the gang is Yang's boyfriend David, an ex-cop that for some reason decided to dump his girlfriend and go bad. Or at least, somewhat bad - it's not clear if he intended to try to get Yang to join him in Hong Kong at some point, but he also didn't seem to have much of a plan for explaining things. Suffice it to say that a lot of plot points and decisions don't seem to be very well thought out in this movie.

But maybe the plot isn't the point - after all, we don't watch Jackie Chan movies for the plot, do we? Unfortunately, Supercop 2 doesn't consistently bring either the amazing stunt work or the good martial fighting I was looking for either. Much of the standoffs involve bad guys spraying automatic guns around, hoping to hit something. And since many of the standoffs have to take time out for David to avoid being discovered or killing Jessica, there really isn't any of these battles that do much in terms of deep strategy or action.

By the end of the film, David is himself set up by his partner, the standard evil American that occasionally shows up in these films, and so David is now fighting for his life against both his partner and the cops, now led by Yang. (If it seems like this movie would perhaps be better with David's character as the lead rather than Jessica's, you're not alone.) And while there is a final showdown between David and Jessica, it ends up being a disappointment, as they only stand around and point guns at each other.

So if the drama and the action are out, what about the comedy? Well, for the most part, this movie plays it pretty straight - with the notable exception of a bizarre cameo appearance by Jackie Chan as an undercover cop in drag who happens to be at one of the potential crime scenes. He plays out a weird pantomime act with another actor, in identical drag makeup. It's just strange, even for Jackie, and is completely superfluous to the main plot - clearly just there to get a few more butts in the seats.

It's not all bad - there is one impressive sequence where Jessica is taking on a giant American mercenary-type while her partner takes on a pair of other bad guys. But for the most part, Supercop 2 is a disappointment, both on its own merits and in comparison to the original Supercop. Two stars.