Crime Story
Reviewed by YTSL
If nothing else, this Kirk Wong directed effort
-- whose “inspired by a real life case” story centers on the tracking down
of a kidnapped property magnate (portrayed by Law Kar Ying) and the five
individuals (including ones played by Wan Fat, Chung Fat and Ken Lo) who
planned plus committed this crime -- is considered by quite a few folks
to be the (Hong Kong) film starring Jackie Chan that is the least like
what people think “a Jackie Chan movie” ought to be. But what exactly
does this mean? From what I’ve gleaned from such as the HKMDB and
HKFilm.net, it would seem to pertain to the crime drama -- in which the
Big Nosed One essays a dedicated detective Inspector named Eddie Chan --
being one of his most serious, intense and bloody star vehicles.
Additionally, there’s the matter of the expectly masochistic and hard to
kill character that he brings to life in this dark work being far less
“cute and cuddly” as well as being more likely to use a gun -- and, in
the process, have fewer opportunities to show off his martial artistic
abilities -- than others he has played in his multi-decade career.
Perhaps because I would not place myself in the
ranks of the prolific actor-director-producer’s most ardent fans, I really
don’t have a problem with the humor-free persona plus (young) girlfriend-less
role that Jackie Chan was provided with in CRIME STORY. Instead,
this (re)viewer has to admit to her very much welcoming the now middle-aged
action god’s having a part in the Leonard Ho production that is vastly
disparate in nature from the cringe worthy (sounding) ones that he -- who
is in real danger of degenerating into a Hollywood joke plus hick as well
as a pale imitation of his Hong Kong self -- is slated to have in the undoubtedly
better pay-check providing -- but still (and probably less action packed
too)! -- “The Tuxedo” (whose lame looking trailer I’ve had the misfortune
to see twice already in theatres), “The Bell Boy” and “Around the World
in 80 Days” (in which the Jade Theatre’s Big Brother has been marked down
to play a man-servant).
Okay. Enough anti-Jackie in Hollywood ranting
(at least for now…), and back to describing the kind of eventful film that
signals its meaning business by featuring a violently enacted enough practice
abduction along with fierce gun battle that raged in hardly deserted streets
and related urban areas inside its first ten minutes or thereabouts.
Before too long, the tautly paced plus capably edited CRIME STORY also
provides evidence -- in the form of a meant-to-shock sex scene in a mainly
glass-walled elevator (between the rotund Kent Cheng’s crooked cop character
and his club hostess girlfriend (Christine Ng)) as well as a tense discussion
between an increasingly stroppy Inspector Eddie Chan and a cool psychologist
assigned to evaluate the arguably overly-driven individual’s mental health
-- of this effort (whose lead role had reportedly been initially offered
to Jet Li) possessing a more generally mature nature than many of those
with which Jackie Chan has come to be popularly associated.
Something else that occurs early in the 1993 offering
-- that has Blackie Ko making a brief appearance as a Taiwanese police
captain -- is Inspector Chan getting told that “You can’t stand the sight
of shooting and killing”. While there is some truth to this assessment
of CRIME STORY’s heroic protagonist, what really seems to get his goat
are those recalcitrant thugs who think nothing of endangering, hurting
or killing (even relatively) innocent people (including members of the
Royal Hong Kong Police force). Consequently, he is the kind of fellow
who goes about upholding the law and righting wrongs with a seemingly tireless
plus single-minded doggedness that puts most others of his colleagues to
shame -- to the extent that even those who were apt to have bitter feelings
of their having gotten way too little for their sacrifices eventually repent
upon being privy to and/or the direct beneficiary of the good Inspector’s
exemplary actions.
Standing in stark contrast to this admirable personality
are CRIME STORY’s two other significant characters. Unbeknownst to
his cop superiors and colleagues, the veteran underling named Hung who
Inspector Chan gets assigned to help him crack the movie’s main case actually
is someone involved with perpetuating -- if not being the actual mastermind
behind -- the crime that he was hoping would make him (and his four collaborators)
extremely wealthy at the expense of an individual on whom many people wished
ill. Among other things, the kidnap victim was characterized by his
men as “heartless” as well as “a notorious miser”. In the married
man’s favor though is his having done enough to make his wife really love
him and consequently be willing to do pretty much everything that was demanded
of her -- including deliver a staggering US$60 million ransom -- in order
to ensure that he -- whose name of Wong Yat Fei looks to be exactly like
that of “Shaolin Soccer”’s HKFA Best Supporting winner! -- would be safely
released by his captors.
Still, what truly proves to be Mr. Wong’s saving
grace is not so much his caring spouse but the policeman who had been unable
to prevent the building tycoon’s kidnapping (but then went about trying
with a vengeance to make up for his earlier failure). Jackie Chan
devotees ought to be happy (to know) that in the process of doing this,
his character has an often acrobatic fight up in a building’s not particularly
solidly constructed rafters, another short -- but still sweet to witness
-- largely empty-handed duel in a police station office plus spends some
exciting moments in the danger-filled bowels of a boat that is not exactly
in tip top condition. Even if they may not end up liking this offering
as much as others, they still should feel gratified for their hero that
his CRIME STORY work got the man his -- thus far, and maybe for all time
-- one and only Golden Horse Best Actor prize.
My rating for the film: 8.