The Police Story Trilogy: Limited Edition Box Set – Eureka Video (4k UHD)

Theatrical Release Dates: Hong Kong, 1985 (Police Story), Hong Kong, 1988 (Police Story 2), Hong Kong, 1992 (Police Story 3: Supercop)
Directors: Jackie Chan (Police Story, Police Story 2), Stanley Tong (Police Story 3: Supercop)
Cast: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill Tung, Mars (Police Story), Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Kwok-Hung Lam, Bill Tung, Mars (Police Story 2), Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Kenneth Tsang, Wah Yuen, Bill Tung, Josephine Koo, Kelvin Wong, Philip Chan, Ken Lo, Lieh Lo (Police Story 3: Supercop)

Release Date: September 26th, 2022
Approximate Running Times: 100 Minutes 31 Seconds (Police Story), 121 Minutes 53 Seconds (Police Story 2), 96 Minutes 30 Seconds (Police Story 3: Supercop)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / Dolby Vision HDR10 (All Films)
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Cantonese, DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese (Restored), LPCM Mono English (Classic Dub Track) (Police Story), LPCM Mono Cantonese, DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese (Restored), DTS-HD 5.1 English (Restored) (Police Story 2), LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Stereo Cantonese (Home Video Mix), Dolby Atmos Cantonese, LPCM Mono English (Police Story 3: Supercop)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £60.99 (UK)

Police Story: "considered by Jackie Chan himself to be his best film in terms of pure action, Police Story stars Chan as “super cop” Chan Ka-Kui, who goes up against a notorious crime lord in a series of escalating set-pieces that resulted in many of Jackie’s stunt team being hospitalised." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Police Story 2: "Demoted to traffic cop after the events of the first film, Chan Ka-Kui is reinstated to the detective unit when a deadly gang of explosive experts blow up a building and threaten to blow up more if their demands are not met." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Police Story 3: Supercop: "Action superstar Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) joins the series as Inspector Yang Chien-Hua, who teams up with Chan Ka-Kui to take down an international drug ring." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Police Story), 4.25/5 (Police Story 2), 5/5 (Police Story 3: Supercop)

Here’s the information provided about the transfers, "4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations of all three films across 3 Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)."

Police Story comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 90.7 GB

Feature: 68.5 GB

Police Story 2 comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 91.5 GB

Feature: 67.4 GB

Eureka Video originally released Police Story and Police Story 2 on Blu-ray in 2018. That release had a color grade that was not well received by some. This new release carries over that same master with the same color grading. Also, when it comes to black levels for these two films, at times they can look milky. That said, color grading issues and black levels aside, both of these films look great, and they both benefit from Dolby Vision and HDR10.

Police Story 3: Supercop comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 90.7 GB

Feature: 66.6 GB

Police Story 3: Supercop was released on Blu-ray by Eureka Video at the same time they’re releasing it on 4K UHD. Their Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases share the same master. When compared to the other two films' transfers, the transfer for Police Story 3: Supercop is easily the best looking of the three. The source for this transfer is in excellent shape; color saturation, image clarity, contrast, and black levels are solid; and there do not appear to be any issues related to digital noise reduction.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Cantonese - Police Story), 4/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese, LPCM Mono English - Police Story), 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Cantonese - Police Story), 4/5 (DTS-HD 5.1 Cantonese, DTS-HD 5.1 English - Police Story), 4.5/5 (LPCM Stereo Cantonese, Dolby Atmos Cantonese - Police Story 3: Supercop), 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono English - Police Story 3: Supercop)

Police Story comes with three audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Cantonese; a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese; and a LPCM mono mix in English. All of the audio mixes sound clean, clear, balanced throughout, and robust when they need to be. The best sounding audio mix was the LPCM mono mix in Cantonese. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Police Story 2 comes with three audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in Cantonese; a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese; and a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English. All of the audio mixes sound clean, clear, balanced throughout, and robust when they need to be. The best sounding audio mix was the LPCM mono mix in Cantonese. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Police Story 3: Supercop comes with four audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese, a LPCM stereo mix in Cantonese, a Dolby Atmos mix in Cantonese, and a LPCM mono mix in English. Despite the fact that all audio tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced. The Cantonese stereo and Atmos tracks sound noticeably more robust than the mono Cantonese and English tracks. It should be noted that the Cantonese audio tracks feature some dialog in Mandarin. Included with this version are removable English subtitles for all the dialog in Cantonese and Mandarin.

Extras:

Extras for Police Story include 4K restoration trailer (3 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese, no subtitles), original export theatrical trailer (2 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), original Hong Kong theatrical trailer (2 minutes 47 seconds, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Jackie Chan (19 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Jackie Chan show promo (4 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), alternate and extended scenes (13 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with Asian film experts Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) and F.J. DeSanto, an audio commentary with action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, and an export cut of Police Story titled Police Force (87 minutes 20 seconds, LPCM mono English “classic dub track”, LPCM mono Cantonese “alternate audio mix” with the Kevin Bassinson score” with removable English subtitles).

Extras for Police Story 2 include original export theatrical trailer (2 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), original Hong Kong theatrical trailer (4 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese, no subtitles), outtakes (5 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese, music from the film playing in the background), an archival interview with stuntman/actor Benny Lai (15 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), Jackie Chan episode of Son of the Incredibly Strange Film Show (41 minutes 8 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Asian film experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, an audio commentary with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, Police Story 2 alternate export version (95 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), Police Story 2 the original Hong Kong theatrical version (105 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), and an audio commentary with Miles Wood and Jude Poyer for Police Story 2 the original Hong Kong theatrical version.

Extras for Police Story 3: Supercop include Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), Japanese teaser trailer (43 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), UK export theatrical trailer (2 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), US teaser trailer (1 minute 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), US theatrical trailer (1 minute 40 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), five US TV spots (2 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), US video promo (1 minute 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), outtakes (51 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono, no dialog, music from the film playing in the background), an archival interview with actor Jackie Chan titled Flying High (19 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actress Michelle Yeoh titled Dancing with Death (23 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with director Stanley Tong titled The Stuntmaster General (19 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Ken Lo titled The Fall Guy (21 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Stanley Tong from 2003 (17 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Stanley Tong from 2005 (31 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), locations featurette titled Police Story Location Guide (11 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled The Ultra Violent Jackie Chan Video Games (11 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with stunt coordinator and action film historian John Kreng (22 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Asian film experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, an audio commentary with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, and alternate US version titled Supercop (91 minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles). 

Other extras include a limited-edition hard case and a perfect bound 100-page booklet (limited to 4,000 copies), cast & crew credits for each film, an essay titled The Changing Faces of Jackie Chan written by David West; an essay titled A Policeman’s Lot written by James Oliver; Police Story production/behind the scenes stills and artwork; an essay titled Back on the Beat written by James Oliver; Police Story 2 production stills and artwork; an essay titled The Chinese Connection written by James Oliver; Police Story 3 behind the scenes stills and artwork; and information about the transfer titled Notes on Viewing.

Summary:

Police Story: When Jackie Chan first emerged on the scene in the 1970’s, he was one of many martial arts actors who were groomed to fill the void left by Bruce Lee’s untimely death. In these early film appearances, though, there were glimpses of Jackie Chan’s potential. He would not find his own footing until the late 1970’s, when he was finally able to secure more control over his career.

Having said that, it would take a few years for Jackie Chan to cement his now-trademark persona. And by the mid-1980's, he would enter into what is arguably his most celebrated phase of his career. With films like Wheels on Meals, My Lucky Stars, and Police Story,

Looking back on Jackie Chan’s career, no film had a larger impact than Police Story did. It is a film that would become the foundation for what is now considered the blue print for the type of films that Jackie Chan has become synonymous with making.

From a production standpoint, there is not an area where this film does not deliver and then some. The well-executed narrative is perfectly placed. Another strength of this film is how well it balances comedy and its action set pieces.

Without a doubt, this film's greatest asset is Jackie Chan’s (Drunken Master) tour-de-force performance in the role of a police officer named Chan Ka Kui. Other notable performances include Maggie Cheung (As Tears Go By, The Heroic Trio) in the role of Chan Ka Kui’s girlfriend, May, and Yuen Chor (Bat Without Wings) in the role of a drug lord named Mr. Chu Tao.

Standout moments include the film’s opening sequence, where undercover police officers have staked out a shanty town where a drug deal is going down. Things quickly go awry when one of the criminals spots an undercover officer. And in the aftermath of what follows is a car chase down a hill that destroys most of the shanty town. This scene culminates with the Chan Ka Kui character chasing after and catching a bus that Mr. Chu Toa used as a getaway vehicle.

Other standout moments include a scene where Chan Ka Kui is given the challenge of protecting a witness who does not want his protection. So Chan Ka Kui convinces the witness to accept his protection by having another police officer pretend to be an intruder who wants to kill her. And the film’s finale is a very satisfying conclusion that features wall-to-wall action that takes place inside of a mall.

Police Story 2: It is inevitable that when there is a successful film, there will be sequels or clones that try to recreate the film. And with Police Story, three years after its release,

The premise of Police Story 2 retreads familiar elements from its predecessor and replaces the villains from Police Story with new nemeses. It should be noted that Mr. Chu Toa, the main villain from Police Story, makes a cameo in Police Story 2. This is just a mild distraction from this film’s actual villains.

From a production standpoint, Police Story 2 takes a bigger is better approach as each action set piece tries to outdo the next one. This film saves its most explosive moment for its finale. And the narrative once again does a very good job of balancing comedy and action set pieces.

The cast is all excellent in their roles, particularly Jackie Chan (Snake in the Eagle's Shadow) reprising the role of Chan Ka Kui. He delivers another scene-stealing performance that overshadows anyone who shares the screen with him.

Standout moments include the scene where Chan Ka Kui, who is about to go on a much-needed vacation with his girlfriend May, and he is enlisted by mall security to help evacuate a mall that has just received a bomb threat. Other standout moments include a scene where the villains capture Chan Ka Kui and one of the villains tortures him by throwing bang-snap fireworks at his face and shirtless chest.

Police Story 3: Supercop: Jackie Chan (Drunken Master) returns for a third time as Inspector Chan Ka Kui. And just like its predecessors, Police Story 3: Supercop is a wall-to-wall action extravaganza that's filled with spectacular stunts that showcase Jackie Chan’s prowess as one of Hong Kong cinema’s most fearless martial artists when it comes to dangerous stunts.

Police Story 3: Supercop was directed by Stanley Tong, a director best known for his collaborations with Jackie Chan. Their notable collaborations include Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike.

The narrative revolves around Hong Kong police Inspector Chan Ka Kui, who is sent to China under the guise that he is a supercop. His mission once inside China is to make contact with a man named Panther who can get him closer to a notorious drug kingpin named Chaibat.

Despite the fact that Police Story 3: Supercop picks up where its predecessors left off in terms of content, the result is a film that is best described as a different breed. Most notably, the difference between Police Story 3: Supercop and its predecessors is that humor is not as prominent, and the addition of Michelle Yeoh (Yes, Madam!) in the role of inspector Yang Chien-Hua provides Jackie Chan with a female equivalent who more than holds her own.

Besides Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh, the rest of the cast is filled with performances that all exceed expectations. Notable cast members include Maggie Cheung (The Heroic Trio) in the role of May, Chan Ka Kui’s neglected girlfriend; Lieh Lo (King Boxer) in the role of a general who supplies various crime bosses with drugs; and Kenneth Tsang (The Killer) in the role of Chaibat, a crime boss who resembles a James Bond villain.

Though most sequels fail to live up to the first film in their series, The Police Story films are a rare exception where each film somehow betters its predecessor. With Police Story 3: Supercop standing tall as the best of the three Police Story films.

Some may be disappointed by the color grade for Police Story and Police Story 2, or how the J-Card is not the proper size, or how the reversible cover art that was advertised was not included. That said, the result is a fantastic release that presents Police Story 1-3 in their best home video presentations to date. Each film comes with alternate versions, and there's a wealth of informative extras, making this a must-have purchase if you're a fan of Jackie Chan. highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer