Film / Super Cop

The third installment of the Police Story franchise, one where the action gets doubled with the debut of Michelle Yeoh's new character.

Originally known in Hong Kong as Police Story 3, it was renamed and released in the U.S. in 1995. Jackie Chan stars as Chan "Supercop" Ka-Kui of the Royal Hong Kong Police, assigned to a dangerous mission for the DEA to stop a drug lord. His assignment takes him to mainland China, where he teams up with Captain Yang Chien-Hua (Michelle Yeoh), and the pair infiltrate the inner circle of the notorious Chaibat, bickering and kicking ass along the way.

Michelle Yeoh would return to star in a standalone sequel, Super Cop 2, reprising her role as Inspector Yang. Jackie Chan shows up in that one as well, but only for a cameo.

Fun Fact: Quentin Tarantino once stated in an interview that if the Earth is going to be destroyed and he could launch one piece of film into space to preserve it for aliens, it would be the final action scene of this movie.

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This film provides the following tropes:

• Action Girl: Michelle Yeoh keeps up with Chan, doing her own death-defying stunts, including riding a dirt bike onto a moving train. A stunt which, according to the outtakes in the credits, she had to do multiple times
• Becoming the Mask:
  • At least when Kevin remembers he's supposed to be Lin Fu-Sheng. Played for laughs during the prison breakout, as Yang shoots Panther's comrade so Kevin can step in.
    Panther: [horrified, as his friend falls] Hsiuen!
    Ka-Kui: [acting even more horrified] HSIUEN!!
  • Uncle Bill plays Fu-Sheng's mama to the hilt.
• Big Bad: Chaibat, aka Big Brother.
• Breakout Character: Yeoh reprised this role as the star of Supercop 2.
• Commie Land: The Chinese cops on the whole seem to have a bit of disdain for Kevin's seat-of-the-pants approach to policing (not to mention his individualist title of "Supercop Chan").
  • Yang, posing as Ka-Kui sister, responds to a slap from her "brother" by slapping him back and quoting the Chairman.
    Yang: Think you're superior, huh? Mao Tse-Tung said women are the true power of society!
    Ka-Kui: [rubbing his face] Did Mao Tse-Tung really say that?!
    Yang: Yeah!
• Contrived Coincidence: Not only does May's tour group arrive in Kuala Lumpur the same day as an undercover Ka-Kui and Yang, but they even end up at the same hotel. You get the sense the filmmakers really wanted to use Maggie Cheung beyond a simple cameo at the beginning, and had to strain to find a place for her in the plot due to most of the film taking place away from Hong Kong.
• Damsel in Distress: May. The poster even has Kevin and Yang brandishing guns in action poses while poor May is Bound and Gagged off to the side.
• Dub Name Change: In keeping with what was established in the original Police Story and Police Story 2, both English dubs change Chan's given name from Ka-Kui to Kevin, and in the Miramax dub, Yang's from Chien-Hua to Jessica. Chaibat's brother Bào is renamed Panther in both (though 'Bao' is just Chinese for 'panther').
• Edible Bludgeon: Durians can be used as bludgeoning tools, apparently.
• Fanservice Extra: Chaibat's hideout hosts a number of men and women dressed only in swimming trunks and swimsuit, respectively.
• Faux Fluency: Chan, in the English version; Yeoh, in the Cantonese version.
• Fish out of Water: Kevin, a cop from British Hong Kong, finds himself among the decidedly more rigid Communists of mainland China.
• Groin Attack:
  • Yang kicked a female drug trafficker in the crotch during the gunfight in the drug supplier's compound in Thailand before the latter is shotdown by the supplier's soldiers.
  • In a Hilarious Outtakes, Chan fell and accidentally hit Yeoh in her crotch. After crumpling in pain, she responds by playfully punching him.
• Hiding in a Hijab: Yang briefly dons this disguise in Malaysia.
• Hilarious Outtakes: Always a staple of Jackie Chan films. Subverted in the painful-looking shots where Chan is shown getting clocked by a helicopter rotor and then carried off (presumably to the ER), and Yeoh lands wrong on the hood of a moving car, then falls to the street—taking a crew member with her.
• Jurisdiction Friction: A local police force attempted to arrest Panther and his gang. This contradicts Kevin and Yang's Interpol mission to track down Chaibat through Panther and thus they're forced to fight the local cops to protect Panther. The duo left Panther's gang members scattered or arrested by the local cops, however, so they only escaped with Panther.
• Like Brother and Sister: Kevin and Yang pose as siblings—and snipe accordingly. Though the following exchange is interesting:
  Kevin: You hit your brother so hard. What if I was your husband?
  Yang: Wait and find out.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Though they're posing as siblings, Kevin and Yang engage in a lot of Casual Danger Dialogue and Teeth-Clenched Teamwork during their undercover, even right before the end credit rolls.
• Made of Iron: Chan and Yeoh, of course, not to mention a couple of the crew members.
• More Dakka: The meeting with the drug lords in Thailand, despite the general's (widely flouted) plea of "No violence!"
• Outside Ride: After Chaibat's gang hijacks the prisoner transport, Yang rides on the top of their bus during an intense chase scene.
• Prisoner Exchange: At the end, with Chaibat negotiating for his wife if Ka-Kui wants May back.
• Re-Cut:
  • American distributor Miramax cut eight minutes from the runtime, redubbed and rescored the film, adding songs by Tom Jones and Devo.
  • Notably, the English dub also drops any instances of a language barrier between Chan and the other characters, since all the dialogue is in the same language.
• Super Cop: The title refers to Ka-Kui. Its pretty much Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: The previous Police Story films were both squarely rooted in Hong Kong, but Supercop takes the action to Mainland China, Thailand, and Malaysia.
• Shout-Out: The scene where Chaibat bashes a subordinate's head with a durian (an exotic Malaysian fruit, covered in spikes) is a reference to Al Capone's iconic baseball bat scene from The Untouchables.
• Thanks for the Mammary: Ka-Kui to Yang, though she wears Bulletproof Vest at the time. So it's not much, not to mention everyone thought they're siblings at the time.
• Too Dumb to Live: May's clever ruse is cancelled out after she blows Kevin's cover while talking to her friend in the elevator.
  • It's even worse. She spoke with her friend in English all the time, except for the time she was explaining the plan.
  • Either the Chinese didn't fully brief Kevin on his mission—or he really did have a terrible memory.
• Traintop Battle: The ending battle have a rather lengthy and awesome battle on a train where Kevin and Yang battles Chaibat's mooks.
• Villain's Dying Grace: Implied with the wife of the Big Bad; even though is more than likely still sentenced to death when she gets handed back to the Thailand Authorities, she graciously gives Ka-Kui and Yang her Swiss Bank Account and its password as gratitude for saving her from falling off and being crushed by the speeding train on which the finale took place.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Chaibat, sort of, right after shooting Yang in her bulletproof vest.
  You two kids are really okay!

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