Supercop
With Jackie Chan, Michelle Khan, and Maggie Cheung.
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The American action film of the 80s and 90s has depended almost entirely on special effects for its thrills. Terminator 2 captivated audiences with one of the first and most expert uses of morphing. Every year since, there’s been some new special effect in the latest Schwarzenegger epic to satisfy the American taste for novelty. But with Jurassic Park the endlessly creative Steven Spielberg proved that stars such as Schwarzenegger, Seagal, and Stallone could be replaced by stars such as Attenborough, Goldblum, and Neill–who in turn will probably be replaced by robots. Audiences didn’t go see Jurassic Park for the human beings; they went for the dinosaurs. Along with the star system, Spielberg incidentally disposed of other inessentials, such as story. The result is movies like Twister and Independence Day (or, as fans say with nauseating familiarity, “ID4”)–movies lacking stars and stories, movies pretending to be amusement parks. The problem is that they’re inferior amusement parks. A roller coaster can throw your stomach into your mouth. In the 1974 Earthquake you could at least feel the seat rumble. But in 20 years, Independence Day will look as dated as the Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s, if not television’s Clutch Cargo.
The greatest compliment one can pay Jackie Chan is to call him the Buster Keaton of the 80s and 90s. Rumble in the Bronx is distinguished by hundreds of witty choreographic and comic details interwoven with the larger fabric of the story. Unfortunately, the latest Chan film edited and dubbed into English is a dreary letdown. Lax in its details, distinguished only by its set pieces, Supercop disappoints primarily because the choreography is far too simplistic.
At the beginning of Supercop one of Chan’s superior officers offers an interesting idea. He and another officer are arguing over whether or not to use Chan for the upcoming dangerous mission. The chief says, “Why not get James Bond?” The other officer agrees that that might be a good idea. Maybe so: then Pierce Brosnan could play Jackie Chan, and Rumble in the Bronx could become Supercop could become GoldenEye. What’s most depressing is that audiences might not mind.
