Nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards 1993:

The Police Story-series has to date reached four parts and all have been quite well received all over the world. When the time came to make the third part the director of the first two, Jackie Chan, let stuntman Stanley Tong sit in the director's chair. A decision that led to two other collaborations between Jackie and Stanley (Police Story 4: First Strike & Rumble In The Bronx).

In most Jackie Chan films you only need a minimal plot to carry the movie and here is a good example of that:

Inspector Kevin Chan (Jackie Chan) team up with a chinese policewoman (Michelle Yeoh) for an undercover assignment which could lead to the capture of Asias biggest druglord; Thaibat (Kenneth Tsang from The Killer). But first they must get close and gain the trust of Thaibats right hand man called Panther (Yuen Wah from Eastern Condors).

I don't regard this at the best of the series but it still triumphs in many aspects like the other parts did. The script take our characters to a few different asian countries which makes the film feel a bit like a James Bond adventure. Apparently the director insisted that the movie should be shot in sync sound, something which was rare in Hong Kong at that time. So we do get to hear the real voices of Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh for once.

Jackie and his stunt team choose to focus their attention on more elaborate action set pieces rather than lengthly martial arts fights. Oh yes, there are a few fights but we do get more gunplay and crazy stunts. The highlights includes Jackies fight with Sam Wong in the beginning part of the film and the BIG action climax, which, to me, ranks as one of the most entertaining and thrilling Hong Kong movies has to offer.

In a Jackie Chan film you rarely judge the ACTING performances as such. The characters are flat and only a little development is thrown in just so the plot can move forward. For this movie it's the stunts and ACTION performances that are supposed to be reviewed. Jackie Chan was in great shape in 1992 and some of things he does here are just insane (like hanging from a helicopter ladder and going straight through a big billboard sign!). His acting is adequate and that's all it takes for this movie.

If you're a woman and is acting against Jackie, there's a big chance he will upstage you quite easily. That's not the case of Michelle Yeoh. She is equally good in her action and stunt scenes and especially I enjoyed her small burts of martial arts as well as her famous motorcycle stunt. Michelle also brings a toughness to her role which really strengthens her acting and you can safely say that the filmmakers behind Tomorrow Never Dies probably saw a frame or two of Police Story III.

Some dialogue scenes are a bit on the boring side and they sort of show Stanley Tongs lack of experience in directing these types of scenes. You quickly forget about them since the movie isn't really about dialogue but action!

I wouldn't say that Police Story III is a classic but it's a terrific actionfilm and a good first watch for newcomers to Hong Kong cinema.