In the populous world of Hong Kong martial arts directors, Stanley Tong is someone special. As the man behind Supercop, arguably Jackie Chan’s best film, and First Strike, almost as highly ranked in the Chan pantheon, Tong has shown himself to be a master at juggling intricately choreographed action scenes with just the right amount of plot to keep things flowing. It is a lesson seemingly forgotten in China Strike Force, a spectacular that fails to reach Tong’s previous heights. There are a few breathtaking stunts that will have moviegoers gasping in amazement, but gone is the integration of story and sensation that made Tong’s best work such sublime entertainment.

Granted, idol Aaron Kwok is more noted for his physical beauty than physical prowess. Ditto for singer Wang Leehom who, in his screen debut, proves himself extremely photogenic but still a bit uncomfortable when it comes to acting. It is little wonder when faced with a trite logic-defying script that trots out all the triad drug-running cliches and attempts to place them into a novel Shanghai setting. A heavy dose of contrived sentimentality proves nearly fatal, and is totally unnecessary since so many potentially tongue-in-cheek elements are already in place.

There is Japanese superstar Norika Fujiwara who acquits herself very well as a sexy undercover cop, delivering her English lines with an almost Mae Westian flare. How she manages to hide a computer diskette inside her revealing address will have to remain one of Hong Kong cinema’s unsolved mysteries. Another “fish out of water” is rapper Coolio, who seemingly adlibs his irreverent dialogue and swaggers off with the China Strike Force’s most memorable performance. Although the humour provided by Norika and Coolio is intentional, the filmmakers never seem to realize its full potential and thus miss out on salvaging a scenario in which the action scenes, breathtaking though they may be, come across as inorganic contrivances.

In that respect, no one sequence approaches the inspiration of Michelle Yeoh’s motorcycle ride in Supercop. In terms of sheer wizardry, the grand finale—in which Coolio, Aaron, and Norika battle it out on a glass panel suspended high atop the Shanghai cityscape, a burning luxury car crashing down from a burning helicopter above—proves that Tong is still one of the masters of his craft. In the end, it is a faulty pen that proves the downfall of China Strike Force’s mighty arsenal.

2 1/2 Stars

This review is copyright (c) 2001 by Paul Fonoroff. All rights reserved. No part of the review may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.