Sometimes, you want to be touched my a moving drama. Sometimes, you want to be wrapped up in a romance. Sometimes, you want to laugh at a comedy. And sometimes, you want to be blown away by some breataking, mindnumbing action. I love "Police Story", because it's perfect for when you have the last craving I mentioned, which happens to be the one I'm most prone to.

The plot is simple and basic; just enugh to kick the action along. The charaterisation is actually fairly good for an action movie, but would not stand on its own without the action element to help it along: Chan plays Kevin Chan, a hard-boiled cop with a heart, but that's about as far as it goes. Chan is, as ever, adorable, and a great presence to have on any screen, but this time he doesn't have to carry the whole weight of the movie on his shoulders; the action helps him out this time, although it is arguable that the action wouldn't exist without Chan.

There are stunts. There are fights. There is comedy. There is just enough drama to keep Kevin Chan's feet on the ground. And that's about it. It sounds dull on paper, but on screen it shines bright, propelled by Chan's talent for comedy and action pieces that take your breath away.

Never in any action movie have I seen mayhem and destruction dished up with such joyful abandon. Chan scorches his way through the first action-packed section of the movie, which culminates in a huge running brawl in a shopping mall, involving vehicles, stuntmen flying everywhere, and much broken glass. In fact, at one point Chan's team of stuntmen nick-named the film "Glass Story", because of the amount of the stuff that shatters during the breathtaking finale. At the very end of the mall fight, Chan performs his piece de resistance: a slide down a flimsy string of fairy lights to the floor below, smashing through yet more glass as he falls. In one take, he gets up and runs away, although the impressive outtakes show just how badly hurt he was. He suffered third degree burns on his hands, and almost broke his spine.

So "Police Story" stands alone as one of the greatest action movies ever made. Forget the drama, the comedy, the anything else - just concentrate on the action.

(10/10)