Supercop/Twin Dragons Double Feature (1996 AND 1999)
Studio: Echo Bridge/Miramax
Blu Ray Release: May 15, 2011
R/PG-13
Review by James Klein
Echo Bridge has put out two Jackie Chan martial arts/comedy on blu ray for the first time together. First:
Supercop (1996)
Supercop in actuality is really the third installment to the Hong Kong action/comedy Police Story series. The film was released in Hong Kong in 1992 but didn’t get released in the U.S. until the summer of 1996 when it seemed like Jackie Chan’s Hong Kong films were coming out every few months. Police Story III was renamed Supercop and many scenes were trimmed or deleted from the film to make it a more fast paced and “audience friendly” film by adding rap music and a new opening title sequence. In other words, dumbing it down for the Americans.
Jackie Chan is Kevin Chan, a police inspector who goes undercover to bust a Chinese drug lord. Kevin teams up with Jessica, a tough as nails officer who can hold her own against the many villains out to kill both officers. Jessica is played by Michelle Yeoh who is also known as the female Jackie Chan in which she can do all her own martial arts and stunts. In one sequence, she rides a motorcycle while jumping onto the top of a moving train! For those of you who love the Angelina Jolie, CGI ridden crapfest “action” films needs to see what a real action heroine can do. Supercop is filled with amazing action and stunt work that is both awesome and breathtaking, leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat and forgetting the silly plot or some of the lame comedic sequences involving Kevin’s girlfriend. While Supercop is one of Chan’s better films, I suggest trying to seek out the original Police Story III for the fully uncut version and without the awful dubbing. Second:
Twin Dragons (1999)
Released the same year as Police Story III, Twin Dragons didn’t get released in the U.S. until 1999. Like Supercop, the film was heavily edited and re-dubbed with new music inserted to make the film feel more modern. However, unlike Supercop, Twin Dragons is just too silly and feels like a 90 minute sitcom with one great action scene inserted at the end.
Jackie Chan plays twin brothers, one a musician and the other a criminal. When the two finally meet for the first time, their identities are switched and then…well, you’ve seen this before in many, many movies and TV shows with plenty of the same jokes thrown about. What make this even sillier is that both brothers can feel each others pain and also when in trouble, their bodies react to what is happening to the other. While one brother is out with a girl at a club and the other brother is in a speed boat getting chased around, the brother having dinner is acting weird and bouncing around like he’s in a boat. This is neither funny nor amusing and gets old real fast. It doesn’t help that there is also an annoying comedic sidekick thrown in for good measure, adding to the over the top comedy. While Twin Dragons is groan inducing, it does have one amazing action sequence near the finale at a garage where cars are being tested for safety. This scene provides Twin Dragons with its only saving grace.
Now, I have a huge complaint with this blu ray set. While the picture and sound are fine, the films are presented in full screen! Both films were originally shot in 2:35 but for some strange reason, Echo Bridge has released the films full screen, thus we are missing plenty of the picture and are stuck with an awful pan and scan presentation. Forget that there are no special features, at least the films could have been presented in widescreen. As much as I enjoyed Supercop, I cannot recommend this blu ray double feature due to this terrible mishap.
- Read the full story at UnRatedMagazine.com
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