Police Story 2, or, Hot Model Surveillance Team Go!

Evidently, the climactic stunt at the end of Police Story — where Jackie Chan as Chan Ka-kui leaps from an upper-floor balcony in a mall and slides down a light fixture to the ground floor — had already become legendary by the time they were making the sequel. I know this because in one of the beginning scenes of Police Story 2, Ka-kui’s supervisors are dressing him down for how much money the finale of the last movie cost the city government. “Uncle” Bill scolds him, “Why not take the stairs?” It’s my favorite gag in the movie, but it’s also one that felt oddly out-of-place for being self-aware, right after its predecessor had been so unashamedly silly. The sequel picks up right after the ending of the last one, with Ka-kui getting demoted to traffic duty after having done so much damage in his last run-in with drug dealer Chu and his goons. And while Ka-kui is on the scene directing a traffic backup around an accident, a fancy car pulls up next to him and his girlfriend May, and who…