POLICE STORY: LOCKDOWN is a mixed bag of a movie for Jackie Chan fans. He gets a lot of screen time here and has a chance to act rather than fight for most of it, but the film itself is quite messy in places and doesn't really convince in its depiction of a hostage scenario. It's never quite suspenseful or exciting enough to succeed.
The setting is an elaborate multi-storey bar in which bad guy Liu Ye, from CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, and his handful of goons are located. They take Chan and various others hostage for reasons which are made apparent via some cheesy and slightly unbelievable flashbacks. It all feels rather melodramatic when it comes out, however the worst thing about this production is the direction.
My heart sank when I realised this film was from mainland China rather than Hong Kong, as China doesn't have the best movie-making record in recent years. Thankfully the bad CGI is kept to a minimum here but the direction is quite awful and the director's refusal to hold a shot more than a few seconds is more likely to provoke a headache than excitement. The cameraman feels more like a hyperactive child than anything else. Sheng Ding's previous film LITTLE BIG SOLDIER was more impressive than this.
It's also worth noting that this film has no connection to Jackie's previous POLICE STORY movies, all of which are considerably more interesting, well-made, and entertaining. The only connection is that Rongguang Yu is back from NEW POLICE STORY although he and Jackie play different albeit similar characters. Jackie has a family in this one. The action is limited and Jackie is unforgivably doubled for some of the fights, and even worse some of it is shoehorned into the story for no reason (an early fight and car chase are included in flashbacks that turn out to have no relation to the main story). On the plus side, it does have a very fast pace to take your mind off all the problems with the story, and it's fitfully entertaining, just a far cry from the fantastic films that Jackie used to make. He really spoiled us with those.
The setting is an elaborate multi-storey bar in which bad guy Liu Ye, from CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, and his handful of goons are located. They take Chan and various others hostage for reasons which are made apparent via some cheesy and slightly unbelievable flashbacks. It all feels rather melodramatic when it comes out, however the worst thing about this production is the direction.
My heart sank when I realised this film was from mainland China rather than Hong Kong, as China doesn't have the best movie-making record in recent years. Thankfully the bad CGI is kept to a minimum here but the direction is quite awful and the director's refusal to hold a shot more than a few seconds is more likely to provoke a headache than excitement. The cameraman feels more like a hyperactive child than anything else. Sheng Ding's previous film LITTLE BIG SOLDIER was more impressive than this.
It's also worth noting that this film has no connection to Jackie's previous POLICE STORY movies, all of which are considerably more interesting, well-made, and entertaining. The only connection is that Rongguang Yu is back from NEW POLICE STORY although he and Jackie play different albeit similar characters. Jackie has a family in this one. The action is limited and Jackie is unforgivably doubled for some of the fights, and even worse some of it is shoehorned into the story for no reason (an early fight and car chase are included in flashbacks that turn out to have no relation to the main story). On the plus side, it does have a very fast pace to take your mind off all the problems with the story, and it's fitfully entertaining, just a far cry from the fantastic films that Jackie used to make. He really spoiled us with those.