Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

Police Story 3: Supercop (Chinese: 警察故事３超級警察; Cantonese Yale: gíng chaat gu sih sāam: Chīu kāp gíng chaat), released as Supercop in the US, is a 1992 Hong Kong action film starring Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh. Jackie reprises his “Kevin” Chan Ka-Kui character, a Hong Kong cop from Police Story and Police Story 2. It is the third installment of the Police Story series, as well as first in Police Story franchise not to be directed by Jackie, with Stanley Tong taking over the helm. It is also the last appearance in the series for Maggie Cheung as Jackie’s girlfriend, May.

Plot.

Ka-Kui is the “supercop” of the Hong Kong police with amazing martial arts skills. He is sent to Guangzhou, where the Chinese police force’s Interpol director, Inspector Jessica Yang (Michelle Yeoh), briefs him on his next assignment. The target is Chaibat, a drug lord based in Hong Kong. To infiltrate Chaibat’s organization, Ka-Kui is to get close to Chaibat’s henchman Panther, who is in a Chinese prison. Ka-Kui, posing as a petty criminal prisoner, manages Panther’s escape with the connivance of the guards. Grateful, Panther invites Ka-Kui to go with him to Hong Kong and join Chaibat’s gang. Panther meets up with some of his other men, and vouches for Ka-Kui. The group heads for Hong Kong. On the way, they pass through Ka-Kui’s supposed home village, and Panther insists that Ka-Kui visit his family there. He does not actually know anyone in the village, but is pleasantly relieved to be greeted by undercover police posing as his family, with Yang as his sister. The local police pretend to arrest Ka-Kui in a restaurant, but Ka-Kui and Yang (also a martial-arts expert) escape after a big fight, which concludes with the faked killing of a policeman. This confirms Panther’s trust in them.

In Hong Kong, Chaibat welcomes Ka-Kui and Yang to his luxurious hide-out. He takes them with him to a big opium grower’s fortified compound in the Golden Triangle military camp of Thailand, for a meeting of big-time heroin traffickers. During the meeting, Chaibat’s gang attack from outside while Ka-Kui and Yang protect him inside. In a huge gun battle, Chaibat’s gang kill the rival traffickers and their guards, and smash up the compound. The grower survives, but will now sell only to Chaibat at Chaibat’s price. The action then shifts to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Chaibat’s wife, Chen Wen-Shi, is in prison, facing the death penalty for an unspecified crime. Chaibat needs to get her out of prison, because only she knows the secret codes to his Swiss bank account, and will not reveal them to him unless freed. Chaibat brings his gang, now including Ka-Kui and Yang, to Kuala Lumpur to stage a jailbreak.

Production.

A significant aspect of this film is that it was the first Jackie Chan film from Hong Kong to use sync sound, allowing all the actors’ voices to be recorded as they spoke on scene, rather than dubbed over by different actors later. Exterior scenes were filmed in Hong Kong Island, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Interior scenes were shot in Kuala Lumpur. According to his book I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action, Chan dislocated his cheekbone during a stunt scene.

Box office.

Police Story 3 grossed HK$32,609,783 (US$4,212,833) in its Hong Kong theatrical run. In Taiwan, it grossed NT$64,576,200 (US$2,607,187). In Japan, it earned ¥763 million (US$7 million) at the box office. In South Korea, it grossed US$3.71 million, adding up to US$17,530,020 grossed in East Asia. The film grossed an estimated US$34,391,494 (equivalent to $66,000,000 in 2021) from the worldwide box office.

Police Story: The Stunt That Almost Killed Jackie Chan

Home media.

In the United States, the home video release grossed US$14,430,000 (equivalent to $24,000,000 in 2021) in video rental revenue during 1997, making it the year’s second highest-grossing Dimension rental video (after Scream). This adds up to an estimated US$48,821,494 (equivalent to $94,000,000 in 2021) grossed from the box office and US video rentals.

Cast:

Jackie Chan as Inspector “Kevin”Ch
Michelle Yeoh as “Michelle Khan”)
Maggie Cheung as May, Kevin’s
Bill Tung as “Uncle” Bill Wong
Philip Chan as Chief
Yuen Wah as Panther, Chaibat’s
Kenneth Tsang (as Ken Tsang)
Josephine Koo as Chen Wen-Shi
Lo Lieh (as Lit Law)
Kelvin Wong (as Wong Siu)
Ken Lo (as Lowei Kwong)
Allen Sit as one of Chaibat’s henchman
Mars as Hsiung
Wai Man Tam (as Wei-min Tan)
Ming-Sing Wong as Chinese Police Chief
Wai Shum as Drug Lord
Yi-Sheng Han (as Yee Sang Hon)
Kim Maree Penn as Blonde Gunwoman