Like most places all around the world, Hong Kong has had its fair share of crime, yet specific cases rarely end up depicted in the former British colony’s cinema. Even less common is to see them depicted accurately. Perhaps the most grisly and exploitive example is THE UNTOLD STORY where Anthony Wong supposedly portrayed a real-life psychopathic serial killer who turned his victims into meat pies. Although less gruesome, the subject of Golden Harvest’s CRIME STORY was even more sensational.
In 1990, a wealthy businessman named Wong Yat-fei was kidnapped and held for a ransom of US$60 million. His wife, Nina, paid the kidnappers half the sum through a bank transfer. Before the transaction was completed, the kidnappers’ bank accounts were shut down. More importantly, Yat-fei disappeared and was never heard from again. Police reportedly caught one of the kidnappers who confessed that the multi-millionaire had been thrown into the sea to drown, but no corpse was ever recovered to confirm a murder.
What was most shocking about the case was that it was not the first time that Wong Yat-fei had been kidnapped and held for ransom. In 1983, kidnappers first snatched Yet-fei while he was driving to work. They demanded $11 million for his safe return. In this case he was released after the money had been raised and transferred to the kidnappers. He wasn’t so lucky the second time around.
For CRIME STORY, Jet Li had originally been cast as the police officer in charge of the 1990 investigation. Tony Leung had also been considered for the role, a choice that in retrospect I believe would have been excellent. For various reasons the role ultimately went to superstar Jackie Chan. Although Jackie brought with him his dynamic athleticism and usual intensity, it turned out to be his most dramatic and realistic role to date.
The film is stylishly directed by Kirk Wong, a filmmaker and occasional actor who later helmed the 1998 Hollywood production THE BIG HIT, starring Mark Wahlberg and Lou Diamond Phillips. Wong has definitely been undervalued as a filmmaker over the years as CRIME STORY shows. It’s a pulse-pounding crime thriller that tempers Jackie’s typical action heroics with a well-developed and gritty plot, occasionally inspired visuals and some of the best live pyrotechnics ever witnessed in any action movie.
The script was stitched together by a virtual army of writers with at least five credited. It is very unusual for a Hong Kong movie script to receive this much attention, which shows how much pressure Golden Harvest must have felt in adapting to screen such a widely publicized, real-life event. Without knowing the specifics of the case it is impossible for me to lay judgment on the accuracy of the adaptation. What is acknowledged by the filmmakers at the end is that the case had been simplified. The fate of the kidnapping victim was also changed by Yat-fei’s surviving wife, according to Wong and by Jackie Chan, according to screenwriter Teddy Chen.
Viewers only familiar with Jackie Chan’s previous or subsequent films could be forgiven for being a little put off by his more serious role in CRIME STORY. Although the title is similar to his popular POLICE STORY series, the tone is vastly different and Jackie plays it far more serious. There is little of the trademark humor that accompanies most of his acting roles and instead we’re presented with a non-nonsense and determined hero driven by the injury and deaths of his fellow officers during the kidnapper’s initial getaway.
This latter element gives the movie is real purpose. Although it’s about this high-profile kidnapping, Jackie’s character doesn’t really care much about the victim. He is portrayed as the typical heartless tycoon at odds with his underpaid laborers. For this reason, aspects of the ending have added resonance as we see Jackie’s character go through a fundamental change where he comes to realize that everyone, even greedy rich folk, are no less worth saving from harm than a public servant.
Law Kar-ying, a Chinese opera performer makes his feature film debut by portraying the kidnapped Yat-fei. It’s a small role, yet adequately played by Law who according to Wong had more than a passing resemblance to the individual he was portraying onscreen. This movie put Law on the map as from this point on he became very active in some of Hong Kong’s biggest films including KUNG FU HUSTLE and ENTER THE PHOENIX.
Playing opposite Jackie throughout the movie as the lead villain is the portly Kent Chang, probably my favorite Hong Kong “fatty” next to Sammo. Despite his unmistakable look, he’s a dynamic actor and gives a terrific performance in CRIME STORY as a multi-layered bad cop who had crossed the line. There is a controversial public sex scene he has with co-star Christine Ng that may seem tame out of context but was quite racy for a mainstream Jackie Chan movie in 1993. It does help in defining the bestial nature of Kent’s character and relationship to Ng, who plays a call girl.
As an officer investigating the very crime he committed along with his accomplices, Chang is in a precarious position where he has to try and sabotage the investigation without drawing attention to himself. This leads to a terrific exchange between Chang and Jackie while they are following the kidnapper’s trail in Taiwan.
For his part, Jackie delivers his best dramatic performance as of 1993. I could nitpick and say he grossly overacts at times, which he does. But for a physical performer of his wide-ranging abilities, it is remarkable to see him dynamically go from agonizing over the death of a fellow officer to chasing criminals over the exploding rooftops of Taipei, to staring down Kent Chang in a silent and purposeful acknowledgement of suspicion. The only thing keeping this from being a complete Jackie Chan performance is the humor. Even without it, CRIME STORY is a fabulous showcase for Jackie’s broad talents and ability to carry a movie, no matter where it takes him.
The action in CRIME STORY represents Hong Kong stunt crews at the top of their game. Other movies, including many of Jackie Chan’s previous actioners may have more iconic or outrageous sequences but Wong’s film contains brilliantly staged sequences that serve the plot. The exception is the opening shootout between Jackie and members of his stunt crew on an open city street. The scene serves to open the movie with a bang and introduce Jackie’s character as someone who knows how to handle the buy guys…like we didn’t already know that! It is also representative of the kind of visceral gunplay confrontation that I could see Wong or other Hong Kong filmmakers constructing had they shot a sophisticated Hollywood actioner like Michael Mann’s HEAT. What’s missing is context but I doubt many seasoned Hong Kong action movie goers would complain.
As it should be, Jackie’s martial arts fighting and monkey-like navigation through elaborate sets is toned down significantly. However, a Jackie Chan movie isn’t a Jackie Chan movie without at least some of his trademark action and it is delivered in a number of sequences ranging from an early car chase, expertly choreographed by Bruce Law, to a rough and tumble fighting confrontation between Kent and Jackie in the dank bowels of a merchant ship. Jackie has a brief but memorable brawl with his former real-life bodyguard Ken Lo and Chung Fat that combines the fast, rhythmic action we expect with a slightly more rough and realistic flavor.
My favorite action sequence takes place in Taiwan where Jackie chases down kidnappers over rooftops and in the rafters of a building. The staging of this sequence, particularly on the rooftops, is superb with dynamic cinematography and colorful imagery of exploding neon signs. In his commentary for the Dragon Dynasty release of the movie Bey Logan compares this sequence favorably to the classic comic book artistry of Jack Kirby. Kirk Wong’s visual tastes do lean towards a high degree of graphic artistry and atmospheric boldness that’s often missing from the works of less artistically-minded action directors in Hong Kong like Corey Yuen. This is further evidenced by the elaborate staging of Jackie’s fight with Kent and most definitely in the incredible camera shots and general staging of an exploding apartment block.
As a well-researched and serious crime thriller that tries to redefine Jackie Chan as something more than just a kung fu and action star, CRIME STORY still suffers from the tendency of Hong Kong filmmakers to reach for extremes and elevate action above character. Sure, this is what sets the industry apart just as song and dance numbers define Bollywood. Yet in 1993, there was no lack of outrageous action cinema coming out of Hong Kong. At least one realistic crime movie along the lines of Sidney Lumet’s SERPICO, especially starring someone of Jackie Chan’s stature, would have been a welcome change. Its success would have also given Jackie what he always wanted, to be treated as an equal among Hollywood elites like Al Pacino. I believe that in years since, Jackie has proven one thing, as an actor he’s no Al Pacino or Robert De Niro regardless of the challenges of Hollywood stereotype. But nobody and I mean nobody will ever be Jackie Chan and that’s good enough for his legion of fans worldwide.
by Mark Pollard
