Crime Story (Zhong an zu) (1993)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime	Audio Commentary-Hong Kong Film Expert Bey Logan Interviews-Crew-The King Of Speed-Action Director Bruce Law Interviews-Crew-Birth Of A Classic-Script Writer Teddy Chen Trailer-The King Of Speed-Action Director Bruce Law Trailer-Hong Kong Legends trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	1993
Running Time	102:13
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (76:15)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kirk Wong
Studio Distributor	Fortune Star Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Jackie Chan Kent Cheng Christine Ng Law Hang Kang Au-Yeung Pui Shan Blacky Ko
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Mark Lui James Wong

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Chinese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    When wealthy Hong Kong property developer Wong Yat-Fei (Law Hang Kang) fears he is being targeted for a kidnapping he asks for police assistance and Inspector Chan (Jackie Chan) is assigned to protect him. However, on his way home to The Peak, Wong's car is attacked and despite Chan's best efforts both Wong and his wife (Au-Yeung Pui Shan) are abducted and two motorcycle policemen badly injured. When the kidnappers free Wong's wife and demand a ransom of $US60 million, Detective Hung (Kent Cheng) is assigned to assist. Chan and Hung follow the money trail to Taiwan only to have the prime suspect killed. Back in Hong Kong, Chan begins to suspect that the kidnap gang has a man inside the Hong Kong Police Force calling the shots.

     Crime Story is loosely based on the real kidnapping of a Hong Kong businessman in 1990 and shows Jackie Chan in a more challenging role. Both the original trailer for the film and the credit sequence at the end stress that the film was based upon a real case, although events and incidents had been changed. This is serious stuff and Crime Story is Jackie Chan in serious mode. Originally the role was to be played by Jet Li but when his manager was shot dead by Triads he apparently had reservations about doing a film concerning organised crime. Instead Jackie Chan took the chance to play a role beyond his usual persona. There are still excellent stunts and fights, such as a fight on poles and hanging material, a shootout amid fire and explosions in a residential area and the climax aboard a ship, but they are not played for laughs and are quite brutal. As a result Crime Story was not as popular in Hong Kong as other Jackie Chan "Christmas release" films, as one interviewee terms them, which is a pity for Crime Story is a compelling crime drama with great action, excellent stunts and a charismatic lead actor stretching his range.

Video

    Crime Story is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 close to the original ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. While there are not any obvious artefacts, this is a soft print lacking contrast with muted colours; have a look at 60:14 for a good example. Blacks are OK and shadow detail acceptable. Grain is apparent in some scenes. Gibb effect was noticeable during the end credits.

English subtitles are in a clear white font and do not contain spelling or grammatical errors. The RSDL change at 76:15 resulted in a short pause on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio available is Cantonese and English Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. In the Cantonese track, the dialogue was clear but surround use was limited to music and some ambient sounds, such as traffic noise. There are no directional effects and the subwoofer was barely used, even during the explosions. Lip synchronisation was as approximate as most Hong Kong films of this vintage. The English dub is as indifferent as usual and is not recommended.

The music was quite understated and effectively supported the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Audio Commentary by Bey Logan.

Trailer Gallery.

The King of Speed: An Interview with Action Director Bruce Law (24:49 min).

Birth of a Classic: An Interview with Scriptwriter Eddy Chen (6:45 min).

Further Attractions

    The Region 1 Dragon Dynasty release and Regions 2 and 4 Hong Kong Legends releases are virtually identical with similar extras, although the Region 1 does include the original Cantonese Dolby Digital 1.0 audio. A Region 3 release comes with Cantonese DTS, as well as Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 plus Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1. The extras in Region 3 include deleted scenes, interviews, trailers and stills although I have not been able to establish if the extras are English friendly. Stick with Region 4 unless you want the different Chinese language audio options.

    Crime Story is based on a real kidnapping in Hong Kong and shows Jackie Chan in a more challenging role. There are still excellent stunts and fights but they are not played for laughs and are quite brutal. As a result Crime Story was not as popular in Hong Kong as other Jackie Chan "Christmas release" films which is a pity as it is a compelling crime drama with great action, excellent stunts and a charismatic lead actor stretching his range. Crime Story has soft video, acceptable audio and good extras

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall