Member KenHashibe Posted February 20, 2017 Member Share Posted February 20, 2017 Police Story 2 is a pretty great movie. Not as good as the original Police Story of course, but it's still a great followup to the first. Probably my third favorite movie from the Police Story series (behind the original and Supercop). The action is great, the story is interesting, and there's even some real suspense. The scene where Jackie defuses the bomb in the tunnel in his car is an utterly satisfying scene for me. It's so exciting and when he gets it off and starts running, I think "Hell yeah!" For more of my thoughts on the film, here's my full review: http://hapahero.weebly.com/blog/-police-story-2-1988 Anyway, the first time I saw Police Story 2, I thought it was great, almost on par with the first. The second time I saw it, I thought "Why did I like this movie so much before? It's kinda boring. And why is the theme song different during the end credits?" Ignorant little me didn't realize there are two versions of Police Story 2: The original Hong Kong version (approx 100 minutes) and the uncut version (approx 120 minutes). And, no question about it, the original Hong Kong version is a hundred times better. For those of you who don't know the difference between the two versions, the uncut version is about 20 minutes longer, has different music, and has different outtakes during the end credits. The additional 20 minutes however add nothing to the film overall. The pacing is a lot slower because of these scenes and it's borderline boring. The music originally composed for this movie is almost completely omitted from the uncut version. The awesome "fight at the park theme" is missing during the fight scene and instead of the awesome new theme song entitled "I Need", "Hero Story" plays during the end credits. There are other moments in the uncut version where the music is different which takes away from the film. Instead of the new score from the original Hong Kong version, the uncut version either has silence or reverts to music from the original. Not that I don't like the music from the original, but it makes Police Story 2 way too similar to the first movie. Nothing is really added to the uncut version of Police Story 2. If anything, it's a lot worse than the original Hong Kong version. Unfortunately, the uncut version is the main version that you'll find of this movie on DVD and Blu-ray. The Hong Kong Legends DVD, the Megastar DVD, and the Deltamac DVD's are the only releases that I know of that have the original Hong Kong versions. The Shout Factory!, Dragon Dynasty, Japanese versions, and other newer releases of this movie have the uncut version, which kinda sucks. Especially since those have better video quality. So what is your position on this film? How does it compare to other films in the series? Do you prefer the original or the uncut version? Did you know there were two versions in the first place? Let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chenzen Posted February 20, 2017 Member Share Posted February 20, 2017 I definitely agree about the Hong Kong Version being better. I remember my brother and I watched the Japanese cut two years ago and my brother fell asleep because it got so boring lol. I on the other hand stay awake during a movie no matter what and I finished it. It's still a great movie no matter what version you watch but the Hong Kong version is definitely the winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted February 20, 2017 Member Share Posted February 20, 2017 Hmm, I didn't know about the different music. I may need to hear the music in the HK cut. I've only known the uncut version because of when I really started collecting movies. I did see the dubbed/cut version on TV as well, but since that was re-scored anyways, that doesn't really help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KenHashibe Posted February 20, 2017 Author Member Share Posted February 20, 2017 Here's a little comparison between the two versions: Here's a link to the original Hong Kong version (It's English dubbed, but the music is the important part): Here's a link to the uncut version: To hear some of the biggest differences in music between the two versions, compare 40:56 from the original version to 45:47 from the uncut version. Also 126:57 to 1:45:11 1:32:37 to 1:51:58 1:38:39 to 1:58:15 I personally prefer the music from the original version, especially during the park scene and the "defusing the bomb" scene. Also I definitely agree @chenzen. It's great both ways, but one is just a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator One Armed Boxer Posted February 20, 2017 Moderator Share Posted February 20, 2017 I remember back when Dragon Dynasty first released their version of 'Police Story 2', they went through a lot of effort promoting it as the Director's Cut, but then reaction to it was mostly negative (and then they did the opposite and released the trimmed version of 'Police Story 3', which nobody wanted). Apparently for the sequel Chan wanted to make it more of a Hollywood style police procedural thriller, hence the inclusion of all the dull investigative scenes, that were quite justifiably trimmed out. It'd be interesting to see if the same applies to the 3 hour version of 'Dragon Lord' that used to freqeuntly get mentioned in discussions on the movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member thehangman Posted February 20, 2017 Member Share Posted February 20, 2017 id be intrested to see 3 hour cut of Dragon Lord if it still exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Iron_Leopard Posted February 21, 2017 Member Share Posted February 21, 2017 Police Story 2 is great. My favorite scene though isn't even an action scene. It's everything that unfolds at the police station at night when it's raining. I was crying from laughing so hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted February 22, 2017 Moderator Share Posted February 22, 2017 On 2/20/2017 at 8:42 PM, One Armed Boxer said: I remember back when Dragon Dynasty first released their version of 'Police Story 2', they went through a lot of effort promoting it as the Director's Cut, but then reaction to it was mostly negative (and then they did the opposite and released the trimmed version of 'Police Story 3', which nobody wanted). Apparently for the sequel Chan wanted to make it more of a Hollywood style police procedural thriller, hence the inclusion of all the dull investigative scenes, that were quite justifiably trimmed out. It'd be interesting to see if the same applies to the 3 hour version of 'Dragon Lord' that used to freqeuntly get mentioned in discussions on the movie. From memory, the original cut of 'Young Master' was three hours, and 'Dragon Lord' was said to be something like four hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SamSeed Posted February 24, 2017 Member Share Posted February 24, 2017 I've only seen the HKL/CineAsia DVD of this and it's not one of my favourite Jackie films, but the playground fight is definitely in my top ten! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member reason108 Posted March 6, 2017 Member Share Posted March 6, 2017 I need to watch the two versions again. I have the old Megastar dvd and of course the DD and Shout releases. I remember liking the extended cut. I think it helped fill out the movie a little bit for me but can't recall the musical differences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sifu iron perm Posted March 9, 2017 Member Share Posted March 9, 2017 i was in love with P2..i first watched it on vhs, original english dub, most likely cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sifu iron perm Posted March 9, 2017 Member Share Posted March 9, 2017 On 22/02/2017 at 0:28 AM, Asmo said: From memory, the original cut of 'Young Master' was three hours, and 'Dragon Lord' was said to be something like four hours. wow!! 3 hours? Young master!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Asmo Posted March 9, 2017 Moderator Share Posted March 9, 2017 4 hours ago, sifu iron perm said: wow!! 3 hours? Young master!!! That's what's been said. Doubt it made it past the rough cut stage, but who knows what footage still exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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