Following on from the events in POLICE STORY 3, this typical action movie instead focuses on the returning character of Michelle Yeoh, here cast as the butt-kicking female lead instead of Jackie Chan. However, producers convinced Chan to show up for a cameo appearance, so that they could advertise this as a Jackie Chan movie and get more viewers by cheating the prospective audience. The cameo itself is utterly bizarre; Chan is in drag, dressed the same as Eric Tsang, and helps foil a jewellery store robbery. Don't ask. It's best to ignore this rather cringe-worthy moment and concentrate on the decent storyline instead. The film never really breaks any new boundaries but proves to be a worthwhile Hong Kong action film, packed with set-pieces, explosions, gunplay, and some fantastic martial arts. The result isn't always compelling but it makes for an easy, pleasurable viewing experience.Director Stanley Tong – fast becoming one of the most reliable directors of martial arts action in my mind, seeing as how he hasn't made a film I haven't liked as yet – handles the events well and spins a fairly complex story around a bunch of villains who are getting ready to break into a major bank and pull off a heist. The usual elements are here, from the burly American muscle to the dodgily-accented European villains and the heroic Chinese cops. The story spins from one explosive set-piece to another with little in the way to dull the story. One interesting aspect is that Michelle Yeoh's character is a former lover of the chief villain, however fans waiting for a showdown between the two martial arts superpowers will be disappointed as the finale screws this up.Otherwise the last twenty minutes of the film is just fine, a mini re-run of DIE HARD as Yeoh and her partner infiltrate a bank held hostage by a dozen bad guys and partake in some great martial arts fights with them. In particular the sequence in which Yeoh squares off against a guy easily twice her size is amazing stuff. Yeoh is on top form in the movie and gets to take part in some great stunts – usually involving major jumps from buildings – and strenuous fights. The supporting cast is generally impressive, with all major players putting in solid turns and a nice performance from Rongguang Yu as the two-faced villain and Dick Wei as a super-strong henchman. Bill Tung makes a cameo appearance again, the bad guys are suitably villainous and there's even time for a short car chase for the fans. Not a lot else needs to be said; this isn't brilliant viewing but it is very good and it certainly beats the heck out of similar American competition from the same year (ROBOCOP 3 anyone?).

Depending on your whereabouts in the world, this film may go under any one of the following titles: Supercop 2 (USA), Once a Cop, Police Story 3 Part 2, Police Story 4: Project S, Police Story V, Project S (UK), Supercop (also UK). Whatever the title, do not be fooled into thinking that this is a Jackie Chan film; yes, he does appear in the movie, but only briefly and in a scene that has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film.Michelle Yeoh, however, plays the same character as she did in Police Story 3 (which was known as Supercop in the US and did star JC—are you keeping up?), a hard-as-nails mainland Chinese cop named Yang. She is called to Hong Kong to lend her expertise and assist in the apprehension of a gang of Chinese criminals who are pulling heists right left and centre and peeing-off the local cops.The police operations are going swimmingly until Yang recognises one of the criminals as Cheng Feng, her boyfriend from China who left for HK to find his fortune, and the two become reacquainted under somewhat difficult circumstances.With a decidedly routine plot, Project S needed to be something special in the action department in order to compensate, but despite some cracking fight action towards the end, there is far too much quiet time spent between bouts. The action is also geared towards gun-play rather than martial arts, so those expecting a full on fight-fest will be disappointed. That is not to say that Yeoh and co-stars don't display some wonderful skills from time to time; the high kicking action is pretty good when it happens—it just doesn't happen often enough.The final half an hour, which has the gang attempt a daring bank robbery, offers the best dose of action, with Yang going up against a foe twice her size (and kicking ass, of course!).Director Stanley Tong and star Michelle Yeoh have both made far better films than this, but if your expectations are not set too high, you may find Project S a reasonable way to spend your time (although 105 minutes was a tad too long for me!).

‘Supercop 2', the sequel to ‘Police Story 3: Supercop' from the same director Stanley Tong, is more than just a sequel. To me, it seems slightly superior to the (still of course very entertaining!) first movie. It has a different approach altogether, because the first movie was basically about full speed action and amazing stunts like we are used from Jackie Chan's movies. Michelle Khan in her role as a police officer from China helped him along. In some ways, it was a `buddy movie' with one buddy being an extremely tough girl! In the second movie, Michelle Khan is the star. Jackie only has a small guest appearance in a silly and unnecessary scene. ‘Supercop 2' gets a lot more serious than its predecessor. The tragedy motif: Michelle realizes her ex-boyfriend has become a criminal and now works for a gang of high-tech bank robbers. The characterization is surprisingly detailed, down to small things like choosing a wrong present for someone you love but not completely understand, and the ending (Will she shoot him? Or will she let him escape?) had me sit on the edge of my seat... My favourite scene is Michelle's fight against one of the mercenaries: a 7 feet giant trying to hit a 5 feet girl, and you bet he's getting his butt kicked really hard – I've never seen something like this before. Hah, take this, Rambo! Probably this movie was an important step for Michelle Khan (a.k.a. Yeoh) on her way to the Bond movie `Tomorrow Never Dies'. Very recommendable, unless you only watch movies for being a Jackie Chan completist, and don't care about any other qualities in a movie, like a few other reviewers here seem to do, I'm afraid.

Apart from some fight scenes near the end during the bank heist, the movie was, sadly, run-of-the-mill. Although Michelle Yeoh is billed as the lead, it feels more like an ensemble movie. She had more to do in "Heroic Trio" and she shared top billing with two other women in that film. Go watch that or "Wing Chun" instead.