Most prime-era Jackie Chan movies rightly file the story as a secondary concern, nothing more than a vehicle to carry us from one insane, prop-stuffed fighting arena to the next. That’s not really the case for _Police Story_, which dwells on the flat, watery plot beats, playing them for bad humor while audiences thirst for the fisticuffs. Chan plays a rookie cop who cuffs a fleeing drug lord and must then protect the villain’s personal secretary until she’s ready to testify at the ensuing trial. Wacky hijinx ensue, including a misunderstanding with the girlfriend, a comedy of errors in the courtroom and no less than five(!) instances of birthday cake to the face. Every last moment drowns in corny, overbearing music, although I don’t know if that’s such a bad thing considering the quality of acting, and after the big shanty town bust, a wildly destructive set piece that opens the film, the action is limited at best.

That last factor is redeemed somewhat by the climactic fight scene in a shopping mall, where brawling gangsters are hurled through so many merchandise displays, I’m sure Hong Kong experienced a glass shortage in ensuing years. This extended slice of action is almost good enough to make the plot’s nonsense worthwhile, culminating in an epic stunt (a six-story pole slide through string lights and a gimmicked pagoda) that’s so flashy, it would find a home in every one of the star’s highlight reels from this point forward. True to form, that leap also nearly killed him: tight deadlines, a lack of rehearsals and a bad landing left Jackie with two damaged vertebrae and a dislocated pelvis. Charged with adrenaline, he still leapt straight to his feet and resumed pummeling the enemy at the bottom.

It goes without saying that, if you’re watching a martial arts movie for the narrative, you’re probably doing it wrong. That there’s so much of it in _Police Story_, then, is a cardinal sin. Finite as they are, its fight scenes are great! Why won’t it quit goofing around and get on with them? In the future, I’ll skip the movie and just watch the mall fight on YouTube.