BadAzz MoFo Classic Reviews – SUPERCOP

by | May 8, 2026 | News & Updates

Jackie Chan’s first attempts to make a name for himself with American audiences in the early 1980s were less than spectacular. He starred in The Big Brawl, both of the Cannonball Run movies, and The Protector, none of which conveyed the charisma and talent that had established him as a star in Asia with such films as Drunken Master and Snake in Eagle Shadow. About the only thing those early American films did for Chan was introduce him to a dedicated fan base who sought out his Hong Kong films, and were then able to gloat knowingly about him when he finally made a huge splash in America with Rumble in the Bronx. The success of Rumble in the Bronx made Chan a viable draw with audiences in the United States, and in an effort to make a buck, many of his films were re-packaged for release in America. Between 1995 and 2000, some of Chan’s best Hong Kong films were released in the United States, often under different names, and frequently edited from their original version, as was the case with Police Story 3, a 1992 film released in America as Supercop in 1996.

Easily the most popular of Jackie Chan’s different films series, Police Story spawned four sequels and one spin-off. Supercop, the third film in the series, finds Chan returning as Inspector Chan, a Hong Kong detective with a knack for finding himself in deadly situations that often require him to perform daredevil acts of the most extreme insanity. This time around, Chan is recruited to work undercover and help mainland Chinese forces bust up an international drug empire. Chan teams up with Inspector Yang (Michelle Yeoh a.k.a. Michelle Khan), his equally adept female counterpart within INTERPOL. When Chan helps gang leader Panther (Wah Yuen) break out of prison, he gets in good with the criminal, who is the sinister henchman of the even more nefarious Chaibat (Ken Tsang). With Yang pretending to be his sister, Chan fights alongside Panther and the rest of the gang, earning their trust, until his cover is blown, leading to a dramatic showdown on the streets Malaysia.

Most people would agree that when it comes to Jackie Chan films, story and character take something of a backseat to the fights and the action sequences. If the story is at best easy to follow, or at least only mildly confusing, then that’s all you need as long as Chan delivers what he’s best known for, which is an incredible mix of comedy and action, and the outrageous stunts he performs, often at great danger to his wellbeing. Although the fight sequences are not as memorable as some of his other films, the stunt work is still more than impressive in Supercop. There is an incredible sequence with Chan dangling from the ladder of a helicopter as it flies through the sky, which leads to a fight sequence on top of a moving train. And not to be outdone, Yeoh also has some impressive moves as she hangs from the side of a truck racing through traffic, and jumps a motorcycle on top of the same moving train where Chan is fighting. The dynamic duo also has some noteworthy fights throughout the film, but the most memorable part of Supercop is the extended chase in the third act.

Although it’s not his absolute best film, Supercop does rank among Chan’s better movies, and it is certainly bolstered by Yeoh, who carries her own. The story gets silly and ridiculous, but that’s not exactly uncommon with Chan’s films, and fans of his work know exactly what they’re getting into with this movie.

BadAzz MoFo Classic Reviews – Kinji Fukasaku’s SYMPATHY FOR THE UNDERDOG

by | May 8, 2026 | News & Updates

Kinji Fukasaku’s career spanned five decades and spawned over sixty films, including Graveyard of Honor, Battle Royale, and the classic Battles Without Honor series. He is regarded as one of Japan’s greatest directors, and if his work were better known outside of his native country, he would easily be considered one of the greatest directors in the world. Best known for his yakuza films, Fukasaku reinvented the Japanese gangster genre with a series of gritty films in the 1970s. Before he turned the genre upside-down, Fukasaku had made slightly more conventional genre films like Wolves, Pigs, & Men and Japan’s Organized Crime Boss. But in 1970 the director began production on Sympathy for the Underdog which would prove to be the transition between the traditional chivalrous yakuza films of the past, and the morally corrupt anti-heroes that were to come in films like Street Mobster.

Originally meant to be a follow up to his earlier Japan’s Organized Crime Boss, Fukasaku reunited with lead actor Koji Tsuruta for a film with many similarities to their earlier collaboration, but with a unique style all its own. Tsuruta stars as Gunji, a yakuza gang leader released from prison after ten years. Gunji finds that his gang has long since broken up, while his key cronies have attempted to make it in the legitimate world by slinging noodles and raising families. Gunji and his men reform the old gang, but with all the territories in mainland Japan overrun by different yakuza families, they decide to make of go of it in Okinawa. They quickly build a reputation on the island, but soon find that the same deadly battles and rivalries that plague the yakuza on the mainland are also found on Okinawa.

In making Sympathy for the Underdog Fukasaku was heavily influenced by Gillo Pontecorvo’s seminal Battle of Algiers, a film that dealt with resistance in the face of occupation. Fukasaku himself was addressing the influence of American influence in Japanese culture, as Okinawa was the site of lingering military occupation by the United States. But even more than the influence of Battle of Algiers, Sympathy for the Underdog draws much inspiration from Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. Tsuruta is clearly cast in the William Holden role, while his gang is very much like the aging outlaws struggling to keep pace with a world that has left them behind. There are even two pivotal scenes straight out of Peckinpah’s classic, including a bloody showdown between Gunji and his men and a small army of yakuza that have come to take over their territory.

Although its not my personal favorite film by Fukasaku, Sympathy for the Underdog is still a classic. And when watched in context with his other films, it shows a clear defining point when a master filmmaker made a serious transition in tone, content and theme, changing with him the face of modern cinema.