Film

Crime Story

Name: Crime Story
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller, Drama
Released: 1993
Cast: Jackie Chan, Kent Cheng Jak-si, Christine Ng Wing-mei, Law Kar-ying, Susanna Au-Yeung Pui-San

Other titles called Crime Story: the 1986 series (NBC).

Jackie Chan plays a bodyguard thrust into a kidnapping investigation that spirals far beyond a simple ransom case. This is 1990s Hong Kong action cinema at peak craft: propulsive, brutal, gorgeously shot, with Chan doing impossible things to his body while the plot darkens around him. For anyone who wants their action grounded in real stakes and grit.

TMDb rating

3.4

If you liked this

Police Story1985

Chan's breakthrough remains the template for everything that follows: a cop wronged, a sprawling investigation, and action sequences that still feel dangerous because they actually were. Pure kinetic storytelling.

But The plotting is episodic and sometimes silly. If you need a watertight mystery, this prioritises spectacle over coherence.

The Killer1989

John Woo's masterpiece. An assassin and a cop in an impossible dance of loyalty and betrayal. Operatic, balletic gunplay and a moral weight that action films rarely attempt. Absolutely alive.

But Heavy on melodrama and religious symbolism. The violence is graphic and unflinching. Subtitles required.

Hard Boiled1992

Woo's final Hong Kong film before Hollywood. Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung as cop and mole, the entire third act a single continuous firefight through a hospital. Visually intoxicating and narratively bold.

But The plot is thin beneath the spectacle. If you're watching for story, you'll be disappointed. The action may feel dated if you've only seen modern CGI-heavy work.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Crime Story

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Better Tomorrow1986

Both Crime Story and A Better Tomorrow are about men caught between loyalty to a person and loyalty to the law. They share Woo's visual language and the conviction that action cinema can be genuinely tragic.

John Woo's first masterpiece. Two former gangsters and a cop navigate honor, redemption, and loyalty in a crimson-soaked Hong Kong. Every frame is composed like a painting. This is where the modern action film's soul was forged.

But Deliberately paced in the first half, building tone and character before the violence erupts. Some find it slow. Subtitles required, and the emotional register is far from comedic.

The Bodyguard from Beijing1994

Chan again, in a similar protection-gone-wrong scenario, but with a touching exploration of duty and personal cost beneath the fights. More character-driven than his earlier work.

But Less inventive in its action sequences. Some viewers find the emotional beats slow down the momentum too much.

Sudden Death1995

Jean-Claude Van Damme as an ordinary man in an extraordinary hostage situation at a hockey game. Intimate in scale compared to other action films, with real ingenuity in how it uses its location.

But Van Damme's acting range is not his strength. The plot relies on absurd coincidences. Not as polished as the best Hong Kong action cinema.

Lethal Weapon1987

Riggs and Murtaugh, reckless and brilliant. The template for buddy-cop action that influenced everything after it. Funny, tense, and genuinely inventive in its set pieces.

But The one-liners can feel dated. The plotting is fairly routine if you strip away the charm. Some of the humour hasn't aged well.

Point Break1991

Kathryn Bigelow directing Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in an existential surfing heist film. Style and substance in perfect balance. The action serves the philosophical tension.

But Absurdly 90s in its aesthetics, which some will find cheesy. The romance subplot feels obligatory. Requires a certain suspension of disbelief.

Police Story 3: Super Cop1992

Chan as an undercover cop infiltrating a narcotics ring. Less emotionally complex than Crime Story, but the action set pieces are even more wildly inventive. A pure adrenaline shot.

But The plot is truly thin. Character development is minimal. If you're looking for dramatic depth, look elsewhere.

Double Impact1991

Van Damme plays twin brothers—one raised in Hong Kong, one in America—reunited to take down the criminals who killed their parents. A clever high-concept action vehicle with genuine emotional stakes.

But The dual-role gimmick feels gimmicky. Supporting performances are weak. Van Damme's acting still can't quite carry the dramatic scenes.

City on Fire1987

Like Crime Story, it's a procedural that morphs into something darker—a study of corruption and moral compromise where the investigation becomes less important than what it reveals about the investigator.

Ringo Lam's taut thriller about an undercover cop and a thief spiralling toward unavoidable collision. Documentary-style realism meets balletic violence. Less celebrated than Woo but equally brilliant. Hypnotic.

But Grim and unrelenting in tone. No cathartic moments or redemption. The ending is deliberately bleak. Slow-burn rather than fast-paced, despite the action.

Ashes of Time1994

Both are 1990s Hong Kong cinema at peak visual artistry, using action not as entertainment but as meditation on betrayal and loss. Crime Story grounds that vision in crime procedural; Ashes floats it free entirely. They're opposite poles of the same impulse.

Wong Kar-wai's dreamlike kung fu film. No plot, only atmosphere: lovers separated by fate, swordsmen moving through mountains of light and shadow. Every shot is a painting. Fractured, elusive, devastating.

But Actively hostile to narrative clarity. You will not understand what is happening. No action set pieces in the traditional sense. Requires patience and surrender. Subtitles required.