Chan Ka-kui

Chan Ka-kui 陳家駒
First appearance	Police Story
Last appearance	New Police Story
Created by	Jackie Chan Edward Tang
Portrayed by	Jackie Chan
Information
Aliases	Lin Fu-seng (林福生) Jackie
Gender	Male
Occupation	Police officer (RHKPF) Government agent (CIA)
Title	Inspector
Spouse(s)	May
Nationality	Hong Kong

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chan.

Inspector Chan Ka-kui (Chinese: 督察陳家駒) is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the Police Story film series, played by Jackie Chan who created it with Edward Tang. He is also known as Jackie or Kevin Chan in the English language versions of the films. He is an Inspector with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. He is extremely skilled in unarmed combat as he is a martial arts specialist, but is also a competent handler of firearms.^[1]

Chan is a dedicated upholder of the law and possesses strong moral values. For the most part, he is a typical hero and "tough guy", but also has a comical and romantic side.

Biography

Early life

Chan was born on April 7, 1958 in colonial Hong Kong and joined the Royal Hong Kong Police Force in 1981. In 1984, he was promoted to the rank of Inspector Intern. Before joining the police force, he was an accomplished martial artist; he was the South East Asian wrestling champion twice, a 7th degree Black Belt in Taekwondo, 8th in Hapkido, 9th in Karate and 10th in Judo. He was also trained in boxing, but never in Kung Fu.

Police Story (1985)

In his first appearance, Chan is an up-and-coming young policeman in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force during a major crack down on organized crime in Hong Kong and is part of "Operation Boar Hunt", an undercover sting operation to arrest Triad boss Chu Tao. While he and other undercover officers are surveilling a group of mobsters in a shanty town, a shoot-out begins as the gangsters spot the police. Chu Tao flees and attempts to escape in a double-decker bus while Chan chases after him on foot. He eventually catches the bus and hangs on to using an umbrella but is thrown off. He then manages to get in front of the bus and bring it to a halt by threatening to shoot the driver with his service revolver. As he arrests Tao, he is offered a bribe to let him go, but refuses. Later, Chan is reprimanded by Superintendent Li for letting the operation get out of hand, but is subsequently presented to the media as a model police officer. His next assignment is to protect Chu Tao's secretary, Selina Fong, who plans to testify in court about Chu Tao's illegal activities. At first, Selina insists that she does not require protection, but after Chan has a fellow policeman break into her apartment and pose as a knife-wielding murderer, she becomes more cooperative. After Chan and Selina leave her apartment later that evening, they are attacked by some street thugs, whom Chan is able to defeat with his martial arts skills, though the fight leaves Selina's car a wreck. When Chan arrives at his apartment with Selina, who is only wearing lingerie, he is surprised by his girlfriend, May and her friends, who are throwing a birthday party for him. May, seeing the scantily-clad Selina, misunderstands and becomes angry with Chan, shoving the birthday cake into his face. Chan is later able to explain to May that Selina is a witness, but only after much bumbling and further misunderstanding.

Meanwhile, Selina has discovered that the attack by the man with knife at her apartment was a sham, and so she decides to not cooperate with Chan. She sneaks away while Chan is sleeping and is not present for the crucial court date the following day. Though Chu Tao is released on bail, he wants revenge against Chan. Using a corrupt policeman, Inspector Man, Chu Tao is able to frame Chan for the murder of an Inspector. Now a fugitive cop killer, Ka Kui must try to catch Chu Tao and clear his name. The action comes to a head in a shopping mall, where Chu Tao has an office. After surviving a murder attempt by Chu Tao's men to ensure her silence, Selina goes to the office to download incriminating data from Chu Tao's computer system. Chu Tao notices that the data is being dumped, and he and his men head to the shopping mall to intervene. Chan, who's monitoring Chu Tao's activities, follows. In the ensuing fight, Chan defeats all of Chu Tao's henchmen. The briefcase containing the computer data falls to the ground floor of the mall, but Chu Tao retrieves it. Chan, at the top floor, leaps off a ledge and grabs a pole wrapped in lightbulbs. He rapidly slides down the pole, smashing through the bulbs, crashing through a glass ceiling, and finally reaching the floor, where he violently apprehends Chu Tao but is held back humorously by his two friends Tak and Kim to stop him from delivering one final kick to Chu Tao.

Police Story 2 (1988)

Chan has been demoted to highway patrol as the result of his handling of his previous case. The new duty pleases his girlfriend, May, who is glad that her boyfriend is no longer taking difficult cases and has more time to see her. However, the happy mood changes when Chan is greeted by Chu Tao and his bespectacled right-hand man, John Ko. It seems Chu Tao is terminally ill with only three months left to live, so he's been released from prison, and while he's still alive he vows to make life difficult for Chan. John Ko and some henchmen show up at Chan's apartment and intimidate him, baiting the policeman to attack. Later, May and her mother are beaten by John Ko and his men. Chan can no longer hold back, and he lashes out against John Ko and his men at a restaurant. Ashamed of his behavior, Chan resigns from the Police Force. He plans to take a trip to Bali with May, but while he's at a travel agency in a shopping mall, some police officers see him and report that the mall is under a bomb threat. Unable to resist the urge to get involved in police work, Chan tells the officers to sound the fire alarm and have the mall cleared, and agrees to take responsibility for the decision. A bomb does indeed explode, and the entire mall is leveled by the blast.

Chan is praised for his efforts, and he is reinstated and assigned to solve the case of the bombing. He plants a covert listening device in the mall property company's office to try and learn more about the bombers. This leads to a suspect who is a deaf-mute and is a fierce martial artist and explosives expert. The bombing gang, aware that the police are on to them, plan a simultaneous bombing of the property company and the police headquarters. They double their ransom demand to $20 million and kidnap May, luring Chan into a trap in which he's strapped with an explosive vest and forced to pick up the extortion money from the property company. However, after handing off the money, Chan is able to drive his car into a tunnel so that the bomb he's wearing can't be activated, and he strips off the vest. He then goes to rescue May, who's being held in a warehouse full of fireworks. Chan again faces the deaf-mute man, who throws small firebombs at him. Chan then gains the upper hand and brutally retaliates against him, finally throwing him off a third storey catwalk onto a pile of plastic drums below. Chan then rescues May and departs the warehouse, just as it explodes in a huge ball of fire.

Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992)

Chan Ka-kui is now the top officer of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, and is assigned by his supervisor, "Uncle" Bill, to take part in an Interpol operation in China. It's a dangerous assignment, and in order to keep his girlfriend May from worrying (and to protect the undercover nature of the mission), he tells her he is going for police training. In China, Chan is introduced to the military police force's Interpol director, Jessica Yang, who briefs him on his assignment. The target of the mission is a drug lord named Chaibat. In order to infiltrate Chaibat's organization, the plan is to get close to his henchman, Panther, who is being held in a Chinese prison labor camp. Chan, posing as a petty criminal, is able to help Panther escape with the aid of the Chinese military police, who eliminate Panther's men in the prison. Panther then meets up with some of his other men, and Chan helps them escape to Hong Kong. Yang joins them, and the Chinese military police help them win Panther's trust by faking the murder of a policeman by Yang. In Hong Kong, Chan, Yang and Panther go to Chaibat's luxurious hide out. Chan and Yang succeed in winning Chaibat's trust, especially after helping his men destroy a fortified drug production lab in Thailand, somewhere in the Golden Triangle, when Chaibat betrays a number of other drug lords who are conducting a heroin deal with him. The action then shifts to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where Chaibat's wife is being held in prison, and is facing the death penalty. However, Chaibat needs to keep her alive because she knows the secret codes to his Swiss bank account, and she will not reveal them to anyone but her husband.

More difficulties arise when Chan happens to run into May at a Malaysian resort hotel. She confronts him, and the situation turns into a misunderstanding, with Panther believing that Chan was trying to proposition a prostitute. Later, Chan is able to corner May and explain the situation, and she calms down. But then, in an elevator, May tells a co-worker about Chan, and one of Panther's men overhears her. May is taken hostage, and Chan and Yang – their cover now blown – are forced to help Chaibat free his wife. Chaibat's scheme is successful, and May is released, as per their agreement. However, the exchange turns sour when Chaibat pushes May from his helicopter. Furious, Chan and Yang refuse to let Chaibat and his men escape. An elaborate stunt-filled action sequence begins that covers the roads, rooftops, and skies of Kuala Lumpur, finally reaching its climax aboard a speeding train, where Chaibat is killed after his helicopter collides into a tunnel and lands on him. Yang and Chan finally succeed in apprehending Chaibat's wife.

Once a Cop (1993)

Chan Ka-kui has a cameo appearance in Once a Cop. He assists Jessica Yang, his partner in Police Story 3, in stopping a robbery at a jewellery store in Hong Kong, while disguised as a woman.

Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)

As one of the best police officers in China, Chan Ka-kui is recruited by the American Central Intelligence Agency. Whilst working for the CIA, he is kidnapped by Russia's Federal Security Service and taken to Moscow where he discovers he's been assigned to work with a Colonel Gregor to solve a case involving nuclear weapons being smuggled out of Ukraine. His task is to track Tsui, a Chinese American nuclear scientist with CIA links who is suspected of involvement. He's taken by a Russian submarine to Brisbane, Australia, where Tsui's attractive younger sister, Annie Tsui, works at an aquarium doing shark shows. Uncle 7, the Tsuis' father and the local Triad boss, is seriously ill, and Chan suspects the criminal will show up soon. Unbeknown to Chan, Tsui is hiding at the hospital, and has given a nuclear warhead to Annie, who hides it at the aquarium.

Whilst following Annie, Chan gets to meet the aquarium animals and is kidnapped by Tsui, who claims to have a deal with Colonel Gregor. Chan decides to return home, but two toughs are sent to kill him, and he is framed for the murder of Uncle 7. He attempts to clear his name by going to see Annie at the memorial hall, but he is, unsurprisingly, unwelcome, and Tsui has to rescue him. Tsui explains that Gregor caught him on a CIA assignment three years before, and forced him to turn into a triple agent: a CIA agent ostensibly turned by the KGB/FSB, but in reality serving Gregor's private criminal schemes. Annie, Jackie and Tsui decide to work together to fight Gregor. Uncle 7's elaborate Chinatown funeral then becomes the scene for a complex showdown between the various parties, resulting in Tsui's death. Annie and Jackie attempt to retrieve the stolen warhead from the shark pool so that they can return it to the police, but Gregor and his toughs follow them, leading to a climactic confrontation underwater. While Gregor escapes with the weapon and Annie as hostage, Jackie comes up with an unusual plan that allows him to recover the weapon and return it to the proper authorities, while Annie makes her escape.

New Police Story (2004)

Unlike the previous films, the tone of this film is essentially a reboot of the franchise, and is darker than the previous films. It begins with a highly intoxicated Inspector Chan Kwok-Wing drinking one whiskey after another. Later, he collapses in an alley, and is found by a stranger. The timeline then moves back a year, to show the heroics of Inspector Chan, as he disguises himself as a news cameraman in order to subdue a man holding a woman hostage in Central. Soon after that incident, a group of rich, rebellious youths rob a bank. They explicitly ask a bank worker to call the police, and are confronted by the police outside the Legislative Council building. They play a sadistic game, in which they are awarded money for shooting police officers with machineguns, before making their escape. Inspector Chan and his squad are called to arrest the gang after their hideout is revealed. However, the hideout is rigged and the ten-man police squad fall into various traps one by one. Chan then finds his men in a large warehouse, suspended from the high ceiling by ropes. The gang challenges him to training regimes that are taught to policemen. Chan agrees in order to free his men. Chan comes out tops initially in the three duels, but due to the mental pressure, he eventually loses and is left with only his would-be brother in law to save. He tries in vain to save all his comrades before the explosives blow up the building. Being the sole survivor of the incident, Chan takes a year-long leave from the police force, drinking heavily to drown his sorrows and guilt. The timeline jumps back to the present day. The stranger, who first featured at the start, brings him home. When Chan wakes up, the man identifies himself as PC 1667, Frank Cheng, his new partner. Frank tries various means to convince Chan cancel his leave and take up the case but Chan refuses. However, he comes to his senses eventually by apprehending the same two youths that robbed him. At the police station, Frank tells Chan that he is Kwong's younger brother, which convinces Chan to relook into the case. It is then revealed that Joe, the leader of the gang, is the spoiled son of the police chief. As he was beaten and handcuffed by his father in his childhood, Joe holds a grudge against the police.

Frank and Chan convinces Wong Sum, a former colleague, to reveal a clue from the night of the robbery; a watch which he snatched from one of the robbers. Chan and Frank are tailed by the police as they go in search of the owner of the watch. Wong Sum was also arrested by the police to assist in the investigation. Wong Sum is shot dead by another gang member, Fire, before he manages to identify the robber (Sue). Before dying, Wong Sum confesses to Chan that he betrayed their plans to the gang before the police took action. Fire and Sue both manage to escape the building, with Chan and Frank pursuing Fire. To distract Chan, Fire shoots at a bus driver, killing him instantly and rendering the bus full of schoolkids out of control. Chan quickly jumps onto the roof of the bus in an attempt to stop it. After the careening bus has caused a great deal of havoc, Chan finally manages to climb in and hit the brakes, halting it from falling into Victoria Harbour, while Frank rams a truck full of rubber ducks in front of the bus' path. After the incident, Chan discovers that Frank is not really a policeman, and confronts him. Frank attempts to explain to Chan, but Chan refuses to buy the story. Regardless, they stay together to continue to track the gang leader, Joe. They are informed by Officer Sa Sa that the gang members all come from rich families and the gang leader is actually the son of the police chief. Sue and Fire return to the gang's new hideout. Sue is badly wounded, having been shot by Frank earlier. Seeing her injury, Joe tearfully shoots her in order to protect their identities. Joe's gang access Chan's police file on a computer, with Joe bent on taking revenge. Joe then arranges to meet Chan's girlfriend, Ho Yee, in the police station. He wraps a time bomb around her neck before leaving. When Chan learns of the bomb he desperately tries to free her. Ho Yee cuts the wires, with no effect, leading the police to believe that it is a fake. But when the two get ready to leave, a small wire attached to Ho Yee's back pulls out the secondary trigger, causing the bomb to explode. Before she can escape, it explodes and some falling pipes land on her, knocking her into a coma. Chan is charged with being responsible for the bombing and is imprisoned in the police station, along with Frank.

After Chan and Frank are taunted by Joe's gang, Sa Sa and her father, the jailer, releases both of them illegally. The two sneak out of the police station, with everyone deliberately ignoring their escape. Police Chief Wong even makes his handgun available to Chan and tells Chan to 'bring it back when you're done'. Chan, Frank, and Sa Sa then go to a computer cafe to find teens playing the game up until they complete the most recent level to find out the gang's next target - the Bank of Hong Kong, located in the New Wing of the Convention and Exhibition Centre. A squad of police officers arrive, but this time Chan stops them from rushing in, assigning them the task of calmly escorting the public out of the building. Once the public are moved to safety, the gang members' parents are sent in, much to their surprise. One of the gang members, Max, is so ashamed of himself that he attempts to run down the escalators to his parents, only to be shot dead by Joe. Afterwards, Chan and Frank run up to engage the three remaining gang members. Frank manages to shoot Fire in the leg with his own gun, disabling him. Chan chases another gang member, Tin Tin, into a Lego exhibition. When the exhibition hall is emptied, Chan reminds him that neither won the last time they fought. The two engage in hand-to-hand combat, with Chan defeating Tin Tin. Joe then chases Frank into the hall and shoots at him. In the crossfire, Tin Tin is shot in the chest. Joe manages to chase Frank out of the room just moments before the Special Duties Unit of the police arrive. Tin Tin grabs a gun from the floor and points it at Chan's back. Chan, oblivious to what's happening behind him, calls out to the squad to bring in a medic for the Tin Tin. Contemplating what he has done and how Chan is helping him, he decides not to shoot him.

Chan finds Joe on the roof of the Convention Centre. Having captured and tied up Frank, Joe threatens to throw him to his death. Joe challenges Chan to a race to assemble a semi-automatic pistol, a rematch of an earlier challenge, wagering Frank's life in the process. This time, Chan swiftly wins the game, much to Joe's disbelief. A number of policemen arrive on the roof, along with Joe's father, the police chief. Joe's father reprimands him, while Chan tells Joe that he knows that he doesn't hate cops, but he actually hates his father for berating him. Due to what Chan and his father have said, Joe finally admits defeat and deliberately unloads the single bullet in his gun and aims the empty gun at Chan for the police to have a cause to kill Joe. Not knowing that Joe's gun is empty, a police sniper then fires a round at him, injuring Joe in the process. He weeps and again aims it at his father, causing the sniper to fire once more, killing him. Chan rushes to rescue Frank, and both of them fall off the building. They eventually land onto a fireman's inflated cushion. In the hospital, Chan's girlfriend has recovered and prepares to leave. She is met by several policemen and nurses who persuade her to accept Chan's marriage proposal. At first, she tries to hide her facial scars from Chan, but eventually accepts the proposal to the crowd's applause.

Meanwhile, Frank is led away by Officer Sa Sa. He leaves his jacket on a railing. When Chan looks at the jacket, he suddenly recalls meeting Frank before, and has a flashback to an event from years ago: A homeless man from the mainland arrives without much money, and his son is starving. He tries to steal some food for his son from a 7-Eleven store. While running across the road to escape from the shopkeeper and the police, he is knocked down by a truck and killed. Chan arrives at the scene and uses his jacket to cover the body of the boy's father. Chan then buys the boy a loaf of bread. He comforts him, saying that the best thing do is to try to forget the past and look forward to the future. He asks the boy for his name, to which the boy replies, "Frank Cheng".

References

1. ^ Police Story, Jackie Chan interview, Bey Logan Audio Commentary (DVD featurette) (DVD). Hong Kong Legends, UK. 1985 (film), 2001 (DVD).