Jackie Chan (“Shanghai Noon”, “Chinese Zodiac”) returns to the “Police Story” franchise with “Police Story: Lockdown”. This is a rather bleak film with a very different style of action to the kind we are used to seeing in Chan’s films. It is an interesting watch but ultimately a disappointment from one of cinema’s greatest action heroes.

In “Police Story: Lockdown”, police officer Zhong Wen (Chan) finds himself a hostage when a group of men takeover a nightclub. As time goes on he realises that this is no ordinary hostage situation as the lead criminal has orchestrated this whole event in order to exact revenge. It seems to have pretty much nothing to do with the other “Police Story” films.

We’re used to seeing Chan smile his way through his films but he has little to smile about here. The fight scenes are often very brutal and seem a world away from the slapstick action from his other movies. However, the film’s dark tone allows for Chan to do a bit more actual acting and he does a reasonable job. The villains aren’t very memorable and nobody else really stands out all that much, which I think is a real shame.

As I mentioned, “Police Story: Lockdown” feels as though it’s a name only sequel so don’t expect it to have anything in common with the earlier films. There are some tense moments and some clever scenes here and there but I found the elaborate plot to be unnecessary as I hoped to see more action. I’m a big fan of Jackie Chan but I think most fans are going to feel conflicted about this movie. Those that have always dismissed Chan as a clown are unlikely to bother with it. If they did, they may be pleasantly surprised to see that the man is capable of something more serious than his usual light-hearted antics.