Unenforced

I have a few issues with Jet Li's The Enforcer.For one, Jet Li is not the Enforcer; there are no enforcers in the movie. I'll get to the other later.

Jet Li plays a Beijing undercover cop. Nobody knows his real job, not his sick wife or his 10-year old kung fu champion son. He sent to Hong Kong to infiltrate a gang by busting a gangster out of prison, so he leaves his son and wife to deal with the disgrace.

I generally don't care for family drama, but this is handled quite well. The Beijing backstreets are beautifully filmed, and the son is given a great treatment. And they deliver this without stinting on the action, with two good fight scenes in the first 20 minutes. I guess director Corey Yuen has the skill and the budget to pull off both.

In Hong Kong, Li gets involved in an outrageous melee, and is noticed by police detective Anita Mui. I know Mui from the iconic The Heroic Trio - co-starring with Maggie Cheung and Michelle Yeoh. She has unusual looks - a broken nose and bulging eyes, and she is not really a martial artist. Actually, she is a pop star, a sort of Hong Kong Madonna type. She's a good actress, however, and very magnetic. She passed away in 2003, and she'll be missed.

Investigating Li, she winds up in Beijing and befriends his wife and son. So when his wife dies (not really a spoiler, is that?), she takes his son back with her to Hong Kong. The upshot of this is the big finale, where Li and son take on all of the bad guys at once. This one scene makes the whole movie worthwhile.

My major gripe? - SPOILER - Li's wife dies mainly to clear the decks so he can end up with Mui. Couldn't they have waited a week or two?

In conclusion: Is Jet Li now my favorite martial arts movie star, beating out Jackie Chan? He is certainly a better actor, capable of drama and humor, while Chan only really excels at humor, and slapstick at that. He is equally fast and skillful, I would say, although at their level, it's hard for me to say. Chan still strikes me as a better fight choreographer. Oh Jet, Jackie, do I have to decide?