New year action movies seek to reflect real life

Jackie Chan in "Police Story 2013" (Sina)

Although this year's new year movie market is not performing as well as last year, as some new films join the battle, the situation is likely to change. 

Director Feng Xiaogang's comeback comedy "Personal Tailor" has so far made over 600 million yuan, but is now giving way to new action crime releases like "Police Story 2013" starring Jackie Chan.

Unlike previous "Police Story" films where Chan portrays a hero cop who seems unbeatable, he now plays an ordinary police officer with his own limits.

In order to truly reflect a policeman's life, director Ding Sheng spent two years in the police force, trying to get every detail right.

"We saw forensic experts solve seven cases and made lots of notes. In fact a lot of the lines in the movie come directly from the policemen we worked with," Ding said.

Jackie Chan, now in his 60s, was keen to do all his stunts himself, adding to the film's authenticity.

"Chan was standing very close to me and I shot him directly. Although it was just an empty shell the sound is still very alarming! And Chan insists on doing the scenes himself instead of a double. We were all so moved by his professionalism," said co-actor Liu Ye.

To further enhance the realism the actors involved in the action scenes are all real policemen, a first for mainland action crime movies.

Going up against Jackie Chan in "Police Story 2013" is a group of firefighters in Hong Kong action film "As the Light Goes Out". The emotional and dramatic plot, A-listers including Nicholas Tse and Hu Jun, together with an impressive display of explosions, gives the movie its sparks.

"The firefighters in this movie are not the stereotypical heroes. Each of them has a dark side. And they're really conquering their inner demons when fighting the fire beneath the smoke," said actor Hu Jun.

Although some films are indeed making money and making headlines at the same time, overall the market is not as strong as last year. As the box-office battle for the holiday season now enters the second half of the race, the competition is definitely getting fiercer.