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Rating: **½
Genre: Jackie Chan MPAA: R Review #: 23 Cast: Directed by...Stanley Tong Writing credits...Edward Tang Writing credits...Fibe Ma Jackie Chan...Ah Keung Anita Mui...Elaine Françoise Yip...Nancy Bill Tung...Uncle Bill Marc Akerstream...Tony Garvin Cross...Angelo Morgan Lam...Danny Ailen Sit...Tony's Gang Member Chan Man Ching...Tony's Gang Member Fred Andrucci...Tony's Gang Member Mark Antoniuk...Tony's Gang Member Lauro Chartrand...Tony's Gang Member Chris Franco (II)...Tony's Gang Member Lance Gibson...Tony's Gang Member David Hooper...Tony's Gang Member |
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Review:
This is the second Jackie Chan movie I saw. I rented it because I was so impressed by "Mr. Nice Guy". I was expecting the same level of originality and energy, but was disappointed. Does that make it a bad movie? No. This movie was picked, way back in 1995 to be the movie that introduces Americans to Jackie Chan. I remember the way that the ads played up the fact that Jackie Chan does all of his own stunts, and there was no trick photography. Of course, Jackie's been doing that for his last 50 or so movies, but us stupid americans don't know that! You might also remember that Jackie broke his leg during one of the stunts. This movie was much less action-packed than Mr. Nice Guy, and tried to rely more on the movie's plot. I think that they should've gotten a better plot before deciding to do that! |
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| In this movie, Jackie plays Keung, who comes to America to help out his Uncle Bill. It turns out that Uncle Bill's convenience store is located in Gang Territory, and Jackie manages to seriously piss off the gang, and they rough him up. In the meantime, Jackie befriends a little wheelchair bound boy named Danny, and it turns out that his older sister, Nancy, is a member of that same gang. So, as soon as the gang finds out what a great guy Jackie really is, they make friends with him, because this is a kinder, gentler kind of gang, and they're being threatened by the "real" bad guys, the mafia! There's some strangeness about stolen diamonds that are hidden in Danny's wheelchair's cushion. So, Jackie and his gang buddies are able to redeem themselves, and defeat the Mafia boss. |
| This movie also has some very disturbing points. There are two points in particular. The first one comes when the Motorcycle Gang beats up Jackie. They trap Jackie in the end of an alley, and then hit him with liquor bottles. Jackie dodges them, but when they hit the wall behind him, the bottles explode, cutting Jackie with shards of glass. They leave him as a bloody heap at the end of the alley, and Jackie crawls back to his apartment, leaving a big smear of blood behind him. The other one is when the Mafia guys feed a member of Jackie's gang headfirst through a wood chipper, and then force the other gang members to drag the "mulch" back to the rest of the gang in garbage bags. These scenes conflict so much with the rest of the movie that you get the impression that they were included just to get the R rating. After all, us dumb Americans can't take an action flick seriously if it isn't rated R. |
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| The Real Critics seem to make a big deal over the geography of this movie. This movie was obviously filmed in Vancouver, not the Bronx, and there are no golf courses anywhere near the Bronx. I think that the real geographic oddity is that his movie was filmed in Canada, yet had to be dubbed into English! If someone can explain that one to me, it would be appreciated. And, did anyone else notice that all of the asian characters are good guys, and everyone else is bad? Still, it's a good movie, and a good introduction to Jackie Chan. It's sort of a hybrid between older Jackie Chan movies with real plots, and newer ones with more action and emphasis on creative stunts. I have spoken. |
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