RUMBLE IN THE BRONX

Stars Jackie Chan, Anita Mui

Golden Harvest

Jackie Chan has long been considered the successor to Bruce Lee as the king of Kung Fu movies. His style, however, is somewhat different. He chooses to mix humour with the fast moving action sequences, and this leads to a sense of his characters' vulnerability, and empathy for them, which was never present with Bruce Lee's more superhero style.

The plot of Rumble in the Bronx is fairly incidental - it is the fight sequences and stunts that take centre stage. The film opens with Keung (Chan) arriving in New York to help his uncle with his supermarket. His uncle, however, is not around long, as he is getting married, and selling up. Keung agrees to stay on to help the new owner. When he foils some shoplifters with the help of his fighting abilities, he unwittingly starts a vendetta with a gang, who go all out to kill him, in revenge.

Matters are complicated by an illegal diamond deal that goes wrong, between the heavies of a mafioso. The diamonds go missing, stolen on the spur of the moment by Angelo, a member of the gang. They now chase after the gang members to try to get the jewels back. After a brilliant warehouse fight scene, the gang leader agrees to leave Keung alone, and Keung then agrees to help the gang to fight off the evil cronies.

Rumble in the Bronx does everything that it sets out to, in that it contains stunning stunts and fantastic fights. It also has the Jackie Chan trademark humour, which goes to make the film much more entertaining than it would otherwise be. There's no depth to any of the characters, and the plot is laughable, even if it is unnecessary. However, there isn't meant to be any sort of deeper meaning or message - it is purely meant to be taken at face value, and as such it succeeds. If you are a fan of Chan, or of Kung Fu movies in general, then you will definitely like Rumble in the Bronx. If you've never seen any of Chan's movies, then this is certainly a good one to start with.

Rating : 7/10 This is an enjoyable film, with some good stunts and some great action but you won't help but feel that it could have been a lot better. It also gets a bit tedious at times and has a few annoying features such as the whining kid in the wheelchair.