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Jackie Chan Ka Kui: Jackie Chan Tsui: Jackson Lou Annie: Chen Chen Wu Uncle Bill: Bill Tung Colonel Yegorov: Jouri Petrov Natasha: Grishajeva Nonna Directed by Stanley Tong. Written by Stanley Tong, Nick Tramontane, Greg Mellott and Elliot Tong. Running time: 88 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence). |
Jackie Chan movies are sort of a contradiction for me. His movies are like Hollywood action movies, in that they both have an abundant amount of action and no concentration to plot. Yet unlike them, his movies find a way to be more entertaining. Maybe it's because when you watch his films, you genuinely have a good time and leave the theatre with a sense of fulfillment. His only purpose in making these films is to entertain you, unlike Hollywood movies, where they care about how much money they can make.
Jackie Chan may be the oldest and the best action star in the world, except in the United States, which has overlooked most of his 40-plus pictures. Until recently, he has engaged in a heavy campaign releasing his most recent pictures to the United States; in 1996, he released Rumble in the Bronx and Supercop, and now there is Jackie Chan's First Strike.
All are dubbed in English, mostly by Chan and the other actors themselves. The dubbing tends to get strange, as the words do not match their lips. Although they have no choice in the manner, since no one wants to read the dialogue while watching the action. Having watched both versions, Hong Kong and American, I notice that they added more sound effects to the American version. My only conclusion is they wanted to make the movie more familiar to the American style. We know there is a hit, with each grunt we hear.
His movies tend to have the same structure and plot. They mostly consist of him innocently getting caught in hectic situations, involving government conspiracies or the Mafia. As a result he has to fight his way out only with shear determination and desperation. Just think of his characters as the more acrobatic and clumsy version of "Roger Thornhill," though you will never see Roger Thornhill jump off a cliff.
Which brings me to the point, why his movies are so popular. Unlike, most action movies, the star is doing his own stunts. No body double. No safety nets. They do have accidents on the set, some serious than others, as we see from the outakes at the end of the movies (a trademark of his). Whether the scene calls for him to climb a fence with his legs or fighting on the roof of a moving train, Jackie will do the stunt. It's because of that knowledge, we watch the scenes a little closer and become amazed when we see these stunts, some of them require more than just a couple of replays. His attitude to the stunts are simple: find the humor in them.
In this movie, Jackie Chan's First Strike a.k.a. Police Story 4: First Strike is actually a sequel. The plot of the movie consists of him playing a Hong Kong cop named Jackie, who is assigned to follow a mysterious woman named Natasha (Grishajeva Nonna), on a flight to Ukraine and monitor her every move. His report is detailed, as he notes every time she goes to the airplane's bathroom. As usual in any of his films, his simple mission turns into a plot that rivals a "James Bond" movie. In the snow-covered regions of the Ukraine, Jackie stumbles onto some conspirators, who want to steal the warhead of a nuclear missile. Jackie continues his mission and follows them into a forbidden military area. In a couple of minutes a battle ensues, where we soon find ourselves watching some downhill ski sequences, including one in which he skis off the side of a hill on a snowboard and grabs the runners of a helicopter. At first the stunt isn't that spectacular, but then you realize that the stunt is real and it is Jackie that is doing it. Although it does not seem like big hill, and the helicopter is pretty close, it's still impressive, not to mention dangerous.
We later learn that the nuclear warhead has now moved to Australia. His supervisors send Jackie to Brisbane, where he meets Annie (Chen Chen Wu), who works at an aquarium. Her job consists of her entering an oceanarium tank to feed the sharks. There is no doubt in our mind that the sharks will play some part in the future. We find out that Annie's brother is the one who has stolen the warhead, which she hides for him in the shark tank.
This situation sets up a multitude of action sequences that vary from Jackie barely escaping from man-eating sharks to fighting on the rooftops of his penthouse hotel. The action is fast and furious, as we never contemplate how hard it really is to coordinate these stunts. In between the fast-paced and crazed atmosphere, the movie stops once in awhile to show its humorous side. One scene includes a guy forcing Jackie to strip while singing "I Will Follow Him," and then dresses him in a clown suit, forcing him to operate a cellular phone while wearing flippers.
Jackie Chan movies are not for everyone. His approach to movies differ that of the big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. His main requirements are that his characters never use a gun, there is no gore and not much blood, and he'd rather knock someone out than kill him. These factors are the opposite of Hollywood movies, where fans are use to the gun-toting, blood soaked action.
Jackie Chan's style of action is fast, but he handles them with an elegant style like a dancer's grace. His "big and life-threatening" action scene seem to get more difficult with every movie. The scene with him going into the frigid water was one of the gutsest moves I've ever saw. It amazes me that he went through with it and survived. I wonder how long is he going to do these kind of movies. How many stunts can his body take? Grade: B-
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