Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits!
Directed by Jackie Chan/Chia-Liang Liu/Stanley Tong/Gordon Chan/Sammo Hung/Benny Chan.
Starring Jackie Chan, Ho-Sung Pak, Ti Lung, Anita Mui, Françoise Yip, Anita Yuen, Michael Wong, Annie Wu, Jackson Lou, Sammo Hung, Miki Lee, Richard Norton, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto, Rachel Blakely, Ram Chiang, Thorsten Nickel, Bill Tung, Kris Lord, and Gabrielle Fitzpatrick.
SYNOPSIS:
Box set featuring six movies made by Hong Kong legend Jackie Chan in the 1990s that saw him conquer America, including alternate cuts and tons of extras.
Arrow Video are at it again, for not only are they still kicking(!) it with their Shawscope box sets – now into its fourth volume – but for the Asian cinema connoisseur they have also put together Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits!, an extensive 10-disc set featuring – guess what? – six movies that saw martial arts legend Jackie Chan finally go international and crack America after years of making cult hits like The Protector, Wheels on Meals and the Police Story series in Hong Kong.
First out the box is Drunken Master II, the 1994 sequel to Chan’s 1978 crossover hit Drunken Master, that sees Chan reprise his role as Wong Fei-hung, a mischievous young man who is known for using the ‘Drunken Boxing’ style of fighting, although he has kept a promise to his strict father Wong Kei-Ying (Ti Lung) that he will not engage in fighting anymore as using alcohol to fight makes you an addict, or so his father believes. After a shopping trip to buy herbs with his father and his servant Tso (Ram Chiang), Fei-hung gets into a fight with a suspected thief and ends up unknowingly swapping his stash of ginseng for the Chinese Imperial Seal, an important artifact that the unscrupulous British consul is trying to smuggle out of China give to the British Museum. Chaos ensues as Fei-hung ends up giving one of his father’s patients a poisonous root instead of the ginseng, the British consul employs his brutal henchmen to recover the stolen artifact and Fei-hung’s resourceful stepmother gets involved in a fight that means Fei-hung has to resort to his unorthodox style, risking the wrath of his father.
Even at 102 minutes, Drunken Master II packs a lot in as Chan has to plot, fight and talk his way out of the various scrapes he finds himself in, and there is rarely a scene where somebody isn’t talking so it really is a movie you have to pay attention to. However, with all the sitcom-style family japes and the amazing martial arts on show it is worth it as Drunken Master II manages to cover all bases when it comes to genres, zipping from comedy to kitchen sink drama to full-on brutality without any warning.
In his first traditional style martial arts movie since the early 1980s, Jackie Chan is simply magnificent and shows he has the chops to go up against any other international martial artist of the time, or indeed any time. The film employs a natural colour scheme and doesn’t look too overblown on 4K UHD, and out of all the discs in the set this one is the most loaded, featuring three cuts of the movie, a new audio commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto and no less than eight featurettes/appreciations of the film, as well as trailers and outtakes. A cracking start to the box set.
The next movie in the box is probably the best-known title in the set, that being 1995s Rumble in the Bronx. Here, Chan plays Keung, who has come to America to attend the wedding of his uncle Bill (Bill Tung), who owns a convenience store in The Bronx that he is trying to sell. Uncle Bill sells the store to Elaine (Anita Mui) but fails to tell her all about the protection rackets and blatant theft that comes with owning a shop in such a run-down part of town, and when Bill goes on his honeymoon he leave Keung to finalise the contract, but Keung finds himself getting in deeper than he wanted to as he becomes Elaine’s security when the local punks come looking for trouble.
With big Death Wish 3 vibes about it and similarities to the 1985 Sho Kosugi VHS rental hit Pray For Death, Rumble in the Bronx is very much Jackie Chan’s US breakout smash, as despite the Chinese cast and crew it feels like an American action movie. Perhaps the mix of US and Hong Kong actors (and that really is being kind to some of the US faces that appear) gives it a more accessible edge, or just the fact that it feels big and vibrant amidst the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon sequels that were big business at the time, but Rumble in the Bronx is spectacular blockbuster entertainment done Hong Kong style, as the motorcycle gang torment Elaine in her new business while Jackie Chan delivers high-energy martial arts action like only he can.
However, despite its action movie chops Rumble in the Bronx suffers from a few niggles that stop it just short of being the crossover masterpiece it could so easily be. The first is the tone, and whilst Jackie Chan movies are known for their comedic attributes the comedy here just doesn’t seem to sit right with the darker nature of the action. Chan is a charismatic lead and is one of the best in the business with the physical gags, but there are far too many misplaced or goofy jokes – normally after a serious or violent set piece – that are too jarring and broad to work when a more subtle wit would have been enough to balance it out.
With that in mind, there are far too many bad guys here because once Keung infiltrates the main gang tormenting the store he discovers that they have become involved in a bigger diamond heist involving a crime syndicate led by a shady businessman called White Tiger (Kris Lord, who only has one IMDB credit and you can see why) and the scumbags we have spent two-thirds of the movie being built up to despise now become people we are supposed to root for as Keung’s loyalties take another direction and we get some slapstick humour as he takes a hovercraft on a ride through New York. Again, all superbly staged and looks good but it makes the movie very uneven and crams in even more plot that the 146-minute runtime doesn’t support, meaning it runs out of steam about 15 minutes before it actually ends.
But if it is action you want, don’t mind bad acting and fancy some lairy 1990s colours to dress it up in then Rumble in the Bronx is still a good time. The 4K UHD presentation is immaculate, and aside from the fashion choices it looks like it could have been shot any time in the past decade or so. As with all of the titles in this set there is a Hong Kong and an International cut of the movie, as well as the continuation of Arrow Video’s retrospective Breakout! featurette, an extended interview with stuntwoman Kathy Hubble and an audio commentary with Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, press kits and added scenes for the TV edit so enough to get stuck into should you wish.
There comes a time in most action movie stars’ career when they decide that they have to do a movie involving racing cars. Tom Cruise did it early on with Days of Thunder, Sylvester Stallone made Driven fairly late into his career and Vin Diesel will likely keep making Fast & Furious movies until his licence expires, and so in 1995 Jackie Chan made Thunderbolt in a move to try and do something different to his usual brand of martial arts comedy.
Chan plays Chan Foh, a junkyard mechanic and skilled part-time racing driver who is helping the Hong Kong police crack down on illegal street racing and car modifications. However, his skills are tested when a petrol-head killer known as Cougar (Thorsten Nickel) comes to town and causes mayhem, challenging Chan Foh to a race after being sprung from jail. Chan Fo refuses but Cougar’s methods of persuasion involve endangering Chan Fo’s family and kidnapping his sister, forcing him to take on the ruthless driver.
Okay, the plot is extremely silly and feels a little late coming out in 1995 as this is perfect mid-1980s cheese, especially when it comes to the non-Chinese actors and the Rocky IV-esque pumping soundtrack. Of course it’s a bit naff but it works in getting you psyched up to side with Chan Fo, and Jackie Chan turns in a relatively restrained and serious performance to make Chan Fo a little deeper than his usual wisecracking characters.
Naturally, Chan is still charismatic but the actor was suffering from an ankle injury at the time so there are a lot of quick edits and close-ups during the action scenes to try and keep Chan’s face on the screen (although it doesn’t always work), and the comedy is toned down a lot when compared to the previous movies in this set, although it is still there in brief flashes.
The car chases are the real set pieces here and they don’t disappoint, so if you are drawn towards Fast & Furious-style action then there is plenty here and it is all practical, with real cars and real people. The main drawback is the common one of the running time, as 110 minutes of watching Jackie Chan get beaten up and then get involved in a car chase does get a little repetitive, but German-born Thorsten Nickel as the blond pony-tailed Cougar is the real low point as there is nothing about him to make him endearing or even a villain you want to see get his comeuppance – he really is that devoid of anything. In the pantheon of 1990s action movie villains who could at least deliver a threatening line, surely they could have picked someone better than this? Arnold Vosloo or Patrick Kilpatrick would certainly have done the role justice.
Anyway, despite these flaws Thunderbolt is something different for Jackie Chan and for that it should be celebrated. The 4K UHD picture is bright and crisp, the reds of the Mitsubishi racing cars quite striking against the other racing colours and you can make out everything going on in the car chases. Extras come in the form of an audio commentary by Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, an interview with audio dubbing supervisor Paul Clay, part three of the Breakout! featurette and the Japanese cut of the movie, which runs a little shorter with some audio changes. Overall, Thunderbolt is a good action movie but possibly not one you’ll return to very often.
The same cannot be said, however, for Police Story 4: First Strike a.k.a. Jackie Chan’s First Strike or simply just First Strike, all dependent on when or where you first saw it. For this box set it goes under the now established Police Story 4 title so it is now officially a sequel to Chan’s best-known franchise, although that series has as many in-name-only sequels as an Italian zombie at the time of writing.
By now Chan had pretty much given up giving his characters names so here he is known as Inspector Ka-Kui Chan or Jackie (which was used as the character’s nickname in the international versions of the original Police Story canon) and pretty much plays himself as a police inspector. Inspector Chan of the Hong Kong police is chosen by the CIA to follow and observe somebody suspected of smuggling nuclear warheads in Poland, but when the suspect is arrested by the Ukrainian Strike Force international relations take a dive as Chan is unwittingly forced to work for the Russian mafia as agents are double-crossed, loyalties are tested and Inspector Chan has to figure out who is buying or selling what to whom and can he stop it in time.
An international action thriller very much in the vein of James Bond – who had returned to screens the previous year with Goldeneye after a long hiatus – Police Story 4: First Strike only shows Hong Kong in the opening title scene before Chan is off to Eastern Europe and the action barely stops as he finds himself in situation after situation as he tracks the nuclear warheads. A very 1990s plot that ticks a lot of boxes, but it never feels generic as many post-Cold War action movies from the era did, and Chan’s natural charm makes the occasionally bleak and humourless settings much more watchable, although he does eventually end up in Australia for some added warmth.
Tonally, this is a continuation of Police Story 3: Supercop, being a little more light-hearted and comedic without resorting to slapstick, and if you watch the longer Hong Kong Cut on disc 5 you get a bit more grit than you do with the slicker but less satisfying International Cut (included on disc 6). The Hong Kong Cut also features an audio commentary by Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, and the next part of Breakout! looking at the movie whilst the International Cut comes with an interview with Frank Djeng and additional scenes from the TV version. The image itself is nicely cleaned up without being outstanding, mainly because this was the mid-1990s and the film stock used at the time gave movies a fairly bland and flat look, but seeing as the locations are mostly foggy or snowbound and the action frenetic it isn’t really an issue, especially as the previous UK DVD version was an awful cropped version so anything is an improvement.
Overall, Police Story 4: First Strike is a solid action thriller that, after the slightly experimental (for Jackie Chan) vibes of Thunderbolt, feels like slipping on a comfortable pair of slippers and revisiting an old friend. The plot is fairly stock 1990s but Chan brings so much energy and charisma that even the poor line readings by the supporting cast don’t really cause much of a problem. Yes, there are flaws but for sheer adrenaline and excitement you could pair this up with a Pierce Brosnan-era Bond and have a whale of a time with a double-bill of fast-paced and polished 1990s action.
And polished action is also at the centre of 1997s Mr. Nice Guy, where Jackie plays Jackie (surprisingly!), a TV chef who also happens to be a master at martial arts. When a drug deal orchestrated by ruthless gangster Giancarlo Luchetti (Richard Norton) goes wrong and is captured on video tape by reporter Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick), the brutal crime lord orders his goons to get the tape back, but while she is escaping she runs into Jackie, who is also carrying a video tape. See if you can guess what happens next…
Thin on plot and high on action, Mr. Nice Guy tries to recapture what Rumble in the Bronx did for Chan’s international career but, like with many of his English language movies, something got lost in translation and the movie suffers due to wooden acting from the non-Chinese cast. Gabrielle Fitzpatrick is quite sparky and fun as Diana, and former Neighbours star Rachel Blakely adds some charm as a rival drug dealer, but Richard Norton is painfully bad, to the point where it seems to have rubbed off onto most of his gang members as every time one of them opens their mouth it sounds like a first line reading.
But seeing as the standard of the supporting actors in all of these movies hasn’t been great so far, Mr. Nice Guy isn’t really worse than anything we’ve seen already. Directed by martial arts legend Sammo Hung – who also makes an amusing cameo appearance as a disgruntled cyclist who gets to take revenge on the drug gang for their terrible driving – the movie is never boring and Chan still has that magnetic screen charisma that means you cannot help but like him. The stunts are crazy and the action is solid, and given this is 1997 it all looks clean and tidy, if a little flat by today’s standards. Other than that, Mr. Nice Guy is an entertaining, if unremarkable, Jackie Chan movie that is presented with three different cuts – uncut Hong Kong version, extended Japanese version and the butchered International Cut – plus the all-too-familiar Breakout! appraisal, commentaries and Frank Djeng giving his take.
Which brings us to the final movie in the set, 1998s Who Am I?, where Chan’s character is fully named as Jackie Chan. Chan is an undercover agent on a mission in Africa with a group of mercenaries, but after an accident he is stranded and left for dead, rescued by an African tribe and nursed back to health. The trouble is he has amnesia and doesn’t remember who he is or how he got there, and so he begins to piece it all back together with the help of a rally car driver and a suspicious journalist, which leads him back to rogue government agents looking to claim important power sources as their own (it was the ‘90s). They just need to tie up a loose end that won’t give up until he knows the truth.
Who Am I? is a lot more serious in tone than the previous few movies in this set, and the African setting in the first act does give it a different feel than a traditional Jackie Chan movie, and when he goes to Europe later on there are proper international spy thriller vibes (although James Bond never did kung-fu whilst wearing clogs – maybe EoN missed a trick there!). However, as with the other English-language movies Chan did at the time, the acting in this movie is terrible – possibly the worst out of this collection – and if Chan himself is not on the screen it all falls a bit flat.
As plot-driven as it is, Who Am I? features some of Chan’s most ambitious stunts to date, and a climactic slide down the Williamswerf building in Rotterdam serves as a highlight of a movie that is full of energetic action set pieces. However, at two-hours long Who Am I? – with its title repeated dozens of times, as that is the name the African tribe give to Jackie so that is what he calls himself – goes in hard to set up the Hitchcockian-style mystery in the first half and attention does start to wane as Jackie has to try and get convincing performances out of his co-stars with very little success. However, the second half of the move is an action fan’s delight as Jackie’s more comedic persona kicks in and the stunts take over.
The disc comes with the final part of the Breakout! featurette, an audio commentary by James Mudge, an archive making-of and a featurette briefly looking at Jackie Chan’s late ‘90s career going into the new millennium. The International Cut is also included in the set and runs about nine minutes shorter with some scenes in a different order. As with all of these movies, the Hong Kong originals are the best versions to watch but it is nice to have them all included.
So there we have it – six movies across 10 discs that showcase Jackie Chan’s international breakout hits. As any longtime Jackie Chan enthusiast knows, his best work was his Hong Kong career from the late 1970s up to the early 1990s, and his recent thrillers have also been highly acclaimed, but the period represented here features a fairly consistent collection that are nothing if not entertaining. There isn’t a move here that will blow you away or is considered a classic by any means, but Drunken Master II and Police Story 4: First Strike are the definite highlights that between them cover pretty much everything that is great about watching a Jackie Chan movie.
By that reasoning, there is nothing here that is totally awful either (as long as high quality acting isn’t a selling point for you) and the set as a whole is a worthwhile addition to any Jackie Chan/martial arts collection, with enough extras to warrant further investigation and Arrow Video’s usual superb packaging, including some excellent new artwork courtesy of Sam Hadley. If you are not already a Jackie Chan fan then you might be best to start elsewhere to get introduced properly, but if you are already or just fancy diving in regardless then this set is worth picking up as there are many hours of fun to be had.
Flickering Myth Ratings:
Drunken Master II – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Rumble in the Bronx – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Thunderbolt – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Police Story 4: First Strike – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Mr. Nice Guy – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Who Am I? – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
