Blueghost
For a Jackie Chan film this is below average. For anyone who's seen his Taiwan films you know that his stunts for that market were over the top and just outright dangerous and lethal to a fault. And yet he's survived them all.So then he comes to the U.S. and does this film. There's one dangerous stunt (which, to be honest, I would not have allowed) and some mediocre fight scenes. When I first saw it all those years ago I thought it was decent entertainment, and I still think that, but the shine has worn just a touch. Not much, but, as we say on set "a scoche". The truth is there's a lot of martial arts films, and this one, largely because it's made by Americans, just doesn't pass muster when compared to something like "Enter the Dragon", or Jackie's own Asian market films, much of which have yet to see the international or American markets.Still, it's got a decent plot, is actually shot in the style of films like "The Sting" or "Cannery Row", though still framed for an action martial arts film with comedic overtones and not a crime drama. It's kind of a fun film, though the action sequences are a little slow and perhaps even subpar by martial arts standards.Check it out once and see what you think.
davemaijala
"...amazing how this sort of idea managed to cross the pacific with him!." what's amazing is how ignorant of the historic 'myth' is in your small, pea sized brain. it is amazing how ignorant those who post movie reviews are about the history of literature. The 'fish out of water' accompanied by the wisdom of a mentor is an old tale, and in literature, movies, and the like long before any Chinese wood movie. Think about "Avitar" for 3 seconds...so blah , blah, blah, why is 10 lines of text necessary when less will do? because there are mindless numb nuts in charge of these reviews. I wrote for Breaking Bad, by the way.
nykm
After Bruce Lee's departure to heaven, Hong Kong cinema has been craving for another kungfu star like Bruce, and a certain famous director Loh Wai spotted the potential of a virtually unknown Jackie Chan (at that time), and determined to make him a Bruce next in line. I guess pretty much everyone know how it went. Jackie was never Bruce, and in fact, no one could emulate the kind of style and flair poised by the great man. All the Bruce Ler, Bruce Li, Bruce Looi clones, for god sake, they even have a Korean guy (whom was a great Karate champion for his defense) to fill the void. None of them really work. Even Jackie Chan, whom later found his fame worldwide fail to duplicate anything remotely close.That is not until a young director Ng See-Yuen, together with now an industry legend, Kungfu choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, loan Jackie Chan from Loh Wai (he bloody owned Chan that time) to make "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" which catapulted Jackie into movie star status in Hong Kong. The latter film, combined Kungfu with continuous comedic sequence and style that Jackie parodied from silence film era was such a great success that it defined the style for Jackie's future films.1973, Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon grossed 25 Millions in North America. That was probably equivalent to over 200 millions today (based on 5% inflation per year), a Roman triumph for a movie with less than a million budget. Though not to the extend of Hong Kong, Hollywood and the American audiences certainly still look forward and certainly marketable for a guy like Bruce, 7 years after his death. This is where both Jackie and his boss (Golden Harvest) were looking for, an inroad to Hollywood.I guess, human race kind of have a short memory, and Jackie's earlier success and his even earlier flops were easily push aside, and you have this movie made. A disappointing kungfu movie that shown neither the style of Bruce or the comedic of Jackie, just a suppose star-vehicle for some random Hong Kong dude tried to be Bruce while being funny at the same time but in the end fall all over the place.At about 60% mark of the show, I was actually enjoying it. Nevermind the lack of style, nevermind that Jackie wasn't really Jackie we familiar with, it is still an enjoyable one. But the more towards the ending, the more we realize that this is just a show focus on that Hong Kong guy and nothing else. The rest of the characters were merely background, they are not suppose to be anything. Even that previous champion (it has a cool name in Cantonese version, Killer King Ali), who was suppose the baddest man in the universe seems like a paper tiger in the end. Not to mention, Rosalind Chao character (the sister in law) never shown her face after being abducted by the mobs. What kind of story is this? Robert Clouse is the guy who made Enter The Dragon, and also this one. In the former, Bruce Lee aside, still a solid martial art movie. With Bruce being the star, the main guy, central of the universe, there's still ample room for secondary characters like John Saxon and Jim Kelly managed to show a bit of their style, not to mention they have one of the most iconic villain, Dr. Han, the guy with iron claw. With this one, from the same director, you seen NOTHING, absolutely nothing. By the end of the movie, I kind of realize how poor the script was and how it has heavily impact the show.They have some good chances to make it right. The climatic fight was such a mess that pale in comparison to even Cynthia Rothrock later works (after she went back to US). The girlfriend was there to flash her boobs, the horny uncle, played by the wise wizard in Conan movies only managed to let himself captured, twice! And don't talk about the mob. Jose Ferrer's mob boss had found out about his treacherous nephew's scheme, and nothing was done to stop the sabotage. Most of the villains appeared to be sore loser type, they have no depth, no class or any fighting prowess to match with (except the bald black dude whom at least had his head).
