Should I watch it?įirst Strike suffers from being cut more times than Tiger Woods but the film still retains the series' trademark blend of goofy comedy and blistering action. It needed to be braver and longer to become a classic but as it is, it's a mildly enjoyable experience.Īussie man-mountain and former professional wrestler Nathan Jones pops up as one of the goons after Jackie. The film isn't much worse than the bombastic Supercop but it does feel less entertaining, although you'll still smile and enjoy Chan's wily antics.

If you happen to have seen any of Chan's earlier movies before he moved to Hollywood, First Strike feels disappointingly hollow compared to the manic action of the previous films. The film also suffers from the usual disorientating effect you get watching a dubbed film (whatever you do, try and find the original version in subtitles) with dialogue clipped and not really flowing convincingly. That scene stands head-and-shoulders above anything else in the film. Thankfully, New Line left in the fight scene involving a step-ladder which beautifully demonstrates Chan's timeless ability to get the most out of props. As a result, the film is almost impossible to follow coherently with several scenes detailing the plot dropped as well as a number of fight scenes - did they not realise that was what we wanted from a Jackie Chan film? What's worse is that most of the film's action is composed with wild shootouts and a frankly silly underwater fight between Chan, some goons and a comedy rubber shark. He was also Hong Kong's lead commentator on horse racing.Īlthough not the fault of the film, the International version released by New Line Cinema was horrifically edited with more than twenty minutes cut from the running time.

Incidentally, Tung (who passed away in 2006) also played a character called Uncle Bill in Rumble In The Bronx, despite that film not being a part of the Police Story franchise.

When the series was rebooted in 2004 with New Police Story, Chan was the only cast member to return. Chan, Tung and stuntman Rocky Lai are the only three performers to appear in all four of the original Police Story series.The film was so successful in Hong Kong that it was the biggest earning film of all time until the release of Shaolin Soccer in 2001.

Super cop jackie chan film genre