Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits
Jackie Chan fans will be eating good soon, thanks to Arrow Video‘s brand new 4K transfers of some of the action maestro’s most popular films. Arrow is releasing the new set in collaboration with Warner Bros., so the movies in this collection are mainly from their library. The “Breakout Hits” theme also pertains to his films that were imported to American shores, which helped his international popularity soar and how he was able to start producing his films for all markets. In this collection, you’ll see his movies that were made in Hong Kong, then they start branching out into America, Australia, Holland, South Africa, Russia and more. Furthermore, Jackie starts making his movies in the English-language more and more to help have them become accessible to international audiences.
Let’s take a look at three of the films in this collection in the first part of the review! Stay tuned for Chris Bumbray’s take on the other three films!
Drunken Master II
Jackie’s original Drunken Master film from 1978 made waves for multiple reasons. It featured amazing choreography from the legendary director, Yuen Wo-Ping, it was the second of Chan’s box office hits, and it was controversial for portraying national icon Wong Fei-Hung as a young troublemaker. That film had Fei-Hung go through humiliation before training to become a master at Drunken Boxing and the payoff was so satisfying. The very same can be said of its sequel. Chan returns to this role nearly a couple of decades later and, like many sequels, it’s bigger in all ways.
Funnily, Chan ages himself down to be a 20-something Fei-Hung, whereas he was in his 40s during the filming of this movie and he’s not that much younger than Ti-Lung, the actor who plays his father in this film. Jackie’s youthful persona helps with the illusion though and when rewatching this movie, it completely reminded me why its considered one of the greatest martial arts films ever. For a long time, I knew of this, but kind of took the film for granted. See the movie remastered in Dolby presentation was like experiencing the film like new again and I have such a renewed love of it.
Drunken Master II is the best of Chan. The comedy is great (especially with a great performance by Anita Mui), the action is unmatched and the story is just so cathartic (if you don’t take the original Hong Kong ending into account too much). This is an era where bad guys had no grey area and they are nasty, so when Chan beats the crap out of them, it’s not just pretty action scenes, it gives you a sense of fullfillment.
Rumble in the Bronx
Having grown up only seeing New Line Cinema’s cut of Rumble in the Bronx, I was pleasantly surprised by how much more I enjoyed my experience of watching the Hong Kong cut in 4K. There were bits and pieces of the Hong Kong cut that was cut out for the American version, but it made a lot of difference. Anita Mui’s character has a lot more story where Uncle Bill neglects to reveal the crime element that looms over the supermarket. Now, the gang attacks feel less random and the Elaine character becomes more tragic as her store keeps getting targeted despite Keung’s best attempts to protect it. There are some scenes that play this subplot up for laughs, but ultimately, there is more substance than I expected here after just thinking of this movie as Jackie vs. New York gangs.
Keung’s friendship with Nancy and her little brother, Danny, feels like it’s given more depth from these extra scenes and shots as well. Keung’s speech after the big hideout fight sequence feels like it has more personal weight given all the hell they put him and his friends through. As with Drunken Master II, the presentation is flawless and just one more reason that I feel like I watched this movie for the first time again.
Police Story 4: First Strike
I really like First Strike. It’s a great watch, but as a follow-up to the Police Story trilogy, it doesn’t quite feel on par with the rest. Not that the franchise can’t evolve (because First Strike feels more akin to a James Bond movie), but there’s a certain grit lacking in this installment. It’s actually so far removed from the series that it was released as a standalone movie here in the States as Jackie Chan’s First Strike. It definitely feels like a progression in Chan’s stardom as he works for both the United States and Russia in this movie. You can really see how international he’s become in representing many people.
There’s interesting talk in the extra material about whether or not Chan intended this to be a Police Story sequel to begin with. The Uncle Bill connection is there and Chan is a cop for the Hong Kong Police Department, but that’s where the loose connections end. Usually, Police Story involves a subplot with May, Chan’s girlfriend from the other movies. Here, there’s no real room for her as he’s abroad. One of the critics from the Breakout retrospective on the disc suspects that Chan arbitrarily threw in the Police Story title since he was constantly asked by fans when he would make another one.
The movie is a lot of fun on its own merits though. Chan throws in some James Bond tributes with an action scene featuring skiers and snowmobilers on a mountain top and the Hong Kong cut extends the underwater shark tank finale. It’s a different kind of action sequence as Chan and company continue to do their signature martial arts action, but slowed down in the water. It even has props incorporated and some thrilling shark suspense, not to mention the physical comedy.
Verdict
As a fan of these movies, I love this set! Arrow Video continues to remaster the picture and sound to great effect. The earlier films are especially great since it’s the best they’ve ever looked and sounded. The Dolby picture is amazingly crisp and at some points, I forget I’m watching an older movie — everything just looks so sharp. Plus, you get the option of watching multiple cuts with the base choices being the original Chinese versions and the altered American versions. Some even have more cuts!
Arrow continues to offer brand new extra features with newly recorded interviews and commentaries with critics and film experts as they break down the films and offer behind-the-scenes trivia that the cast and crew would have been able to provide if they participated. Some discs feature archival interviews with Chan around the time that the movie came out.
Bottom line, for any Jackie Chan fan, this is a pretty definitive way to revisit his classics. Be prepared for an extravagant price with this being 4K and a collection of six movies on ten discs. You can order it HERE!
Stay tuned for part 2!
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