Now this is more like it. This marks Jackie Chan’s debut as a proper choreographer, as he directed the action in this movie(and it shows), and gets a proper credit and starring role as the villain. This is one of only two films where Jackie plays the bad guy. It would not be his first starring role, but his first in a film of this nature, as he had only been used as an extra and stuntman prior. The movie was released in the West as “Rumble in Hong Kong” MANY years later.
Jackie only has one fight scene in this film, towards the end, as he was one of the main antagonists. This is a bit jarring to see him in this style, since I’m so used to seeing him style his fights in a self-preservation kind of way. The hallmark of his fight scenes later on, was that he always made you feel like he didn’t want to fight, but here, he’s very aggressive and kind of a jerk about it.
This is a little rough around the edges, but you can see Jackie’s fingerprints all over this. Much more give and take than what you were used to seeing in movies around this time. This had a nice little flow to it, and used the environment pretty well. This is a group fight, until Jackie tries and fails to run over one of the heroes with his car. This evolves into, what I think is Jackie’s first big one-on-one fight scene. It had the nice ballet like quality that you are used to seeing from his films, and showcased each man’s skill well. (Rating 5/10)
Final verdit: It’s not perfect, and under normal circumstances, it would probably be a “skip”. But given that this was Chan’s first chance to choreograph, and also get a major action role, I’d say “see it”. There were no “One person beats up 20 with ease” type fights in this, thankfully, as those were really overdone at the time already. Instead, the fights were choreographed with an understanding that it’s easier to cheer for the hero if you feel like they were in danger.
Project Jackie 