After the death of Bruce Lee in 1973, a sub-genre of Hong Kong films arose, referred to now as “Bruceploitation”. These movies often starred actors who resembled Bruce Lee, and would take on very similar names(e.g. Bruce Li). This film doesn’t go full tilt on this, since Jackie Chan isn’t presented as being “Bruce Lee”, but this is a sequel to one of Lee’s films, and Jackie is absolutely being positioned as the next Bruce Lee here by the studio and producers.
On the plus side, this was by far the biggest role for Jackie at this point, in a film with very high budget and production value. There are two different versions of this movie. The original release in 1976, and, as would become customary, a re-release in 1980 after Jackie became a big star. I’m not sure which version I have, but apparently the 1980 release has footage removed from it.
Fight 1 – Brief little fight, where Jackie pretty much gets his butt kicked. This is notable however, for being one of the first times I can recall Jackie’s humor coming through in a big way. There is some mild prop stuff with a basket, and Jackie talks a lot of junk in between getting beaten up. Also great use of his comedic facials. It ends when someone steps in to stop it. (No Rating)
Fight 2- Now this might be the first time in this project where I thought to myself “THIS is a Jackie Chan fight scene”. He again gets worked over, this time by about 8 guys. What I find interesting, is that Bruce Lee was someone famous for not allowing himself to look vulnerable in his films, but in the sequel, the main character is presented as being trained, but unskilled. Jackie fights in a way here that is obvious he is a man who knows what he’s doing, but pretending not to. Some funny stuff with Chan frantically trying to fend off the other men, and even knocking himself out with nunchaku at one point before being beaten down again. Fun stuff. (Rating 5/10)
Fight 3 – In between the last scene and this one, there is a training montage where Jackie learns the discipline that he liked before, and becomes a dangerous fighting machine. Also, unfortunately, a rival school attacks his own and kills many students. Even his master is taken out of commission, so with no other alternative, Jackie fights the female master of the rival school. Throughout the film, they have shown her extreme skill and power, and Jackie is overwhelmed very quickly, notably with her kicks.
The hero begins to notice her patterns and tries to take out the legs. He eventually takes her out with 3 huge dropkicks, and the headmaster is PISSED. He absolutely beats the brakes off of Jackie, who has no answer for anything the master does, until he gets lucky and lands one blow to the chest. What follows is a very well choreographed, intense fight scene that is easily the best thing I’ve reviewed in this project so far. (Rating 6/10)
Final verdict: See it, even with the truly bizarre ending of all the heroes being gunned down by the Japanese. It’s not what you expect from a Jackie Chan film, but this is honestly still pretty good. He brought his unique timing and charisma to this, and it made it an enjoyable watch. After this, Jackie will serve as Action Director on almost every film he does from this point.
Project Jackie 