Not going to lie, I’ve been dreading this one. The action in this movie is bad, and the overall movie, abandoned plots and bad editing make this a mess. I believe Jackie has gone on record as saying this is one of his least favorite films, and it is pretty bad. Jackie does serve as stunt coordinator, and this is the rare film where he plays the villain. There was some attempt to try something new here with some sci-fi elements, at least, and also has star power in Jimmy Wang Yu.
This will also be one of the rare occasions(until his later career) that Jackie Chan would use wire work in his action scenes.
Fight 1 – This occurs fairly early, and features a little bit of the wire work that I spoke of above. Jackie, as Immortal Meteor(this guy…) has attempted to have his guards kill our hero, played by the great Jimmy Wang Yu(Killer Weapon…..state of these names). Weapon of course easily beats the guards and has a showdown with Meteor.
They fight to a stalemate, until Meteor catches Weapon in a trap, and has him imprisoned. The action was very good here, but maybe relied a bit too much on wire work for my liking, as I’ve never been a fan of that style. It was a more “fantastical” fight than you’d normally get from Jackie. Whenever it was played more down to Earth, this was threatening to be really good. (Rating 3/10).
Fight 2 – Jackie’s involvement in this movie is limited, as this is the climatic scene, and only the second bit of action he has. Meteor appeared to die via poison earlier, but SURPRISE he’s not dead, and comes back at the end when Weapon appears to have won the battle.
This fight is really weird. They fight atop vertical wooden posts, with spikes underneath. Very dangerous. For such an unconventional setting, this fight feels really boring, and there is never a sense of danger felt. Two of the great martial arts stars of all time, and you get THIS. It ends when the Immortal Meteor is killed by an actual meteor. (Rating 1/10)
Verdict is SKIP IT. The nonsensical plot about magic meteors, the very uninspired action and shoddy production make this an overall stinker. There is a subplot with Killer Weapon’s bandit friends that literally doesn’t get resolved or even hinted at.
At this point, it was very clear that Lo Wei(the director) was a bit of a one hit wonder, and was very fortunate to be the one to direct Bruce Lee’s first two films. Every movie after that was an attempt to replicate that success and shoehorn actors into something that didn’t work for them. Jackie has gone on record to voice how frustrated he was at the time, as he felt like his creativity was being stunted. Put this one in the bin.
Project Jackie 