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| Tookey's Review |
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| Pro Reviews |
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| Mixed Reviews |
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| Anti Reviews |
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| Cast |
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| Released: |
1995 |
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| Genre: |
ACTION
ADVENTURE
SO BAD
COMEDY
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
106 |
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A grocer's assistant (Jackie Chan) solves the law-and-order problems of a gang-infested area of Brooklyn.
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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Jackie Chan, Hong Kong’s top action star, is a tremendous athlete, and a deviser and performer of wonderfully original stunts. His most lavish attempt to break into the Hollywood mainstream has acting that is poor, dubbing that's atrocious, a script that's hilariously corny. The scene where Chan converts a gang of hoodlums from a life of crime into boy scouts merely by inviting them to tea and administering a stern reprimand (Don’t you know you are the scum of society?”) is a classic of so-bad-it’s-good cinema.
Hardened filmgoers are accustomed to seeing Toronto stand in for New York; but Chan’s attempt to pass Vancouver off as the Big Apple is astonishingly perverse, since the mountains of British Columbia are clearly visible in the background.
The action sequences, however, are terrific feats of choreography and acrobatics - and the out-takes over the final credits graphically reveal their dangers. Chan is often compared to Bruce Lee, but he uses his body with the comic timing of Buster Keaton and the grace of Fred Astaire. His charm lies partly in his obvious enjoyment of his stunts, partly in the fact that he doesn’t go in search of violence, and tries to escape (if necessary, off the top of frighteningly tall buildings) at least as often as he fights.
Though some scenes of violence are sufficiently gruesome and imitable to make me wonder why the film was given a 15 certificate, most of the action is so stylised and spectacularly choreographed that few people would be capable of copying it even if they wanted to. With all its faults, this unashamedly over-the-top Kung-phooey - the climax has Chan single-handedly battling a gigantic hovercraft - will amaze even the most jaded action fan, and has to be among the most joyously goofy movies I have ever seen.
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, Anita Mui, Francoise Yip