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A Jackie Chan Double Kick Flick:
Jackie Chan's First Strike and City Hunter
by William Killeen
Jackie Chan's First Strike is actually the fourth in a series of Hong Kong films madein the early 1980s called Chan's Police Story. Taken out of context of the original series and re-dubbed into English for its premiere in the United States, First Strike delivers comprehensive Jackie Chan: everything one comes to expect from a movie with Jackie Chan in it is in First Strike (minus Owen Wilson or Chris Tucker). Those looking for a movie long on kung-fu fights, high on action, and miniscule on plot would do well to give First Strike a viewing.
Jackie Chan plays a Hong Kong police officer named, of all things, Jackie Chan, who has recently been assigned to the CIA. There is absolutely no reason given as to why a cop from Hong Kong would be working for a United States intelligence agency, and Jackie seems to be as equally confused: plodding along without any real idea what he is doing. However, being eager to help, Jackie continues to follow the orders of his superiors as he tracks a nuclear arms smuggler across the globe. From the Ukraine to Australia, Chan's investigations lead him only into more trouble and set him up for one death-defying stunt after the next.
What really does sell the film are the fight scenes. The studio was wise to put Jackie Chan's name right on the box; First Strike has the sort of stunts and martial arts moves that only Jackie Chan is capable of: a sort of jovial interpretation of the classic kung fu movie. Instead of beating up a guy twice his size, Chan gets beaten up, forcing him to use his swift moves to run away from the fight instead of engaging in it: propelling up and down walls and through windows. One scene of particular note is when Jackie wields a 10-foot aluminum ladder to fight off a dozen opponents, using the long reach to duck and dodge blows then propping the ladder up and jumping under it for use as a shield. It is something else; it really is.
As for the stunts, well, what was always so impressive about Jackie Chan's stunts is that they are done by Chan himself; his American début is no exception. He really does jump through all those windows, climb up and down all those walls, and hop down multi-story buildings. They have the blooper reel at the end of the film to prove it. Jackie even swims with sharks for a couple of scenes, though it's unclear where foolhardy stunt-making ends and Hong Kong movie magic begins with those. The stunts are very impressive with that in mind, but once the action starts up things tend to move so quickly that all the work that goes into each stunt is easy to overlook.
Taking a broader view of the movie, however, reveals the important point that not everybody likes kung-fu movies. Even fans of "classic" kung-fu movies, the old 1970s productions, might not appreciate First Strike's more deus ex machina approach to the kung fu master motif: "The world is in danger? Well fortunately a Hong Kong cop, who happens to be a martial arts expert, is working for the CIA!" Those new to Jackie Chan films but lovers of action flicks would enjoy the movie, but devout haters of all things action-oriented won't find any haven here. Still, Jackie Chan's First Strike is one of those definitive Jackie Chan movies, with his name right on the cover, and fans of Chan would do well to give it a watch.
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City Hunter is another Jackie Chan film, but has a more unusual origin than most other films of its type. A Chinese, Hong Kong movie based on a Japanese comic of the same name, City Hunter tries almost too hard in replicating the feel and humor of the comic the movie is based on. As an added benefit, the soundtrack features a chorus that sings out "City Hunter, City Hunter!" at random intervals. The result is an odd treat for followers of either Jackie Chan or the City Hunter comics, but others watching may be stuck just wondering what is going on. |
A private detective named City Hunter (there is no other name given) works alone to solve crimes and deal with villains. "Alone" seems to be a relative concept, because he has his female assistant with him at all times. Their relationship is purely platonic, despite the fact that City Hunter is an enormous womanizer who is constantly fantasizing about being in a swimming pool surrounded by pretty girls. They are enlisted to track down the wayward daughter of a wealthy businessman, but City Hunter and his assistant seem more interested in their own personal relationship issues than the case. Their fights with each other lead both of them onboard a luxury cruise-liner, where the businessman's daughter just happens to be staying. Unfortunately for the crew and passengers, there is a robbery afoot as a group of armed criminals intend to capture the ship and steal everything the wealthy patrons of the cruise have on them. Of course, City Hunter will have to single-handedly deal with these thugs with the help of his assistant, a police woman onboard the boat, the mysterious gambler "The Banker," and two Street Fighter 2 video game players. For a loner, City Hunter never seems to be short of help.
What really defines the film isn't Jackie Chan, the plot that's full of glaring holes, or even the action sequences. The definition of the movie comes from the comic-based style of humor that gets turned on at the very beginning of the film and doesn't stop for a moment even at the film's end. The anti-dramatic scene at the beginning where City Hunter's partner gets gunned down the way Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck would be gunned down is just one example. There are even a couple of cartoon-styled running gags throughout the movie. City Hunter's assistant has feelings for him, but whenever she gets close to displaying affection, City Hunter gets distracted by either the task at hand or by the next attractive woman who walks by. Once onboard the luxury liner, City Hunter will spend the entire cruise not looking for the businessman's daughter, but for a bite to eat. There's even an oversized mallet that appears out of nowhere towards the very end of the film to smash City Hunter in the head for his philandering.
When one thinks "Jackie Chan," stunts and fight scenes come to mind and City Hunter has plenty of those. As befits the goofy plotline, most of City Hunter's fights are caused by his own stupidity or misjudgment, and for some reason he always gets into a fight after getting tied up first. The jokes tend to take over everything, and the fight scenes can quickly became showcases for City Hunter's personality defects rather than his fighting prowess. And while all the martial arts sequences are authentic, there are a few moments when City Hunter looks more like its comic-book namesake than a kung fu movie: such as The Banker's ability to kill men using poker cards. Not a standard fight movie by any stretch.
City Hunter is a film that begs the question: "for whom was this movie made?" The style of the jokes is unlike most other martial arts movies; and the fight sequences themselves, while quite clever, are standard fare in this sort of film. It is as if Hong Kong decided to release a kung fu flick geared specifically for the Japanese comic-book crowd. The movie's origin as a Japanese comic, its humor, and its Street Fighter 2 video-game references all point to a very specific target market that leaves a wider audience in the dark. The English dub of the movie does not even feature Chan at all. Instead, an American voice actor was chosen to play City Hunter's voice; and while a subtitled track in the original Chinese is there, one just doesn't expect Jackie Chan to speak in anything other than broken English. City Hunter is an oddball film in Chan's already oddball career, and those looking to be somewhat confused would do well to watch it.
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