Project A
Review
Stars: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Dick Wei
The version I am reviewing here is the VHS release of Project A. It was recently remastered and it's great. The dubbing, although not great for everyone, is overall very well done and is only bad when there are many people talking at once or when an insignificant character is speaking. The music, I believe, has been redone, which I find hard to believe because it's so good. However, the vhs is lacking the widescreen format of the DVD version, which I should be receiving soon. But I think that the lack of widescreen is made up for entirely by the great quality of the film itself and the action that floods the scene all the time.
Project A is the Navy's action plan against the pirates that have recently invaded Hong Kong. However, the Hong Kong Police have decided that dealing with the pirates is not as important as, say, cracking down on the local criminals. So, the sailors are all turned into cops and Project A (action) is terminated. However, as Jackie and Yuen Biao find out, there is a leak in the HK Police to the pirates which gets Jackie's friend, Fats (Sammo) involved, thinking he can get in on some action and perhaps money. The 3 of them along with other officers embark upon delivering the pirates out of the waters of Hong Kong.
It's indeed a different story than other Jackie Chan films. So different in fact that I was enjoying every bit of it. Pirates and police and criminals, all with wu shu and lots of stunts. I'm surprised that the entire selection at Blockbuster isn't rented out all the time. But then again, this is quite foreign to American viewers. They'd rather see guns and blood instead of bodies falling off balconies 13 feet high or brawles of 50 or more officers perfectly choreographed, or even one of the best stunts ever performed on screen by Jackie Chan himself, ON ACCIDENT, right? No, actually. Go rent this movie and show it to your friends, and you'll get lots of "oohs" and "aahs".
Why? The first scene is really just a brawl, but a great one full of comedy and awesome choreography. Chan and the sailors detest Biao and the HK police. So, they fight in a bar. Jackie and Biao are the center pieces of the scene and do some stuff like jumping off tables, throwing a few punches here and there, and throwing lots of furniture. The two of them move really well together. Not convinced? Jackie and Biao are both cops later, and have to find Chan, the murderer. They enter the hotel that Chan owns, find the guy, and deal with about 15 other workers from the hotel, some of which put on good shows. Jackie rolls down the stairs, falls down the railing, and tosses someone off the balcony 13 feet up who grabs the chandelier for a second before swinging too far forward, landing on his side. Biao does his piece by dealing with 2 at a time usually and also throwing one into a glass shelving unit holding glasses and bottles. Jackie finds Chan again, throws him off the balcony, and Chan does a triple HK spin in the air, landing on some broken furniture. Jackie does his stunt a few minutes later by falling off a clock tower, which is probably 25 to 30 feet high, through 2 canopies, onto his head on the ground. They reshot it again because he didn't do it right the first time (he actually didn't want to let go in the first place), and so you get to see the mess up, and then the real one. It's Jackie for sure on both of them because it's the stunt that busted his back, and the second one is one cut and shows him on the ground. A few more minutes into the movie, after some filler action to inform us on the storyline, Jackie is chased by criminals who want their weapons. At one point, Jackie has to run up a slope that is at about a 60 degree angle, maybe 15 feet high. He scales it with no problem. After that he runs down a mess of stairs and railings within seconds, forgets something, runs back up, then back down. Then he takes a bike and there is this scene with a bicycle chase that has never been done before. Great stunts at this point. Jackie also has to jump over a ladder, while on the bike, so he lets the bike ride while he stands up on it, jumps over the ladder, and lands back on the bike. He ends up riding into a restaurant where Sammo is eating, and the two of them work together as one to take on about 10 guys in a row. And just to top it off, after even more action and insane stunts, the 3 of them take on Dick Wei, the top pirate, all at once. Biao and Jackie do most of the boot and footwork, and Sammo tops things off with his own stunts and acrobatics. The finale has an explosion, and the 3 brothers jump so high into the air that we were swearing that they HAD to have had either wires or pneumatics, but we saw none. Jackie does a branny 4 feet into the air, Sammo does a front roll, and Biao has his BACK, facing downward, 6 feet in the air, while doing a front flip, and then lands on his back.
This isn't an Operation Condor. This isn't Mr. Nice Guy, and it sure isn't Shanghai Noon nor Rush Hour. It's so much better that I'd rather watch this once than Shanghai Noon 5 times for free. The stunts are during the high points of the abilities of the brothers since it was made in 1983, and everything is so well done that it shines out the sides of the tv.
There's some more in Project A, but I won't spoil it. I don't even understand how this movie is any more violent than Jingle All the Way, so I can't see why they stamped the PG-13 rating on it. Perhaps due to realism. Rent this movie and show it to your grandma, mom, dad, little brother, son, granddaughter, and all of your friends. Then watch it again just to see what you may have missed. It's an amazingly well done movie that hasn't received full credit yet. Personally, I believe it's Jackie's best, even better than the famous Drunken Master 2.
Enough talking. 10/10. This is a landmark picture. All pirate movies should be like this.
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