Project A: Project Awesome!

 How do you spell, amazing? That line, which was taken from Miramax's 1995 re-release trailer for Project A / Jackie Chan's Project A sums up the whole film and the title. But today we will be reviewing the original version, the one on the UK dvd.

 

Directed, written by and starring Jackie Chan 

Starring: Sammo Kam Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Dick Wei, Mars

Written by: Edward Tang
Produced by: Raymond Chow
Leonard Ho
Edward Tang

Release date: December 23, 1983 (Hong Kong)

August 8, 2007 (Australia)

 

Synopsis

 Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) is a lieutenant in the 19th-century Hong Kong marines. Pirates have been terrorizing local waters, with assistance from the corrupt authorities. Dragon Ma hopes to defeat the evil pirate clan led by Sanpao (Dick Wei), but his plan is short-circuited. Ma then teams with a navy admiral (Hak Suen Lau), a police captain Tzu (Biao Yuen) and a crafty thief (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo) in a new round of high-seas battles with Sanpao and his pirates.

Review

How can't you love Project A? I remember being six years old, bored on the weekends, nothing to do, then SBS On Demand was playing Project A. I never heard of Jackie Chan or his films before so I watched the clock tower stunt and then the rest of the film. Since I didn't know the plot, I didn't care about it. Jackie Chan grasped me and I went on to watch Drunken Master and The Karate Kid. 

 The comedy aspect of the film is the same with Drunken Master. The film has lots of comedy sometimes I wonder if it was promoted as a "Comedy-action" film. But that's okay, because the reason I loved the film was because of how funny it was. Not to mention Jackie, Biao and Sammo's amazing performances, and the fight choreography as well. 

However, what ticked me off about the Hong Kong release of the film (that I watched) has only 5 outtake clips in the credits, unlike the Japanese version, which only has about 3 or 4 clips from the film. One thing I love about Chan's films is the credits. They're the parts I look forward to the most. So it sucked knowing that the credits are took up by a 50 second long freeze frame, seen below.

 Anyways, despite the credits, Project A is an amazing movie to see, with undeniably one of Chan's best stunts, and probably fight scenes with the one in the restaurant.

 Yeah, sure the bar fight is amazing to, but that one was just the cops losing their temper. Everyone in that scene was a protagonist.

 Anyways, Project A is one of my biggest Chan recommendations and I forget how amazing it is until I rewatch it.

Rating: 9/10

Watch Project A on

Chinese with English subtitles (2019) - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/project-a/1464154179755