Dragon
is the son of a Chinese aristocrat who is always getting in trouble,
and likes to skip his lessons.
Dragon tries to send a love note to the girl he likes via a kite, but
the kite gets away. Dragon tries to get the kite and letter back which
have landed on the roof of the headquarters of a gang of thieves who are
planning to steal artifacts from the towns temple. Dragon interferes
with the gang's plans and is forced to fight off the gang.
Jackie doing a jump!
Review
Some legend on YouTube put the Australian English dub of this film from 1983 onto their channel. Being the mega Jackie fan I am [and because of the fact I literally own a blog dedicated to action films), I took time to watch the movie and ultimately enjoyed it.
There are a lot of reasons I love this movie.
It's very different. This film has Jackie playing.. not as a cop, but the lacking son of a rich businessman. Wow. Not only is Jackie's character different, but one of the major things in the films is different.
Jackie and his village boys do sports! This is an action sports film. SPORTS. While you might not be used to sports in Jackie's films (considering this is 1 out of 2 of them), you should be because this is amazing. Speaking of the sports, the movie starts off with all the people in Dragon's village CLIMBING UP THE TOP of a goddamn pyramid to get a rugby ball. 3 minutes in the film and we already get an amazing sequence. A seven minute sequence. Then 5 minutes after the end of the sequence, we get a fight scene between Dragon and Cowboy.. over a girl. For 2 minutes. Until everyone starts freaking out because Dragon's father comes in the scene right after Dragon says he's not scared of his dad. Then 15 minutes later we get ANOTHER sports scene. FOR TEN MINUTES. Ever see that in Jackie Chan films? NO. And DON'T bring up Dragons Forever. That's not a sports movie. Still, I kinda feel bad for anyone who got the version of the movie where the rugby match is at the end.
The film was a combo of Mars and Chan. You rarely see Mars fight in films, but when he does, he does an amazing job. Mars is the best stuntman of Jackie and I wish we saw him in more films. Mars plays Cowboy and Chan plays Dragon. They are best friends in this movie and are probably the best duo ever seen in a Jackie Chan film. In the final fight, Dragon falls from the top floor and Cowboy literally breaks his fall by making sure Dragon landed on him. Didn't go too well the first time in shooting.
(Jackie is in the black. You can guess who Mars is.)
The subtle comedy was perfectly placed at times and was not too pushy. Some of the comedy is put in during life-defying fight scenes as well. Just goes to show that Dragon really doesn't care. Speaking of the fights, Hwang in-Shik and Jackie fight again, two years after The Young Master (which Dragon Lord was supposed to serve as a sequel to, except Jackie doesn't win by drinking any tobacco water. He wins.. by piling him up in a sack of potatos. Wow. Jackie Chan really got a beating back in the 80s. (Dragon Lord, Police Story 2, Wheels on Meals..) Anyways, back to the comedy, the English adaption writers did a great job. That's sometimes why I prefer the dub over the sub.
The stunt-work on the film was actually amazing and impressed so much for Jackie's third directed film only. Jackie's stunt team did a wild amazing job on this. This is the first film where Jackie started expirementing with stunt sequences. This is the start of the Jacky Chan that we ALL KNOW and love. Just imagine if he didn't like stunt sequences. Just imagine if he never even did them! This blog would only have like 10 reviews.
The American in Jackie & Mars keep showing.
The soundtrack is a bit repetitive, but it is a great soundtrack song and I hate that I can't find it anywhere.
The old 80s dubbing makes the film more enjoyable. It might be horrible, but it sure has that charm. It is way better then the new 21st century dubs of foreign films, which unfortunately was used in the 88 Films trailer for the new Blu-Ray release of Dragon Lord.
Dragon Lord is definetly a great pick, and shows resemblance to the Young Master which I reviewed December of 2023. Just a spolier: no real dragons (or lords) appear in the film.
Rating: 9.5/10
Watch Dragon Lord on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98x3Eh8By-g (Australian English VHS dub from 1985)
Corrupt Royal Hong Kong Police Force inspector Chun (David Lam) has made himself the most
powerful law enforcement officer in Hong Kong by staging high-profile
arrests of the criminals and mobsters with whom he's in cahoots. The
British authorities know Chun is a dirty cop but have not been able to
infiltrate his inner circle. Enter fearless and incorruptible military
policeman Royal Hong Kong Police Force Sergeant"Dragon Ma" Yun (Jackie Chan), who comes back to his hometown
to pose as Chun's new right-hand man and take down both cops and
criminals.
Review
I honestly am not too fond of this film. Firstly, it's missing Biao Yuen and Sammo Hung which were the best parts of the first Project A in 1983. But, to make up for it, we get Maggie Cheung's brilliant role as Maggie is amazing. She has great acting and is one of the best parts of Project A 2. Not to mention Bill Tung, who is hilarious in all his movies. Also, Ken Lo!
I first saw this film on TV when I was 6, like with Project A. But Project A stuck more to me. The plot of this film is forgettable, and so is the climax stunt. The whole film itself is unforgettable. But the amazing stunt sequences, characters, fight scenes and acting makes it up! No idiot comes to a Jackie Chan movie for the plot. They want the kicks! The slaps! The insults! The stunts!
One of the things I find better about the movie is the outtakes. All versions have the same song, and actually have more outtakes then clips from the movie, but Project A only had 5 outtakes unlike this one. So I guess it lives up to Chan's tradition of putting outtakes in his movie credits.
Anyways, I don't hate the movie, but it's hard to follow, and is kinda boring at some times with the plot scenes. With Project A you could watch the scenes that had no action because it either added to the plot or was funny. Project A 2 is an astonishing film, but you want something very easy to remember, and actually funny, I recommend Project A.
Project B proceeds! But mid-way through, go back to Project A.
Watch Project A 2 at
Yue Chinese with English subtitles https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/project-a-2/17932867730
English cut, 1980s https://archive.org/details/Project_A-2_Jackie_Chan_English_Dub
Rating: 7/10 (Good fight scenes, good acting, good credits)
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
A kung-fu fighter (Jackie Chan) is mistaken for a fugitive while searching for his runaway brother.
Review
The Young Master is one of the greatest 80s Chan films, despite it being his second directing role. I don't even know how to review this one.
The ten minute climatic fight is amazing, and it's just kinda cool to see Chan's character [Dragon] just act like a robot.
The fight choreography is amazing and definetly took many days to come up with.
Also, there is not too much comedy, but when there is, it is subtle and actually funny.
When I first watched the film I thought it was gonna be a boring film, but then I continued it and it was actually amazing.
I bet that when Chan started directing, it was unusual to let a young man ( 26 year old) direct a film that he stars in and writes. But when you let him take charge, he might make a movie you don't want to end.
However, Golden Harvest must have not felt like that, because the film was originally 2 hours longer.
Anyways, The Young Master is a great film to watch when you're bored with great choreography, great writing, and great Jackie Chan stunts.
Okay, kids, what have we learned from The Young Master?
A kung fu fighting man is one of the best men you can find.
Watch The Young Master at
Yue Chinese with English subtitles (from 1995) - https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/the-young-master/1464158275762
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