Truly Dreadful Film

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Plot; A man from China visits the U.S. for his Uncle's wedding and runs afoul of a local gang and a group of diamond thieves.Aside from Cannonball Run, this was my first exposure to Jackie Chan. New Line Cinema snagged the rights to this 1995 Hong Kong hit and released it internationally (After trimming about 15 minutes off of its runtime) the following year. Grossing over $30 million in N. America, it became Chan's breakthrough in the States and several such re-releases would follow. But it's Rumble in the Bronx that has always stood out. Playing like an 8-bit side-scrolling beat 'em up, Bronx is not high art, but it is a perfect showcase for both Chan's incredible physical gifts and his deft comedic talents. For a Chan purist this probably barely rates as a shrug, but back in February of 1996 I sat in a theater filled with people getting their first taste of Chan and having the time of their lives in the process.

Rumble in the Bronx is a pretty fun Hong Kong martial arts action comedy. Directed by Stanley Tong, the movie is about Ma Hon Keung (Jackie Chan), a Hong Kong native whom comes to New York to help his Uncle (Bill Tung) sell his supermarket business to new owner, Elaine (Anita Mui). While, helping out, Keung found himself in a rivalry with the local street gang, leaded by Tony (Marc Akerstream) that leaded to a series of street brawls. Before the plot could get tiresome. The plot takes a left turn by having one of the member of the street gang, Angelo (Garvin Cross) gets involved in an illegal diamond deal gone bad forcing the small-time gangsters and Keung to team up against the much larger and more effective criminal syndicate led by White Tiger (Kris Lord). I have mixed feelings about how the plot turn into another diamond heist movie. The first part of the movie really fits the title card. The second part, remind me of another movie series starring Jackie Chan, the Police Stories franchise. I was just really disappointment that the gang and Keung would end up, being friendly with each other, after nearly killing each other in the first half. After all, Tony nearly kill Keung with broken glass. Even today, that scene alone, is pretty damn brutal. The action scenes are really awesome to watch. Jackie Chan is famous for always doing his own stunts and you see his best, here. Great fight choreography, it really look like they honestly hit each other hard. Great use of normal household props. I always think that Jackie Chan is the best of irregular weapons. It was fun, watching him beat people up with skis, shopping carts, and other materials. I love the big building to building jump. I just wish, they didn't show the same shot, three times through four different cameras angles. It just took me out of the film. The hovercraft scenes were crazy to watch. Can't believe that, Jackie Chan was hurt the whole time and wearing a cast. Jackie Chan's right foot lands at a bad angle after jumping onto the hovercraft in the first scene, causing a serious injury that would not heal for the remainder of filming. The shot still made it into the finished movie. Like most Jackie Chan movies, the outtakes show how dangerous these stunts were. The lead actress and several stunt doubles were also injured during the shooting of a motorcycle stunt, with several people suffering broken limbs and ankles. The movie wasn't all action. It did have some funny moments that hit the funny bone for me. I love the two way mirror gag. Jackie Chan's high spirits and infectious personality made the movie character likable and not bland. You can tell that Jackie Chan was indeed, having fun, making the movie. I have to say, the supporting cast were pretty good. Francise Yip as Nancy was very attractive and had some kickass moments. I love the scene where she's dancing in bra & panties lingerie in a tiger cage. She had more depth than most martial artist movies, female leads. I don't know why Anita Mui was in the film, but her premise didn't hurt the film. Still, her character could had been cut from the film. Morgan Lam as Danny is questionable. I didn't hate his performance, but he was really given some awful lines to say. I also found it, funny that the filmmakers had his character play a video game console without a game in it. Add that to the blooper reel with the baby dummy. I do like how much work, they put in, to make the movie seem like it was set in the Bronx, even if in reality, the movie was filmed in Vancouver, B.C. Most scenes, it does look like it could be set in New York City, but in other scenes, the whole mountains and beach fronts are clear giveaways that it isn't. The gang doesn't look realistic as well. In reality, all those people of different races wouldn't be in the same gang. Most of them look like badly dress 1990s pirates. Another odd thing about the movie is the English dubbing. The original spoken dialog consisted of all of the actors speaking their native language most of the time. In the completely undubbed soundtrack, Jackie Chan actually speaks his native Cantonese while Françoise Yip and Morgan Lam speak English. All of the original dialog was intended to be dubbed over in the international and Hong Kong film markets, and New Line cinema overdubbed and slightly changed the original English dialog. While, the English version is workable; it's a bit off-keyed. The US version does have a few differs than the Hong Kong version as 17 minutes of scenes were cut. Most of them were add on scenes of already establish shots. There were a few entire scenes cut that help explain why Keung was often attack by the street gang. The English version also replaced the song that Jackie Chan had over the closing credits with the song "Kung Fu" by the band Ash, the lyrics of which mention Jackie Chan, as well as other Asian figures and characters ubiquitous in the west. Overall: The movie was very successful, and help bring its star, Jackie Chan into the American mainstream. It's a must watch for any Martial Artist action movie fan.

Kung fu expert Keung (Jackie Chan) travels from Hong Kong to New York to visit his uncle Bill (Bill Tung), who is to be married. After a run in with a local street gang, Keung is forced to use his martial arts skills to defend himself, but eventually finds himself forming an alliance with the leader of the thugs when the mob, who are searching for a missing cache of diamonds, becomes a common enemy.Jackie Chan had tried to crack the US market in the 80s, with US/HK co-productions Cannonball Run 1&2, The Big Brawl and The Protector, but it wasn't until 1995, with Rumble In The Bronx, that America finally wised up and began to pay serious attention to the the wacky martial arts star. Given the level of danger experienced by Jackie and his stunt crew in this crazy caper, it would have been rude not to… As Keung, Jackie gets to star in numerous brilliantly choreographed but still potentially life-threatening action/fight routines guaranteed to impress. Whether it be going up against baseball bat wielding thugs, leaping from a rooftop to a balcony, water-skiing barefoot behind a speedboat, or clinging perilously to a hovercraft as it ploughs through crowded streets, the Hong Kong superstar is on top form, making this amongst his most enjoyable and action packed cinematic outings.

Amusing and entertaining Chan film in which he demonstrates his sensational skills as a great action man . It deals with a young man named Keong (Jackie Chan) visiting and helping his uncle in New York City finds himself forced to fight a street gang and the mob with his martial art abilities . His uncle has a local Chinese supermarket, which he owns and is in the process of selling to Elaine (Anita Mui). Later on , Keong befriends a neighbor kid and his sister (Francois Yip) and beats up some neighborhood thugs .Hong Kong/US/Canada action comedy full of over-the-top struggles , excitement , thrills , ingenious stunts , slapstick , lots of brawls but with abundant humor and tongue-in-cheek . This fun movie is plenty of intrigue , unstopped action , and overwhelming stunt-work with breathtaking ending images including a hovercraft . Jackie Chan is top notch as one army man fighting a group of heinous villains and as always he makes his own stunts like is well showed at the final credits . Awesome , incredible stunts and brief comic touches , as usual ; the picture is better constructed than Chan's predecessors films . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , but frantic action sequences make up for it . Spotlights movie include spectacular fights , including bounds and leaps , impressive and interminable struggles , an impressive final struggle between Jackie Chan and enemies . The warehouse fight scene took twenty days to film, with Chan having to teach the local stunt players to fight "Hong Kong style". In addition other fine action sequences in overwhelming and extraordinary style . The script called for a leap from the top of a parking lot to a fire escape on the floor below on the building across the street , as is his custom, director Stanley Tong attempted the stunt before asking any actors to do so. He tried it with the help of a cable harness, but quickly decided it would be safer without the harness. The landing point was not visible from the point where the jump began, so tape was placed on the take-off point as a guide ,the jump was completed perfectly by 'Chan, Jackie' on the first attempt, doing his own stunts as is his custom . The jump was captured by four cameras. This is an acceptable action movie distinguished by nicely cinematography of the spectacular sequences , and contains agreeable sense of humor as well as previous entries . Jackie Chan usually forms couple to notorious actresses as Maggie Chung and Michelle Yeoh . In this outing Jackie teams up to gorgeous Francoise Yip (who broke her leg while filming the scene where she rides a motorbike across the tops of parked cars , she insisted on returning to the set after her leg was plastered at hospital) and prestigious Chinese actress Anita Mui , a fine action star in their own right but sadly she early died by cancer . Both of them starred together several films such as ¨Mr Canton and Lady Rose¨ and ¨Legend of the drunken master¨ . Filming in Vancouver, Canada on October 6th, 1994, Chan broke his right ankle while attempting the scene where he jumps onto the hovercraft. Despite the injury, he was present at the premiere of ¨The legend of the drunken fighter¨ at the Vancouver International Film Festival that night. Later in the production, Tong sprained his ankle, completing the film on crutches . Two stunt women also broke their legs during the filming of the motorcycle chase. The picture achieved big success in China , USA and all around the world . However , Jackie Chan's failed at Box-office in his American debut ,¨Battle creek brawl¨ . Chan is a hard-working actor and director throughout his long and varied career . Chan usually pays overt homage to two of his greatest influences as Charles Chaplin and Harold Lloyd . He went on playing ¨Cannoball¨ , ¨The protector¨ and "Rumble in the Bronx", until getting all American success with ¨Shangai Knights¨ , ¨The tuxedo¨ , ¨Around the world in 80 days¨ and ¨Rush hour¨ trilogy , and the recent ¨Karate kid¨. Of course , his biggest hits were ¨The Police story¨ series that won the Golden Horse Award, a Chinese version of the Oscar , the first was titled ¨Police story (1985)¨ directed by the same Chan , it was a perfect action film for enthusiastic of the genre ; the following was ¨Police story 2 (1988)¨ also pretty violent and with abundant humor touches . It's followed by ¨Supercop¨ or ¨Police story 3¨ and finally , ¨Police story IV : Crime story¨ . The picture is well produced by the great Asian producer Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest production and compellingly directed by Stanley Tong and helped by Jackie Chan . Rating : Acceptable and passable , the picture has its sensational moments here and there , but also with abundant humor touches mostly provided by its agile star , the super Jackie stunningly accompanied by Anita Mui and Francois Yip . It's a perfect action film for enthusiasts of the genre and especially for Jackie fans .