Wolff rating: NOT BAD
Plot summary: Hong Kong native goes to an awfully mountainy Bronx to help his uncle with a grocery store, but gets caught up in the local gang action.
Biased, pithy comments: Plot? There's a plot in this movie? Tragically, this plot is somewhat similar to the ones I've seen in other Chan movies---simple connecting scenes that show our hero's humanity and show how, like Bugs Bunny, he's up against a bad guy in a fight he didn't pick. But, if you can get past that (and the bad sound editing---even when the characters are speaking English, they look dubbed), it's good clean fun. Chan is an artist at being a clown---he has the ``Oh, man!'' look down to a science that Harrison Ford used in the Indiana Jones trilogy. There are some really rock'em-sock'em fights that are as much like fights as Esther Williams's perfomances were like swimming races. I actually think this is excellent kid-fare---kids won't mind the daft and disjointed plot, the unrealistic and silly cops, and the fact that the Bronx in this film has attractive Cascades behind it, and they'll appreciate Chan's skill and athleticism without being roughed up by overly-rough violence. One of my favorite moments from this film is when Chan avoids a fight by pretending to be a police officer---he's an amazing karate master, but he chooses to avoid trouble unless there's no better way. That's a real hero.
Other Notes: Really, outside of the plot, this was a ``GOOD'' movie in my rating scale.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Francoise Yip, Bill Tung, Marc Akerstream.
Directed by: Stanley Tong