[Movie 280 / Day 296]
For the most part, I love Jackie Chan movies. I am happy to look past the bad dialogue and dubbing. I can ignore the often mundane plots. I am immune to stereotypical bad guys. In fact, there are few Jackie Chan movies I dislike, especially his earlier Hong Kong flicks. That’s because you almost always know what you’re going to get – a few action sequences that are beautifully choreographed and feature immaculate timing, no stuntmen and frequently, real injury to the stars of the movie. Most of the time, the plot serves as little more than a link between each sequence as they escalate to the finale, which will inevitably be shot from 12 different angles and replayed 12 different times.
FIRST STRIKE is one of Chan’s later Hong Kong flicks; in fact, it’s one of the last he did before breaking America with RUSH HOUR and becoming embroiled in a world of health and safety and insurance policies. In FIRST STRIKE (which is actually POLICE STORY 4), Jackie once again plays a Hong Kong police officer. The plot, such that it is, involves an international operation to recover a stolen nuclear warhead and various espionage clichés.
The dialogue is terrible, the dubbing bad, the bad guys are cardboard cutouts and the plot is uninspiring. However, you won’t care. And the reason you won’t care is because Jackie is on fine form, although you do have to get through a bit of a slow start and a slightly disappointing snowboard chase.
The action soon switches to Australia (as evidenced by the Koala bear in the hotel room) and Jackie’s unique brand of physical comedy/action is shoved to the forefront. First of all a pair of cookie-cutter goons arrive at Jackie’s hotel and try to kill him. He evades them by jumping through windows, climbing onto roofs and scaling balconies. Later on is the highlight of the movie, a wonderfully intricate dance between Jackie and a bunch of stick wielding baddies. It’s a pretty long sequence, during which Jackie uses a ladder to defend himself. Yes, a LADDER. Frankly, some of almost defies belief.
Another highlight, aside from all the monkey-like jumping around, is a giant rubber shark escaping it’s tank at the aquarium and Jackie holding it back using a flotation device. Seriously.
FIRST STRIKE, while not as good as Chan’s earlier stuff and not as commercial as his later stuff, is nevertheless great fun to watch and well worth it if you catch it on TV.
Rating: 
[ IMDB rating: 6.2 / 10 | IMDB link | Running time: 107 mins ]