• A genre-blending action comedy mashup that somehow finds the right tone and features a Buster Keaton-like physical talent, Jackie Chan (writer/director/star/stunt coordinator), at the top of his game
  • At 100 minutes in running time– it is flying—this has got to be one of the lowest ASL’s (average shot lengths) of any films in the archives. It is Eisenstein. Rapidly introducing the bad guys with freezes, jump cuts and zooms and we’re in a major urban western shootout in 10 minutes
  • The skeleton of the story on the page is as generic as the title suggests
  • It isn’t just comparable to Buster Keaton because of the physical skills of Jackie Chan—he’s hilarious here and the film has a genuinely goofy spirit (he gets hit in the pie three times)—and the story is just an excuse for his talents
  • The slapstick and stunt physical talent is the show
  • Strong set pieces as well—the cars rolling down literally though the squatter’s village on the hill
  • Speeding up the film stock speed is a mistake. They didn’t need to do it and it distracts and detracts from the talent. It isn’t ballet like slow-motion sometimes can be in Kurosawa or Peckinpah
  • Astonishing – the double-decker bus set piece—Chan is a marvel- showing off his skills – Peking Opera Company background
Astonishing – the double-decker bus set piece—Chan is a marvel- showing off his skills – Peking Opera Company background
Buster Keaton-like for sure
  • There’s a long slow brutal court scene
  • Goofy- he’s literally moonwalking off bull$hit at one point
  • The chandelier drop in the mall at the end of the film- a wow as well
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The chandelier drop in the mall at the end of the film- a wow as well — to make sure you caught it they show it three times
  • There aren’t a lot of gorgeous frames but I admired the one with Chan lying down with a plane flying over at 78 minutes
  • At 80-85 minutes when Chan is losing it on his commissioner that’s just really good acting to anyone who ever says he can’t actually act and it is all about the stunts
A genre-blending action comedy mashup that somehow finds the right tone and features a Buster Keaton-like physical talent, Jackie Chan (writer/director/star/stunt coordinator), at the top of his game
  • The hand to hand content, the choreography is impressive… the finale at the mall there is a lot of messing with film stock speeds, they show him jumping from the ceiling over and over again (the same feat repeated in the film) and then the “making of” stunt work during the finale credits .
  • Recommend