Jackie Chan news

[Drunk Monk]

I decided to revisit Police Story 2, which I remember really liking back in the day. It's still a solid film, classic Jackie, a true sequel to Police Story 1. Jackie's comedic sense is so odd yet workable - Uncle Bill's gastric troubles culminating in the May/Kakui romantic blowout is hysterical. His sense of drama is also fascinating with May's letter being read by the kidnappers. But as expected, it all comes down to the stunts and the fights. Some stuntpeople take some huge falls in this. Jackie does some crazy jumps. Maggie even gets her skull split open. Lots of blood in the NGs. Police Story 1 is still a better film overall. 3 is good too, but I've netflixed 4 just because it's more family friendly and I'm trying to find vintage Jackie to show T before Karate Kid opens. 1 & 2 have a lot more shooting and people blowing up and such. Actually, she sees plenty of that with Harry Potter, but 1, 2 & 3 have a pseudo-cop realism (well, not really). I think she'll be amused by Jackie in the bunny hat in the beginning of 4.

[Drunk Monk]

...which has been an unexpected delight of fatherhood. So we've been working our way through some of the more family friendly Jackie flicks and saw Who Am I? last night. I remember not being overly impressed when I saw this the first time, save for that finale stunt down the building in Rotterdam.

First, it was a journey to see it. I got a used DVD at Rasputin for $3 that looked clean (no scratches) but turned out to be unplayable. The film was '99 and the DVD wasn't much later, and they say the cheap ones only have a decade-long life, so it crashed after a few scenes. First I thought it was my DVD player. Actually, it was both. I got a new cheap Chinese DVD player from Target that crashed after half an hour of usage. I took it back and got a new Phillips brand DVD player which was $10 more and it's working fine (I know, I know, who uses DVD players? Might as well spin vinyl). But the DVD was bad so I inevitably bought it off iTunes in desperation.

You know, Who Am I? wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered. The fights are solid and that finale stunt is still mind-blowing. The story makes as much sense as a hill o' mung beans, but whatev. The non-Chinese actors are terribly stiff, but just get to the damn fights and stunts and it's all good. T gave it a hearty thumbs up.

[Drunk Monk]

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