My Lucky Stars [1985] [DVD]

The story is set in Japan. Muscles (Chan) and Ricky (played by the wonderful Yuen Biao) are two cops who are trying to capture a couple of runaways (played by Lam Ching-Ying and Lau Kar-Wing). However, in the ensuing sequence, Ricky gets knocked out and captured and Muscles fails to capture the two crooks.

Because he knows that one of the crooks is also a member of the police force, Muscles cannot continue to pursue the case personally, as the crooks would now know who was involved in the investigation. Muscles then enlists the help of his old orphanage buddies, led by Kidstuff (Sammo Hung), who has been in prison for an earlier crime. The other orphanage buddies are played by various Hong Kong character actors and comedians such as Eric Tsang (Jet Li's 'Hitman'), Richard Ng ('Miracles', 'Wheels On Meals') and Charlie Chin.

Anyway, Kidstuff and co are made out to be crooks to force them to concentrate on the mission at hand. The problems start when a policewoman named Poison Ivy (Sibelle Hu, 'Tai Chi Boxer') comes to assist, for they try and get some fun at her expense in some very broad comic sequences.

However, Poison Ivy takes Kidstuff away alone to find Muscles. They find him, but, as Muscles was responsible for imprisoning Kidstuff, will he cooperate?

This is more of a comedy movie with action sequences, and as a result, some of it will undoubtedly be lost on those not familiar with Chinese culture (thank heavens for Bey Logan's commentary to clear it up for the newcomers!). The action in it is superb, and Sammo's choreography is as impressive as ever. Jackie's battle with Dick Wei ('Project A', 'Prodigal Son'), for example, is brilliant. There are also some very cool stunts, such as an amazing car stunt and Yuen Biao doing a backflip off a trashcan. You also get the chance to witness two women battle it out: Sibelle Hu against the former Japanese bodybuilder Michiko Nishiwaki (who is best known these days as a Hollywood stunt double, including doubling Kelly Hu in some bits in Sammo Hung's 'Martial Law' TV series).

There are the usual Hong Kong Legends options of dubbed and Cantonese-with-English-subtitles versions (the dubbed version has actually been redubbed due to the extra footage that had been cut in previous UK dubbed versions, which is good as in the previously available dubbed version Eric Tsang's character's voice was virtually indecipherable at times due to the harsh high voice he had been given). The other extras are the usual trailers, plus interviews with Michiko Nishiwaki and Sammo Hung. The oddest entry is a selection of TV spots advertising 'Project A', which is a bit short, not to mention a tad irrelevant.

Even if you like Hong Kong movies, you may still want to try this before you buy, as some of the humour does not work as well when translated into English. It's still largely fun, though.