Project A [DVD]

I do believe I can honestly call myself a martial arts movie buff, having dedicated my free time to them since I was six, and I've seen and studied the best and the worst. This is beyond any shadow of a doubt one of the best. I won't bore you with plot, as I personnaly don't like to know what's going to happen before I watch it, but I will tell you that this is Jackie's finest work yet, with mind-blowing, arse-clenching stunts, superb fight scenes and the perfect co-stars with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. My extremely close second favourite martial arts film, and in my top five best films of all time, I can't stress the importance of you watching this enough.

'Project A' stars the always brilliant Jackie Chan as a turn-of-the century Hong Kong coastguard hot on the trail of the cut throat pirates terrorizing the seas around it. His job is made harder by the rival gangs and corrupt policemen whom all inhabit Hong Kong. Starring alongside him are his old school friends and frequent co-stars Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, two amazing martial artists in their own right.

If the plot seems pretty thin, that's because it is, but who cares. The story is hardly compelling but the action is jaw-dropping the comedy side splitting, which is really all you should expect from a Jackie Chan movie. The fight scenes are uncomparable in their choreography which ultimately creates too many 'rewind and watch again moments,' which completely makes up for the poor acting and weak script.

The sequel 'Project A Part II' continues where the prequel left off. The story still involve the same plot devices: corrupt policemen, rival gangs and of course the favourite of them all pirates. Jackie Chan's character gets to witness the corruption from a different angle this time as the new chief of the local police. Unfortunately Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao do not reprise their roles in this movie which is the only thing that lets down this sequel.

The movie took what is in the prequel and made the fight scenes longer, more frequent and more exciting with the comedy even more side splitting hilarious. As with the first film the acting is acceptable, it carries the storyline along nicely but do not expect any Oscar worthy performances and the plot is thin and unconvincing but as I always say 'Who cares, It's Jackie Chan' and this time he is definetly at his best.

Jackie Chan is often compared to heroes of the silent era and even admits to them being his biggest influence. In Project A he pays homage to the late Harold Lloyd by imitating one of his most famous stunts in the 1923 movie Safety Last! But with a very Jackie-esque twist. His influences are very clear throughout all of his movies but even more so in these two films.

The DVDs are presented in both its original and the prefered Cantonese language with English subtitles, although English dubbing is not as laughable as in other films i've seen you still cannot beat the more authentic Canotonese original soundtack. I won't bother listing all the extras on the DVD as they are all shown above, but I can guarantee amazing insights into the production of the movies and rare interviews with the lesser known martial arts experts in these movies. In stores I have seen these movies for £20 and over each; this is a rare gem that contains two movies and the fantastic bonus disc that people love so much (and in this case does not dissapoint). To get both movies plus an extra disc for under £20 is an offer not to be missed.

All in all these movies are very exciting, and definetly one of the greatest series to come out of Hong Kong. I can not stress how exciting the death defying stunts are and how hilarious the comedy moments actually are. I challenge anybody to watch these movies without ending up with a smile on their face!

Sam

When Jackie Chan was making this movie, he was desperate for another hit following the lukewarm reception to his previous movie 'Dragon Lord'. Fortunately 'Project A' not only revived his fortunes, but also introduced audiences to his trademark of doing really dangerous stunts.

Jackie plays Dragon Ma, Sergeant of the local coast guard in late 19th Century Hong Kong, whose job it is to seek out and rid the area of pirates (Project A was a real-life plan devised for this very purpose). Unfortunately the miserable attempts of the inept Coast Guards to actually find the pirates' lair, never mind capture them, cost the government lots of funds, which in turn angers Captain Chi of the Police Force, who complains that the police are not getting enough funding.

Things come to a head when the Coast Guard and the Police brawl (led by Tzu, played by Yuen Biao) in a bar the night before the former are to set sail, plus just as the Coast Guard are about to embark on their mission their ships get blown up. Because of this the Coast Guard is disbanded and its members forced to join the police force, where Tzu puts them under torturous and seemingly unfair training regimes.

Meanwhile, the men who blew up the ships, who are working for head pirate San-po (played with brilliance by Dick Wei), are asked to get hold of 100 police rifles, so they hire Fei (Sammo Hung), a thief for hire.

Back at police headquarters, Tzu gives orders to arrest criminal Chiang, tipped to be hiding in a local high-society club. Unfortunately this causes disturbance with the club's members and this disgraces the force, so Dragon quits in disgust after bringing Chiang to justice.

Fei witnesses this and recognises Dragon as being an old friend, although Dragon won't trust Fei because of his usual thieving ways. Fei lets Dragon know that someone in the police force is leaking information to the pirates, and in the end Fei, Tzu and Dragon must join forces to overcome the common foe San-po!

This movie is still an absolute classic after almost 20 years. It has many things in its favour:

(1) The chemistry and unique connections between Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao,
(2) Some truly awesome, ground-breaking (and sometimes body-breaking?) fights and stunts (look for Jackie Chan's infamous clock tower sequence!)
(3) Jackie's love of the silent comedians such as Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton are parodied in some bits to great effect (the bike chase in the alleys is masterful!)
(4) Great villains played by the likes of Lee Hoi-San ('Magnificent Butcher') and Dick Wei ('Heart Of Dragon', 'My Lucky Stars' and 'Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars')

As for the DVD extras, being a Platinum Edition there is no shortage of it - over four hours of extras here! As examples, there's the usual Hong Kong Legends choice of either dubbed or subtitled; an audio commentary with Bey Logan (who does brilliantly as usual); interviews with Lee Hoi-San, Yuen Biao, Mars and Dick Wei, which are super (Lee even does a Wing Chun form!); an essay on Chan, Hung and Biao; a photo gallery; and trailer archive. The best one by far is the documentary 'Project A: A Classic Revisited', hosted by Bey Logan! He actually visits some of the sites where key movie bits were shot, and the whole documentary is stunning!

An essential purchase for action fans!