Der Superfighter

Pirate Patrol is clearly one of the best and funniest of this film-series with Jackie Chan. It's exciting & funny at the same time and manages to combine this two elements in a successfully way. I remember I saw most of this movies back in the late 80's, and thought they was amusing as hell. The sequel of this one is also good.

(8 out of 10)

Boy, that lead-in stinks of a rotting cliche, doesn't it? But I really do enjoy this movie. Every time it hits cable, I watch it.

Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung play wonderfully off of each other, even in the dubbed version. The story is realistic enough to be compelling, and the action sequences are superb. My personal favorite is the battle on the bicycles in the narrow back alleys.

The one thing that has made Mr. Chan my favorite martial arts actor is the way his movies infuse humor and slapstick into serious fight scenes, and Project A, in my opinion, does that better than any of his other films.

Highly recommended.

Incredible movie, it ranks up there with some of Jackie Chan's best movies. It is not to be missed by any martial art-movie fan. The stunts performed in this movie is incredible. The clock tower fall by Jackie Chan is the most amazing one but I also loved some of the falls that Jackie's opponents did, a lot of people must have gotten injured while making this movie. The fighting scenes are top-notch, maybe not quite as good as the ones in Drunken Master II, which still remains my favorite Jackie Chan movie even though this one gets really close. Jackie Chan must be the most exciting man ever to appear in a movie, he risks his life to bring us entertainment, is he dumb, crazy or out of his mind? I don't know, all I know is that he's entertained me more than any other man ever has. Watch this movie and prepare to be amazed.

Okay, let's judge this film overall, and not just by the fighting, which is obviously the best thing about this film.

The sets are very good, and you can tell that this was a big-budget film for the time. You get the feel of being in colonial turn-of-the-century Hong Kong. The costumes add to this feel too, not to mention the fact that a lot of the buildings used actually ARE Hong Kong landmarks from all those years ago. On top of this, there's the fact that the film ages less because it is a period piece. Police Story might as well be called, "Eighties Story." Acting - well, although I watched this movie in Chinese with English subtitles, and with English dubbing, I cannot find anything wrong with the acting. It's all done pretty well, with the obvious quirks that make Hong Kong movie acting what it is: strained facial expressions, a lot of pointing, and a lot of laughing that is laughable itself.

Sound - not very good, but when you consider that all the sound had to be re-dubbed, it makes sense, and allow for more leniency.

The plot is not wafer-thin, as has happened in earlier Chan movies, but this isn't Pi. To be honest, it's about as complicated as a Jackie Chan movie is ever going to get, and if the only reason for watching a kung-fu movie is plot, you're an idiot, anyway.

Right, then - action - and boy oh boy, this film is full of incredible action. I have over sixty Jackie Chan films in my collection, so I know what I'm talking about when analysing his films. Project A ranks among the best of his films, when looking at the action. There are so many fights staged, and so many pay-offs. You get to see Jackie, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biu fighting each other, and the bad guys in such a fast, furious, and creative way that this is an action movie you'll never forget. Dick Wei is muscular and mean as the head of the pirates, and is a formidable foe, who forces the three brothers to come together to dispose of him.

As usual, the stunts would not have been allowed in Britain or America, but hey, this is Kong Kong, so let's blow these guys up, and watch them flip and fly across the set for our own satisfaction.

Overall, this is a top notch film, with wonderfully edited fights, excellent creativity, and superb Chanesque humour along the way. It's a showpiece of the efforts of the three special ones of Hong Kong cinema in the eighties, and any fan of Hong Kong cinema should only miss this at their peril.

I grew up in the 80s watching many of Jacky Chan's movies. Three of his works that have lasting memories are Project A, Wheels on Meals and Police Story. This is when Jacky is at his peak, so you can expect to see death-defying stunts, great fight scenes, and hilarious comedy.

In Project A, Jacky plays Sergeant Ma Yu-Long, a Hong Kong coast guard officer during the colonial times. The coast guards aimed to defeat Pirate Lo Sam-Pao (Dick Wei), but on the eve of their mission, their vessels were sabotaged resulting in the disbanding of the coast guards. The coast guards were redeployed as police force under the charge of Inspector Chi (Yuen Biao). A series of events, including a fight in a gentlemen club, an arms shipment hijack, a bicycle chase/fight, the eventual revival of the coast guards and a covert operation on Pirate Lo's island. Samo Hung plays Cheok Yat-Fei a funny crook, who was Sergeant Ma's childhood friend.

Thumbs up on: 1) the fight scene in the bar between the police and the coast guards 2) the fight scene in the gentlemen club 3) the escape and ensuing bicycle case/fight on the narrow alleys which ended with Jacky's death defying fall from the clock tower 4) the covert operation on Pirate Lo's island

I strongly recommend Project A to anyone who is interested in Jacky's 80s movies (please note you will enjoy it even more if you understand Cantonese). It features the three brothers Jacky Chan, Samo Hung and Yuen Biao at their best (check out Wheels on Meals too!).

Project A has great props, wonderful stunts, memorable fight scenes, and good humour. This is the real Jacky Chan movie, unlike some of his more recent Hollywood comic.