Le Marin des mers de Chine

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.

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)

I once watched Jackie on a documentary mention how a specific audience likes his Hong Kong films and a specific audience likes his American films but they rarely overlap. I belong to the former group, and believe this movie is the perfect example why.

The story does not twist or turn much but does have a certain charm and separates itself from any average "beat anyone up" kung fu film - even if a few fights happen for the stupidest reasons. It's all about a group of soldiers put together to get rid of some pirates in nearby waters which is always in competition with the local police force for funding. But the film really entertains through the use of Jackie's stunts and gags. From cycling through the cramped streets of Hong Kong to grenade training in the police academy, you bound to sometimes be in a state of awe - or at least chuckle a few times.

It's amazing some of the stunts Jackie pulled off, including falling from a very high clocktower. If your interested in Jackie's films, or want a high quality kung-fu film then I recommend you have a look at 'Project A'.

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.

Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Samo Heung were all at the height of their considerable powers when this film was made and it shows. This blows just about every other martial arts film out of the water faster than any of San Pao's pirates ever could. With humour, suspense and a half decent plot thrown in to add to the blistering action I found this to be the 'three dragons' most accessible film to a western audience. The humour translates well and three sequences stand out as some of the best action scenes ever put to film the three being Jackie's homage to 'Safety Last' by falling from the clock tower, the bonkers bike chase through increasingly narrow city streets, and the final showdown defeat of San Pao by Jackie, Yuen Biao and Samo (with a little help from Mars and some wayward grenades). This is the pinnacle of Jackie Chans stunt career and is near impossible to better and I doubt that anyone will ever reach this level of stunt excellence again. If you only ever see one Jackie Chan film see this one as it is truly unique.