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After several "Lucky Stars" films, Sammo Hung wanted to direct Jackie Chan in a serious movie. Jackie believed (rightly so) that the Hong Kong audience would have trouble accepting him in a non-action role. Sammo was insistent and Jackie acquiesced. With a screenplay coauthored by Barry Wong and Sammo Hung they ventured forth to create Heart of Dragon (aka First Mission). This film would be a box office disappointment though he soon would create one of his best films – Police Story.

Jackie stars as a CID officer (formally from SWAT) who takes care of his mentally-challenged 29 year old brother Danny. Danny is an affable and naive grown-up who is known as Do Do by his child friends. He is so credulous that even his kid companions use him for nefarious reasons such as getting into a restaurant or passing off as a parent. He is a constant drain on his brother Jackie who always has to take care of him. Jackie is also split between wanting to make his girlfriend Jenny (Emily Chu who was also in the first two A Better Tomorrow films) happy and his dream of becoming a merchant marine. Danny is wonderfully played by Hung who is not afraid to sacrifice his dignity and his body for this role such as the scene when Danny is looking for a job to be more self supporting is taken advantage of by a restaurant owner (Wu Ma who also helped produce this film) who persuades him to act like a bull, a dog and a snake. Chan's acting is good with occasional forays into the melodramatic.

Heart of Dragon is an enjoyable but fragmented and uneven film. It attempts to be a drama, but after half the picture is over it wants to be action movie. I feel that they did not believe they could create a full serious picture. The switch in tone of the film is distracting and hurts the overall feel of the picture. Yet the ending choreographed by Yuen Biao, though somewhat stereotypical of action film endings, has one of the most exciting sequences Jackie and Sammo has ever done. So my feelings are mixed by this change. Golden Harvest also felt that the audience would not believe a Sammo and Jackie film could sustain a dramatic pace and ordered two additional fighting scenes for the Japanese market. These scenes can be found as deleted scenes on the Fortune Star release.

You could review this film as two separate films. The drama was good except for periodical bouts of overacting and melodramatic scenes (though Sammo's character seems quite believable.) The action part of the film was also good (not counting the opening scene which was totally unbelievable with Mr. Eyebrows – one of my favorite actors Lam Ching Ying) but catered to stereotypical scripting. For example Do Do plays cops and robbers with his kid friends and accidentally scares a gangster into giving up a bag of jewelry that belongs to local Triad member the cigar chomping Mr Kin (James Tien.) Mr Kin then, eventually, kidnaps Do Do to get the eventual climax between CID and Mr Kin and his men.

As a complete concept, the film does not work as well as the sum of the parts. The film also has the problem of transitioning from action to drama to action then back to drama again. Then there is the problem with the horrible "electronic" music playing in the background. But many of the parts are quite excellent. People who are expecting a "Jackie Chan" film will be disappointed with the exception of the deleted scenes and the excellent ending. I was disappointed because I saw that they could have made a more compelling drama or at least a more fluid piece. However, there is much to enjoy with the film, as if I had not said it enough, especially the ending.. Notes: other character actors in the film are Fung Hark On (portraying another slimy character), Yuen Wah and Corey Yuen (both who grew up with Jackie Chan, Sammo and Yuen Biao as part of the Seven Little Fortunes.)

A pretty good, though slow drama, Jackie proves himself as an actor, and Sammo pulls off the part of the handicapped brother beautifully. It's very somber and pretty sad, with a really violent fight at the climax when Jackie and his cop friends go to rescue Sammo. Jackie even buries a machete in some poor sap's neck! If you want a good serious battle, check out Jackie vs. the awesome (and underrappreciated) Dick Wei at the finale....I've always enjoyed this guy as his usual cool as ice villain! Not bad, but vastly different from most of Chan's work...

Heart Of Dragon tells the story of Hong Kong SWAT officer Tat Fung who must juggle a career, a girlfriend and looking after his older brother Do-Do who is mentally retarded. Tat feels he is beginning to lose touch with himself so decides to join the navy, but before he can do that he must straighten things out with both his girlfriend and his big brother.

Let me begin by saying this has to be the best performance in Jackie's prolific career,this is the film which made me take him seriously as an actor. It is such a shame this wasn't a big hit when it first came out.

Jackie and Sammo are the best actors in the film. Sammo plays his character with such depth and sensitivity,while Jackie does excellently as the frustrated Tat.

I thought I'd never cry at a Jackie Chan movie but I was wrong. One scene which got me misty eyed was a scene when Do-Do's tutor begins to emotionally abuse him,while Tat listens to what is going on from outside the room.

Another scene is when Tat finally lets his true feelings for Do-Do come forward anger may be the most raw of human emotions but to let yourself explode like that is very difficult to pull off, but thats not the point I began to cry, it was when Tat goes to his room and Do-Do follows him and apologises for the way he is, I mean wow, talk about emotionally heavy.

Moving on from the emotional side of the film and commenting on the action, this has very little action in it until towards the end which I have to say has one of the best fights in Jackie's career in which he takes on the amazing and brilliant Dick Wei in a one on one brutal marial arts fight. This has to be Jackie at his fastest, they exchange the moves with such quickness I had to go back and watch the fight again once it was over.

I urge any Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung fan who has not yet seen the film to go out and get the DVD you do not know what you are missing.

This is one of Jackie Chan's most serious movies and one of his best. Jackie Chan plays a Hong Kong cop who gives up his dream of sailing around the world to take care of his mentally retarted brother (played by Samo Hung who won an award for this role.) Samo is kidnapped after accidentally getting mixed up in a gang war and of course Jackie has to save him. Less action then the usual Jackie Chan movie but the action that is there is quite good. Be warned there are some real tear-jerker scenes in this movie. Jackie Chan fans this is a must see. The only disappointment is you never get to see Samo Hung display his martial arts talent.

Heart Of The Dragon can be described as Rain Man with martial arts, which is not a bad description, although this was actually made several years before. Made around the time Jackie Chan was churning out loads of great films, such as Police Story, Project A, Wheels On Meals and Dragons Forever, as well as poorer but hugely successful efforts like the 'Lucky Stars' films, this movie has somewhat been ignored, which is a shame, as it's a brave attempt at something a little different.

For the first 50 mins or so, this is mostly a drama, but both Jackie Chan, playing a character who is initially none too sympathetic, and Samo Hung, as his mentally challenged brother, give amazingly strong performances. There are laughs [such as when Chan is walking around holding his brother's hand saying to people "he's my brother" in case they might think they are gay],but there is also a great deal of sensitivity and honesty, climaxing in a powerful scene where Jackie almost breaks down in sheer fustration in front of Samo.

After this the film suddenly becomes an action movie, but the transition is not badly done, and, as if to reward patient action fans, the film climaxes with what is quite simply one of the best staged fight sequences EVER, a small masterpiece of choreography, editing and lighting. Jackie is as vicious as Bruce Lee ever was here, he's never been meaner.

There are two extra fight scenes which exist, but in most places they were removed from the film to emphasise the drama. Indeed the other elements of the film are so good that it can exist perfectly well without them. Of course there are a few silly touches, including TWO montages with the sentimental theme song, and Dick Wie's eyebrows! Generally a fine film, though.