Le Retour du Chinois

(57%) Back in the mid 80's Mr Chan didn't much care for this movie as he felt it was made not fully utilising his talent, for which I can understand. Featured here there's none of his trademark comedic fights, or insanely dangerous stunts, instead we get a gritter, more typically 1980's R-rated American action flick with plenty of shoot-outs, fist fights and explosions. The level of strong language, along with quite a lot of nudity also sets this apart from the usual Chan flick, but I cannot say I didn't enjoy this. The action is solid with plenty of it, and for a medium budgeted 80's action flick this is better than average.

The perfect example of the difference between HK, and American action, this one exists in two forms: the James Glickenhaus pile of garbage, and the fairly entertaining Jackie re-edit with new subplot and fight scenes....I can't really recommend either, but the Chan edit, is well, obviously better, and it turns out the villains CAN fight.....Sad to compare the two really. I still get a rise out of seeing former pro-wrestler Big John Stud in an early scene as a robber.....

Everybody and their mothers bashed this movie including Jackie himself who reshot and added more action and fight scenes in Hong Kong. I think Jackie bashed the movie himself because it was a flop.

This was an above average 80's action cop-buddy movie with some very expensive action scenes. In NY harbor they blew up 2 boats and in HK they blew up a helicopter. The fights were good to excellent including a Jackie fight with legendary MMA fighter Bill Wallace and a crazy fight in a massage parlor and that is just off the top of my head. Probably my favorite scene is the fight and chase scene in Kowloon harbor on the water itself where a population of boat people live year round. He does 2 death defying stunts in that scene alone, one involving a motor-cross bike and one with a long pole.

It was not a typical Jackie flick because Jackie curses a lot and is seemed to be a cocky womanizer and there is a lot of nudity in this movie and it wasn't a comedy. His acting wasn't bad and i thought his chemistry with Danny Aiello was pretty good too.

Personally, i am a huge fan of Jackies being that i think i saw just about all his movies including some bad ones went he was just starting out in the early 70's and as a fan i'm glad he switched to a new role in this movie...and i don't know but there is just something about this movie that makes me watch it again and again. People ripped the endsong and i thought there was nothing wrong and it was a good song.

It doesn't hurt that the gorgeous Moon Lee is in the movie too! All in all this is probably in my higher selection of Jackie movies that i like. When and if you do watch this movie, know that this is not a typical Jackie movie and just start from there and i hope you will like this movie also.

Jackie Chan had no control of this movie (at least the American version). The director somehow thought that Jackie would come across better to audiences as a Dirty Harry cop! Didn't he realize that Chan is popular because of his stunts and kung-fu action? Apparently not, because in an interview years later, the director said he didn't regret his decision and kept claiming that Americans wouldn't accept Chan's Asian style.

Back in Hong Kong, Chan re-shot the movie extensively, adding car chases and kung fu action. He also edited out a lot of the American director's idiotic stuff. That version is supposed to be quite good. This American version? It's AWFUL! You'd never guess what Chan is capable of by just watching this movie. The action scenes here are *dull*. Yes, *dull*.

By the way, Chan next did POLICE STORY, as a "take that!" to that American director (James Glickenhaus, who hasn't done much lately. Hmm...wonder why....). See that movie instead of this!

I DIDNT HATE IT! which really surprised me, because everyone on IMDb said this movie totally sucked and I went in expecting the worst. Sure Jackie is miscast, but other than the addition of curse words, his character isnt any darker than in Crime Story or Police Story 2. The action is slow, but better than any of the American action junk I've ever seen. Plus, there is tons of full-frontal nudity! Bet you didnt expect that from a Jackie Chan movie, did ya? I can understand why JC was disappointed with it, because it is nowhere near as good as almost any of his other 80's-90's movies, but it aint all that bad. Go in thinking you will hate it, and you just might like it.