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He’s also incredibly expressive, which to a western audience may come across as “cheesy” but I personally love it. Give Rush Hour a shot and I guarantee you’ll

He’s also incredibly expressive, which to a western audience may come across as “cheesy” but I personally love it. Give Rush Hour a shot and I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

52-6F-62 8y ago
Rush Hour 1 through 3 have long been some of my favourite movies! If we're getting into Jackie Chan movies, though, one cannot leave out Drunken Master
- uep 8y ago
  Yes (to Drunken Master)! I just noticed this last weekend that it was on Netflix and re-watched it. After many years, I still really enjoy the movie. Another one of his that I really enjoyed was Who Am I, but I haven't seen it in probably a decade.
  - 52-6F-62 8y ago
    I'm not sure I've seen it. I'll have to give it a watch. I also really enjoyed his recent one with Pierce Brosnan— The Foreigner. It has a far more dramatic tone than the others, but it's great.
    - uep 8y ago
      Just a warning, but with Who Am I, my love of the movie largely comes from the rooftop fight sequence. It has been long enough that I only vaguely remember a few parts of the movie outside of that sequence. Thanks for the tip on The Foreigner, I will definitely check it out. Not the same kind of movie (and not Jackie Chan), but Kung Fu Hustle is definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it. I also always thought that Bjarne Stroustrup kind of looks like The Beast in Kung Fu Hustle (it's the hair and glasses). http://www.stroustrup.com/xBjarne2018.jpg.pagespeed.ic.hePTBHSpev.jpg http://www.stroustrup.com/xBjarne2018.jpg.pagespeed.ic.hePTB... https://cinema1544.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/the-beast.jpg https://cinema1544.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/the-beast.jpg
- micah94 8y ago
  Don't forget about Police Story! I can still remember seeing that in a smokey Chinatown theater in NYC and being stunned by that mall scene at the end.
  - vgeek 8y ago
    Thunderbolt from the mid 90's is one of his less popular, but it was Fast and the Furious, but 5 years earlier. He loves Mitsubishi, they're in a lot of his films. Who Am I, First Strike, Police Stories, Armour of God, Mr. Nice Guy are all great, too.
  - rangibaby 8y ago
    Police Story and Chan's other 80s movies are the rare genuinely "all ages" entertainment (the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is Spongebob). They're good for kids because they are funny and full of action without being grim or dark. They're easy to follow, even for young kids, because of the lack of shaky cam and fast cuts. They're good for adults because of all the crazy choreography and stunts. Police Story is definitely my favorite!
- JohnBooty 8y ago
  A note of clarification: Drunken Master is pretty good! Drunken Master II (re-released in slightly edited form as "Legend of the Drunken Master" in the US) is the one that's typically regarded as a bona-fide classic masterpiece.
  - 52-6F-62 8y ago
    Thanks for clarifying! I had to look it up, but I'm definitely referring to the first one in this case. I don't even think I've seen the second one! Guess it's going on the list
    - JohnBooty 8y ago
      Oh my lord you are in for such a treat. Enjoy it!
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - sirmarksalot 8y ago
    Just a note, "Legend of the Drunken Master" is more heavily edited than you may be aware. Here's a video illustrating some of the problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A1vMKS6jFg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A1vMKS6jFg I wouldn't recommend watching it. It's really missing a lot of the charm of the original.
kindatrue 8y ago
I liked Rush Hour, but according to IMDB he's been quoted as saying those are some of his least favorite movies.
- crushcrashcrush 8y ago
  Ah that’s disappointing. I hope he knows the first movie was a highlight of my movie-going childhood!
  - JohnBooty 8y ago
    In terms of martial arts action those movies are pale shadows of his earlier Hong Kong work. Partially because Chan is older in those movies and is a little less physically capable. But IMO mostly because of Hollywood's unfortunate style of directing fights and martial arts battles. Traditional Hong Kong martial arts movies use a lot of wide and long, unbroken shots. You can really see the performers performing these physical acts of skill and beauty -- you see their entire bodies, it's almost like watching performers on a stage. Which is of course Chan's background. In contrast, Western directors typically use a lot of fast, tight, jerky, almost seizure-inducing cuts. A closeup of a fist hitting a face. A closeup of an elbow hitting a knee. A closeup of a face showing somebody's reaction to the pain. Etc. etc etc. There's much less continuity. 98% of the scenes are probably shot by stunt/body doubles. It doesn't take a lot of talent for an actor to pull off a scene like that, at least not compared to the traditional HK style where the actors have had a lifetime of martial arts training. Of course, those are vast generalizations. You can name plenty of counterexamples from both schools!
    - pimlottc 8y ago
      WRT your comments regarding framing/cutting techniques, the episode of “Every Frame a Painting” mentioned elsewhere in this discussion goes into this in depth and really demonstrates how it makes a big difference in the type of action that Jackie excels at. Highly recommended if you haven’t watched it before (along with the rest of the videos in the series).
ryanmercer 8y ago
>He’s also incredibly expressive, which to a western audience may come across as “cheesy” but I personally love it. His heightened capacity for emoting is arguably as good of entertainment as his stunt skills.
burger_moon 8y ago
That could be why Rush Hour was such a hit. Chris Tucker is also very expressive in everything he does so it was a good matchup with two great actors.
nickik 8y ago
Rush Hour 1 is a fun movie, the others are meh. They are not even close to the quality of some of the Hong Kong movies. Also Tucker gets pretty old quickly. Rumble in the Bronx is an insane movie that is US based, better then Rush Hour.

He’s also incredibly expressive, which to a western audience may come across as “cheesy” but I personally love it. Give Rush Hour a shot and I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

52-6F-62 8y ago

Rush Hour 1 through 3 have long been some of my favourite movies! If we're getting into Jackie Chan movies, though, one cannot leave out Drunken Master

uep 8y ago
Yes (to Drunken Master)! I just noticed this last weekend that it was on Netflix and re-watched it. After many years, I still really enjoy the movie. Another one of his that I really enjoyed was Who Am I, but I haven't seen it in probably a decade.
- 52-6F-62 8y ago
  I'm not sure I've seen it. I'll have to give it a watch. I also really enjoyed his recent one with Pierce Brosnan— The Foreigner. It has a far more dramatic tone than the others, but it's great.
  - uep 8y ago
    Just a warning, but with Who Am I, my love of the movie largely comes from the rooftop fight sequence. It has been long enough that I only vaguely remember a few parts of the movie outside of that sequence. Thanks for the tip on The Foreigner, I will definitely check it out. Not the same kind of movie (and not Jackie Chan), but Kung Fu Hustle is definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it. I also always thought that Bjarne Stroustrup kind of looks like The Beast in Kung Fu Hustle (it's the hair and glasses). http://www.stroustrup.com/xBjarne2018.jpg.pagespeed.ic.hePTBHSpev.jpg http://www.stroustrup.com/xBjarne2018.jpg.pagespeed.ic.hePTB... https://cinema1544.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/the-beast.jpg https://cinema1544.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/the-beast.jpg
micah94 8y ago
Don't forget about Police Story! I can still remember seeing that in a smokey Chinatown theater in NYC and being stunned by that mall scene at the end.
- vgeek 8y ago
  Thunderbolt from the mid 90's is one of his less popular, but it was Fast and the Furious, but 5 years earlier. He loves Mitsubishi, they're in a lot of his films. Who Am I, First Strike, Police Stories, Armour of God, Mr. Nice Guy are all great, too.
- rangibaby 8y ago
  Police Story and Chan's other 80s movies are the rare genuinely "all ages" entertainment (the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is Spongebob). They're good for kids because they are funny and full of action without being grim or dark. They're easy to follow, even for young kids, because of the lack of shaky cam and fast cuts. They're good for adults because of all the crazy choreography and stunts. Police Story is definitely my favorite!
JohnBooty 8y ago
A note of clarification: Drunken Master is pretty good! Drunken Master II (re-released in slightly edited form as "Legend of the Drunken Master" in the US) is the one that's typically regarded as a bona-fide classic masterpiece.
- 52-6F-62 8y ago
  Thanks for clarifying! I had to look it up, but I'm definitely referring to the first one in this case. I don't even think I've seen the second one! Guess it's going on the list
  - JohnBooty 8y ago
    Oh my lord you are in for such a treat. Enjoy it!
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- sirmarksalot 8y ago
  Just a note, "Legend of the Drunken Master" is more heavily edited than you may be aware. Here's a video illustrating some of the problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A1vMKS6jFg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A1vMKS6jFg I wouldn't recommend watching it. It's really missing a lot of the charm of the original.

kindatrue 8y ago

I liked Rush Hour, but according to IMDB he's been quoted as saying those are some of his least favorite movies.

crushcrashcrush 8y ago
Ah that’s disappointing. I hope he knows the first movie was a highlight of my movie-going childhood!
- JohnBooty 8y ago
  In terms of martial arts action those movies are pale shadows of his earlier Hong Kong work. Partially because Chan is older in those movies and is a little less physically capable. But IMO mostly because of Hollywood's unfortunate style of directing fights and martial arts battles. Traditional Hong Kong martial arts movies use a lot of wide and long, unbroken shots. You can really see the performers performing these physical acts of skill and beauty -- you see their entire bodies, it's almost like watching performers on a stage. Which is of course Chan's background. In contrast, Western directors typically use a lot of fast, tight, jerky, almost seizure-inducing cuts. A closeup of a fist hitting a face. A closeup of an elbow hitting a knee. A closeup of a face showing somebody's reaction to the pain. Etc. etc etc. There's much less continuity. 98% of the scenes are probably shot by stunt/body doubles. It doesn't take a lot of talent for an actor to pull off a scene like that, at least not compared to the traditional HK style where the actors have had a lifetime of martial arts training. Of course, those are vast generalizations. You can name plenty of counterexamples from both schools!
  - pimlottc 8y ago
    WRT your comments regarding framing/cutting techniques, the episode of “Every Frame a Painting” mentioned elsewhere in this discussion goes into this in depth and really demonstrates how it makes a big difference in the type of action that Jackie excels at. Highly recommended if you haven’t watched it before (along with the rest of the videos in the series).

ryanmercer 8y ago

>He’s also incredibly expressive, which to a western audience may come across as “cheesy” but I personally love it. His heightened capacity for emoting is arguably as good of entertainment as his stunt skills.

burger_moon 8y ago

That could be why Rush Hour was such a hit. Chris Tucker is also very expressive in everything he does so it was a good matchup with two great actors.

nickik 8y ago

Rush Hour 1 is a fun movie, the others are meh. They are not even close to the quality of some of the Hong Kong movies. Also Tucker gets pretty old quickly. Rumble in the Bronx is an insane movie that is US based, better then Rush Hour.