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Bradly
GillArts & Entertainment Editor Unless you are a huge fan of Jackie Chan or kung fu films, the "Jackie Chan Triple Punch Collection" might not be for you. In fact, it's badly dubbed, grainy and full of clichés. That being said, fans of kung fu films expect the movies to be overacted and follow a certain formula. The three Chan films brought together in this collection show him in his prime. The earliest film on the DVD is 1977's "The 36 Crazy Fist." Although Chan directs this Hong Kong gem, he never actually appears in the film. Tony Leung Siu Hung stars as a young martial artist who literally spends a good quarter of the film getting the hell beat out of him. It's a bit like "The Passion of the Christ," but with more flipping and kicking. Luckily our hero meets up with a crazy hermit, who after beating him unmercifully, decides to teach the down on his luck martial artist the secret of the 36 crazy fists. The 36 crazy fist technique is something of a misnomer, as they are actually chops. As you can probably predict, there is an epic battle and plenty of martial arts mayhem. The second film of the series is "The Young Master." Luckily, this film does feature Chan. He stars as Dragon, a martial artist who must protect his school after it's betrayed by fellow member Tiger. The beginning sequence is a beautifully choreographed fight involving two teams in a Chinese lion costume (similar to the dragons they were during parades). "The Young Master" has amazing fight scenes and only suffers a little from the grainy footage and terrible voice acting. This films is the best one of the entire collection, possibly because Chan is a spry 26. The stuff he is capable of at that age is simply amazing The last film collected is "Fantasy Mission Force." Unlike the other films of this series, there aren't a lot of positive things to say about it. There opening scenes introduce so many characters that you get lost trying to keep up with them. Featuring very little martial arts, this film relies more on cheesy explosions and fake gun fire. Occasionally Chan will tumble on the ground, but that's hardly the stunt work he is known for. The plot is fairly confusing with Japan trying to conquer the world by capturing various Western generals. It'd probably be best if you skipped this film entirely.
"The Jackie Chan Triple Punch Collection" has it's high and low
points. The first two films are masterful representations of Hong Kong cinema at
its best, the last film is a poorly contrived action film. Still, for five bucks
at a Wal-Mart discount bin, you more than get your money's worth from this DVD. Rating: B- Have a comment? Please e-mail us. ©The Voice 2006 Revised 09/17/2007 02:07:25 PM http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/3_17/review.htm |