Big disappointment from the Chan man. Although the real fault here lies with director Sammo Hung. This film brought Hung and Chan back together after years of a rumored quarrel between them; they collaborated again on the much superior "Medallion".
A couple reviewers here remarked that there was too much plot in the movie, which weakened the pace. I suggest they re-watch the film, just for clarification - the reason why there seems to be too much plot is because a very simple plot has been needlessly obscured and muddled - if the film were properly paced, we would have time for a much stronger - and accessible - plot than we find here, which would make the better surviving chases - since some chases would need to go - more realistic and hence more meaningful.
In fact the film is really only one chase scene after another - on feet, in cars, across rooftops, etc., etc. There's never any time spent developing these characters enough to make us interested in them. And chase scenes are not fight scenes: true, they do offer plenty of raw material for some undeniably exciting stunts; but the sense of conflict that should be providing the suspense for the film is almost wholly lacking, since the protagonist - Chan - never resolves to confront the gangsters before they find him first.
Hard to understand how Chan (at the peak of his popularity) and Hung (about to go to America for the "Martial Law" TV show) could generate such a mess as this. It seems they both became so obsessed with stunt-chasing, they forgot what it was the characters need to chase about - the story.
A couple reviewers here remarked that there was too much plot in the movie, which weakened the pace. I suggest they re-watch the film, just for clarification - the reason why there seems to be too much plot is because a very simple plot has been needlessly obscured and muddled - if the film were properly paced, we would have time for a much stronger - and accessible - plot than we find here, which would make the better surviving chases - since some chases would need to go - more realistic and hence more meaningful.
In fact the film is really only one chase scene after another - on feet, in cars, across rooftops, etc., etc. There's never any time spent developing these characters enough to make us interested in them. And chase scenes are not fight scenes: true, they do offer plenty of raw material for some undeniably exciting stunts; but the sense of conflict that should be providing the suspense for the film is almost wholly lacking, since the protagonist - Chan - never resolves to confront the gangsters before they find him first.
Hard to understand how Chan (at the peak of his popularity) and Hung (about to go to America for the "Martial Law" TV show) could generate such a mess as this. It seems they both became so obsessed with stunt-chasing, they forgot what it was the characters need to chase about - the story.