First Strike (1996)
5/10
Amusing and colorful fourth entry with Jackie Chan taking on uranium dealers
18 October 2010
FIRST STRIKE packs a violent confrontation between Jackie and double agents from CIA and KGB . This exciting story about the cop named Chang Wing of the Hong Kong precinct is well played by Jackie Chan. Chang participates in a sting operation against an international spy-ring that is smuggling nuclear weapons from Ukraine. But when one of them (Tsui) escapes , Jackie is ordered to capture him . This leads Jackie all over the globe beginning with Tsui's sister (Annie Wu) at Australia . The story follows him as he attempts to stay alive and chase the villain. When his police buddies are deceived by a wicked criminal band , Wing turns into an unfortunate spy when he is also double-crossed . A young woman helps him to track down and apprehend the gang commanded by a double agent. Then Chan looks for vengeance against the ominous villains at a cat and mouse game.

This exciting movie is crammed of action-packed, overwhelming stunt-work and lots of violence but with humor. Jackie Chan is top notch as one army man fighting a group of heinous criminals and as always he makes his own stunts like is showed on the final fake-shots . Awesome ,incredible stunts and brief comic touches , as usual ; the picture is better constructed than its predecessor . The lighting-paced storyline slows down at times , but frantic action sequences make up for it . Spotlights movie include a stirring pursuit on the snow and underwater fights surrounded by sharks in James Bond style , among others . This is a phenomenal action movie distinguished by nicely cinematography of the spectacular sequences , and contains agreeable sense of humor such as previous entries . However while the former outings Jackie teamed up to prestigious actresses and fine action stars in their own right , like Maggie Cheung and Michelle Khan , at this film his parternaire is unknown . Thrilling and moving musical score fitting to action by J. Peter Robinson . The picture is lavishly produced by the great Asian producers Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest production and efficiently directed by Stanley Tong . The first version titled ¨Police story(1985)¨ directed by the same Jackie Chan was a perfect action film for enthusiastic of the genre ; the following was ¨Police story 2(1988)¨ also pretty violent and with abundant humor touches . It's followed by ¨Police story V : Crime story¨ and finally ¨New Police story¨ by Benny Chan . Rating : Accepatable and passable, the picture has its sensational moments here and there , mostly provided by its agile star, the super Jackie Chan .
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