First Strike (1996): Dir: Stanley Tong / Cast: Jackie Chan, Jackson Lou, Jouri Petrow, Bill Tung, Wu Chen-chun: This film eventually strikes out big time with its horrible dubbing, but its first strike is its numerous martial arts sequences that seem to be chain linked. Jackie Chan stars as an agent sent to follow a woman. He discovers that the villains wish to steal a missile off of a warhead. This all occurs during a visit to the Ukraine, which isn't exactly his best bet for a vacation site since he nearly loses his life more times than a cat. Director Stanley Tong knows how to present the action and he is backed with fine winter location sites, but finding a script worth the time is his problem. Chan is subdued to bad dubbing and at one point held at gun point where his clothes are demanded leaving him in his underwear with only a car door to shield himself. Unfortunately he had nothing to shield himself from the lame writing. He is skilled and creative with these stunts, adding an innocent sense of humour, but it is all show and little substance. His co-stars are not exactly hand picked by the Academy Award voters either. Among them are Jackson Lou, Jouri Petrow, Wu Chen-chun, and Bill Tung and none of them are going out of their way to give a convincing performance. Conclusion includes bloopers and outtakes but the entire film pretty much sums that up. Score: 2 / 10
Review of First Strike
