Rumble In The Bronx (DVD) (Hong Kong Version) DVD Region 3

Set in New York City, but filmed in obviously non-New York Vancouver, Canada, Jackie arrives at JFK airport and meets his Uncle Bill (the eternal Bill Tung) who has a job for him at his supermarket. Uncle Bill's marrying a Nell Carter look-a-like and his store has been passed off to Anita Mui to manage and so Jackie decides to stick around for awhile. A punk motorcycle gang out of The Warriors show up to menace the store, but Jackie's there to save the day. But as he fights the punks, the mafia appears, and then there's some business with stolen diamonds, and suddenly there's a kid in a wheelchair and a hovercraft...wait a minute. None of this makes any sense. Which is the point.

Gleeful discontinuity, mad shallow characters, cartoon narrative, and colorful silly, non-stop nonsense are the saving graces of Rumble in the Bronx. This is one of the most careless movies ever made, but since it's physically impossible for Jackie to look bad on film, it plays out like a Loony Tunes West Side Story. Crisp fight choreography (the appliance showdown with the street gang took fifteen days to film), rolling chase scenes (including one that ends in a parking garage with director Stanley Tong doubling a 35 foot jump for Jackie), interracial love, and a New York City with mountains clearly visible in the background all add to the charms of the fluffiest Jackie Chan movie ever made. Part of a trilogy of living Chan Cartoons (the other two being Twin Dragons andCity Hunter) this movie has, against everyone's better judgement, wormed its way into hearts all over the world.

Chan broke his ankle leaping onto a hovercraft (don't ask) and the wily Canadians revoked the crew's permit to film the final fight scene and so the climax became a Lamborghini vs. hovercraft showdown (again: don't ask), but that's beside the point. By the time you get to the end you've seen Chan pelted with bottles, dropped in a truck full of bouncy balls, put on a frugly one-piece exercise ensemble, and get chased by some really bad actors. Which is what we pay to see. Language is no obstacle, which is one of the reasons that this very odd, cartoon explosion went on to become one of Jackie Chan's biggest hits of all time around the world.

by Grady Hendrix