Jackie Chan movies I have seen

Jackie Chan Movies I Have Seen

Master With Cracked Fingers (1973) - Absolutely terrible movie. They took some unused footage of Jackie from some other film and padded it out with extra scenes so it makes no sense. But there were some decent fight scenes.
New Fist Of Fury (1976) - Terrible, terrible movie. I'm going to say it was worse than Master With Cracked Fingers. It's incredibly boring, to the point of physical pain, and Jackie's character doesn't even know how to fight until the last half hour. The sides were chopped off so you often can't see the characters talking, and there's barely any fighting. And the end is the most abrupt, nonsensical ending of a movie I have ever seen. Jackie leads a bunch of people outside and they all get shot, and that's the end. I actually think everyone needs to see this movie just to see the worst movie ending in human history.
Shaolin Wooden Men (1976) - By the standards of 70s Kung-Fu flicks - not bad. The production values are terrible (there are a few scenes that are in pitch darkness and you can't tell what's going on). And 80% of the plot was understandable - but that's above average for that era. There's an interesting robot fight scene (the wooden men of the title) and a couple great fights, even though it's the overchoreographed old-school Hong Kong style.
Hand Of Death (1976) - written and directed by John Woo, featuring Sammo Hung, cameo by Yuen Biao. This was a cut above other 70s kung-fu films, not great but not a total waste of time. The thing is, Jackie is pictured as the star, but is just a minor character, not in much of the film with only two fight scenes. And some of the fight scenes are the overly stiff 70s-style although a few are really good. It's also pretty violent, as far as 70s kung-fu movies go. Everyone dies. That's John Woo's style, I guess. Woo also appears in the movie.
Killer Meteors (1976) - Terrible. Jackie Chan barely appears and is sick for most of the movie, with only two mediocre fights. That doesn't necessarily make a movie bad in itself, but the rest of the movie is awful - the plot is incomprehensible, with mystifying "twists" and events that seem to happen to the main character completely at random, with no rhyme or reason.
To Kill With Intrigue (1977) - I liked this more than I should have. The fight scenes aren't great, but it's one of the most interesting Jackie Chan films plot wise. Still makes no sense, but interesting. It's more violent and bloody, and there is absolutely no humor in this movie, which is different. Another interesting thing about a lot of Jackie Chan movies, even from the earliest is that there are strong female characters who fight. I thought that was fascinating. Anyway, I'm fairly certain that they gave two characters the exact same name. Chin Chin. One's Jackie's lover, one is his enemy. Talk about confusing. "It's Chin Chin!" That's good! Or is it bad? Who knows? Confusing.
Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978) - I liked this movie a lot. There are tons of fight scenes. The movie is basically a series of fight scenes interrupted by brief moments of plot. But yeah, the fight scenes are numerous, and they're pretty good. It's interesting to see the evolution of Jackie's fighting style. It's still not as well choreographed here, but you see how he starts to use different props and stuff. The movie's at its best when he uses the titular Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin, and the movie's ending fights are incredible.
Magnificent Bodyguards (1978) - Mediocre. A couple decent fight scenes, but Jackie is at his best when he's using props or when he adapts specific unique fighting styles, and there's none of that here. Plot is absurd, and the ending one of the most abrupt I've ever seen. I found out after watching that it was a 3D movie, which explains a lot, namely why fists, feet, swords, spears, sticks, clubs, maces, chains are constantly being thrust at the camera.
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) - Pretty great. First movie directed by Yuen Woo Ping. The fight choreography is fantastic. And you start to see some of Jackie's signatures in the movie, the humor, the physical comedy. It's got a great training montage. And I've said how I love when Jackie fights with certain styles, and this has a ton of it. Praying Mantis style vs. Snake style - great fight.
Drunken Master (1978) - Finally saw it. Couldn't find it on DVD so gave up and watched a tape. It was filmed directly after Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, so more Yuen Woo Ping, lots of the same cast, but it's clearly a step up, far better than anything else of this era. You really see the start of his physical humor, and his athleticism and acrobatics are fantastic. Kind of disappointing that the real drunken boxing stuff only really happens at the end, though, but when it does it's great. This movie has almost nothing to do with the sequel, except for Jackie and the name of his character.
Spiritual Kung Fu (1978) - Slightly better than New Fist of Fury. Incomprehensible plot, and badly edited. But OK fight scenes, especially at the end. The best thing about this movie is that the story prominently features a group called the Wu-Tang clan.
Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu (1978) - Terrible movie. Nearly no good fight scenes, even the obligatory last scene in a field that happens in all kung fu movies of this time. It's the exact opposite of To Kill With Intrigue - all comic, though not very funny. And another one of those movies with an incredibly frustrating plot. They keep introducing new characters until the very end. Impossible to keep track of who is who and what is going on. Chi Hwa Chen also directed this one. It's terrible.
The Fearless Hyena (1979) - I liked it. It's mostly bad although some good fight sequences, especially the last 20 minutes, the traditional fight in a random field that seems to end all kung fu movies of the era. This movie is interesting because it's one of (if not the) first that Jackie directed himself, so you see more of his style start to come out here, the humor, the use of objects, etc.
Dragon Fist (1979) - Another terrible movie. This had the most incomprehensible plot of any Jackie Chan movie I've seen. Stop and think about what that means for a second. Seriously, they edited it to maximize confusion. Like there are scenes where Jackie goes somewhere, and the people there say come in. Cut to a scene of Jackie fighting. Who is he fighting? Why? No idea. Then cut again. What the heck is going on??? There are other scenes where they refer to critical events that haven't happened yet. Like, one scene, Jackie, some chick and her mom are talking. Cut to Jackie and the chick talking to a doctor because the mom is seriously ill. When did this happen??? And then later scenes will show stuff that they were talking about earlier as being past events. Oh my goodness this movie is confusing. Argh.
The Young Master (1980) - Pretty good, one of the best of his early era. This is the first movie he did for Golden Harvest, escaping Lo Wei, and it's noticeably different - better directing, better fighting, different cinematography, etc. Also, the DVD was in widescreen - all the Lo Wei ones are full screen (Half A Loaf and Fearless Hyena 2 are also Lo Wei which is why they suck). Anyway, Jackie directed this also, it's the first time he's called "Jackie" (before it was "Jacky") and Yuen Biao appears. It's a good flick.
The Big Brawl (1980) - worst movie ever made. It's an American production and I've written about it before, but it's absolutely terrible, torture to watch. I saw this in Serra Lounge.
The Cannonball Run (1981) - A bad movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise. Jackie stars as a Japanese car driver. The thing is, he only speaks Cantonese. They don't even bother to make it coherent. So he's interviewed on a Japanese TV by a guy speaking Japanese and he's introduced as a Japanese driver, and he responds in Cantonese. Ridiculous. He barely appears and his appearances are bad. What's interesting is that this movie was produced by Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest, who produced most of Jackie's movies. But it's an American film. Random.
Dragon Lord (1982) - Subpar Jackie Chan. He wrote and directed it, but it's not very good. There's about 2 fight scenes, the first one coming an hour into the movie. There is a pretty amazing shuttlecock game scene which is pretty good. Also interesting is that it has outtakes at the end, the first of his movies I've seen to have this.
Fantasy Mission Force (1983) - One of the most random movies ever created. The plot involves 4 generals during WWII, from the U.S., England, France, and Africa(?), one of them named Abraham Lincoln, who are captured by the Japanese in Canada. They're taken to Luxumbourg. And so, to avoid an international catastrophe, they send in... the Chinese. Including a cowboy and several thieves. Plot also includes an Amazon-like women only tribe, a haunted house, and muscle-car surfing Nazi Japanese. This movie is so bad there are tons of comments about it on IMDB. Anyway, Jackie Chan is in about 15 minutes of this movie.
Fearless Hyena 2 (1983) - pretty bad. The only real action happens in the last half hour. He apparently walked out in the middle of this film (and left the studio, headed by Bruce Lee director Lo Wei forever) so they used a double and footage from the first movie. To do that you need the same actors. So they're here. But it's a different story. Needless to say, the plot makes negative sense.
Winners and Sinners (1983) - I liked this movie. It's pretty funny, very funny in places. But it's not really a Jackie Chan movie - he's just a minor character. It's more a Sammo Hung movie. And not very many fight scenes. But it's funny and good. This movie is notable because one of the actors looks just like Josh Kwan and there's a character named Chai.
Project A (1983) - The version I saw was released by Dimension Films, I believe, and only had a dubbed track - those are never as good as the subtitled versions. But I liked this movie a great deal. It's the first recognizably modern Jackie Chan movie - elbaorate action scenes, crazy stunts, him getting hurt. Plus it has Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. An all-timer.
Wheels on Meals (1984) - you read that right. Not Meals on Wheels. Also costarring Sammo Hung. The entire movie is random and terrible, except for the last half hour, which is incredible. But still random. I watched this because Andrew mentioned how some magazine once said this movie had the best fight sequence ever. If you watch this, do yourself a favor and skip to the last 20 minutes. You won't miss anything.
My Lucky Stars (1985) - Like Winners and Sinners, it's not really a Jackie Chan movie, more a Sammo Hung movie. He and Yuen Biao appear only at the beginning and end. But still pretty good. Also has many of the same actors as in W & S, including the Josh Kwan looking guy.
The Protector (1985) - Another crack at an American Jackie movie. It's awful. Jackie as a gritty New York cop, partnered with Danny Aiello. It takes away what's great about Jackie - the physical humor, the acrobatic fights. Interesting as a curiosity, terrible as a movie.
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985) - Sequel to My Lucky Stars. Completely incomprehensible plot. Not as funny as the first either, but still pretty funny. Like the first, it's more Sammo Hung and friends movie, but this did have a few good fight scenes with Jackie and Yuen Biao. One cool thing about this movie is that it features a really young Michelle Yeoh.
Heart Of Dragon (1985) - With the title you'd think it was an old school kung fu flick but no, it's a random dramedy about police officer Jackie and his developmentally challenged brother Sammo Hung. It's pretty bad. Random, somewhat confusing plot, and relatively subpar (and few) action scenes.
Police Story (1985) - the first Jackie Chan movie I ever saw, back when I lived in San Jose. This is a very very good Jackie Chan movie. Crazy awesome stunts, funny humor. There's a reason it spawned a franchise.
Armour Of God (1986) - Jackie as an anti-Indiana Jones, a guy who steals relics to sell them. Pretty good, though not as good as Project A or Police Story. It's kind of aged poorly, and feels both racist and sexist. And it's the last part of the movie that moves it from OK to good.
Project A Part II (1987) - Another awesome one. People seem to think it's not as good as the original, but I thought the fights, humor, and story were just as good if not better. Just not as crazy stunts.
Police Story 2 (1988) - It's fun, though not as good as the first movie. Stunts aren't as crazy and it's not as funny, but there's some good fight scenes, especially the playground one.
Dragons Forever (1988) - The last movie featuring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao all together. I find movies with all three amusing even though they're not as good as Chan's solo films, and this film isn't great - the plot in particular is incomprehensible. The best part is the end, and Benny Urquidez appears again for the climactic fight as in Wheels on Meals, though it's not as good.
Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989) - I liked this movie a lot. The story is funny and interesting, and the camera work is ambitious, with a lot of tracking shots. A couple great fight scenes too. It's a little too long, but one of his better movies.
Island Of Fire (1990) - A truly terrible film, one of Jackie's worst, worse than any in a very long time. Terrible production quality, story, everything. It's weird because the ensemble cast is awesome - Jackie, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung, Andy Lau. There's a rumor that they were all forced to be in this movie by Asian gangsters. It's plausible because I don't know why else these established stars would be in something so bad.
Operation Condor (1991) - I first saw this at a Dollar Theater in Houston. It's super fun, fun plot, fun fights, and some of his best casual acrobatics. I'd call it one of his best films. Just ignore the bad racial stereotyping.
Supercop (1992) - the dubbed American release. I think for a lot of people this was the first Jackie Chan movie they saw and they thought it was incredible. It's a good one but I kinda like the first Police Story more. But Michelle Yeoh is great in this.
Twin Dragons (1992) - I finally saw this movie proper, albeit the dubbed, edited Dimension version with Looney Toons music. Before, I had only seen it at a random hotel in East Asia that only showed a part of the movie repeatedly. Meaning, they'd play like the same hour of it over and over, never the whole movie, I think. And in Chinese with no subtitles. Anyway, I loved it! I dunno, maybe just because I hadn't seen a good old school Jackie Chan movie in a while, but it was refreshing. Not the best fight scenes in the world, but among his (intentionally) funnier movies, and the whole twin angle was done fairly well, I thought.
City Hunter (1993) - on DVD. Pretty good, although really heavy on the slapstick, a little too much for my taste. Best part is a tribute to Street Fighter 2. Random.
Crime Story (1993) - I liked it, although a little less because it's not typical Jackie - it's straight action with zero humor at all.
Drunken Master 2 (1994) - my favorite Jackie Chan movie. First time I saw it with Irwin and others in AmStud, the RA's son's copy. I've seen it multiple times since. Absolutely incredible.
Thunderbolt (1995) - I watched Keith Lee's copy in Yost with Kathy Yung. Random. It's fun if you turn your brain off. There are fun fight and action scenes. But the story logic, acting, and directing are terrible.
Rumble in the Bronx (1995) - I actually saw parts of this in Korea in summer of '95, but saw it proper here. It's really good - even though I generally dislike the U.S. cuts of his films this one made the action ratio (most of which is pretty good) really high, which makes up for the horrible acting.
First Strike (1996) - Bought the VCD in East Asia. This movie is horrible. A lot of his newer movies just stink.
Mr. Nice Guy (1997) - Also on VCD. Another terrible film, but with better fight sequences than First Strike.
Who Am I? (1998) - I think I saw this multiple times because one version I had (I have at least two copies of this on VCD) didn't have English subtitles, although some of the movie is in English. Much better than his last two movies. Great fights and some memorable stunts.
Rush Hour (1998) - I liked it but it could have used more fight scenes.
Jackie Chan - My Story (1998) - A bio movie.
Gorgeous (1999) - Pretty bad movie, but it did have a couple of incredible fight scenes. especially this one boxing scene. If it were shorter it would be a pretty good movie. It's one of the highest quality (just in terms of picture and sound) Jackie Chan movies I've seen. But one of the worst plots, and that's saying something.
Jackie Chan - My Stunts (1999) - Very interesting. He exposits on his fight scene philosophies which I totally agree with.
Shanghai Noon (2000) - I liked it. But my opinion is white directors don't film his fight scenes as well as they could. It was hard to follow in this movie.
The Accidental Spy (2001) - I actually liked this movie a lot. It has the best production values of any (Chinese) Jackie Chan movie, even better than Gorgeous, and the best script. It still doesn't make any sense, but still. There's this one public nudity bit he does that's fairly inspired. Also, he plays a Korean! Long story, but yeah, pretty cool.
The bad thing is, the U.S. version cuts 20 minutes from the movie. Maybe that's good, as his movies can get slow. But I dunno, I kind of want to see what I've missed. Also, the music was totally annoying. Way too comical in places, like a Saturday morning cartoon. Anger. And none of the fight scenes were as good as, for example, the boxing scene in Gorgeous. But still, overall, the best Jackie movie I think since maybe Rumble in the Bronx.
Rush Hour 2 (2001) - I didn't like this movie, and the more I think about it, the less I like it. It wasn't funny, and there were just about no fight scenes in this movie. I don't know why it did so well but I hated it.
The Tuxedo (2002) - This is an awful film. It's unlike a Jackie Chan movie except in one respect - lack of a coherent plot. There's not a single good fight sequence. Jennifer Love Hewitt is incredibly annoying. Usually you can ignore the nonsensical story because of the fight scenes, but this one had essentially none. Terrible terrible movie.
Shanghai Knights (2003) - I hadn't seen a Jackie Chan movie in a really long time when I watched this (in 2021) but - I really liked it! Maybe low expectations? But the fight scenes were creative, and his interplay with Owen Wilson was funny. Plus Donnie Yen and Littlefinger.
The Medallion (2003) - Fairly disposable Jackie Chan. The action scenes (choreographed by Sammo Hung) are all right. But the plot is awful and the tone super cheesy. Hong Kong-style broad humor feels weird when it's performed by white actors, I'm not sure why.
Around The World In 80 Days (2004) - This got pretty bad reviews. I thought it was fine. Really only one good fight scene, and the plot is a bad match for a Jackie Chan film. But still, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Karen Mok, and Sammo Hung as Wong Fei Hung.
New Police Story (2004) - I liked it much better than his recent English-language movies. Not sure why they rebooted the Police Story franchise - there a couple nice callbacks to the earlier movies, but it's totally unrelated with a different character. And the tone is much darker. But there's some nice fight scenes and stunts in this one, best in a while.
The Myth (2005) - I thought it was fun, second-tier Jackie Chan. Kind of a weird one, lots of locales and time settings, some Koreans in it too. There's one inspired fight scene in a rat paper factory. The last half gets more random with terrible special effects.
Rob-B-Hood (2006) - Back to the his humorous style. It's just OK. Heavier on comedy and lighter on action. Amusing, but nothing special. The best part was seeing Yuen Biao again, whom I love. He has a funny "my lucky stars" line, nice callback.
Rush Hour 3 (2007) - It made me laugh more than I'd like to admit, because it was kind of stupid humor. Amusing, though totally unnecessary.
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) - This should have been awesome, as it's Jackie Chan and Jet Li together for the first time, with fights choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping to boot. The fights are pretty great, and it's really really fun to see Chan and Li together, even more than anticipated, and their fights are great. But man, it's wasted on a U.S. production where the lead is neither of them but some white kid. Lends the movie just a completely wrong tone, cheesy where it should be epic. Wasted opportunity.
Shinjuku Incident (2009) - It's just a straight up drama, there's no martial arts at all. Jackie Chan as a gang leader in Japan, battling Japanese and Taiwanese rival gangs. Not great. Biggest problem is that Jackie isn't convincing as a gang leader, he just comes across as way too kind.
The Spy Next Door (2010) - This movie has a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and that's about right. It has the tone and quality of a Saturday morning kids movie. And a central conceit - Amber Valleta in love with a 20 years older Jackie Chan - is hard to swallow.
Little Big Soldier (2010) - Terrible. Mandarin language patriotic one China movie. I don't know why those types of movies tend to be bad but they are. The cinematography is decent but the action is weak, the humor unfunny, just bad.
The Karate Kid (2010) - I avoided watching this forever because I'm a big fan of the original and a remake seemed totally unnecessary. It actually turns out to be one of his better American films, although that's partly a reflection of how bad his American films are. If you're going to do a remake, switching it to an American kid in China is not a bad idea (although it makes the move name non-sensical). I liked it, but even though it's too long (2 hours 20 minutes) it still felt like the most important story elements were unearned - the romance, the relationship between student and teacher, him getting good at kung-fu - none of that felt well fleshed out.
Shaolin (2011) - Not bad. The cinematography's pretty good and fun fight/action scenes throughout. But it's not a Jackie Chan movie - he plays a minor role with just a single (mediocre) fight scene. And it's another of those patriotic one China / anti-foreigner movies which gets tedious.
1911 (2011) - Yet another Chinese nationalistic film. That every movie out of China seems like this now gets really tedious. Wikipedia says "1911 received mainly negative reviews from Western film critics, who criticized its unengaging propagandistic depiction of the revolution but commended its cinematography." That's the nail on the head. Sumptuous filming. Utterly unengaging story. Jackie straight acts, although they shoehorn in a random fight scene for no apparent reason.
CZ12 (2012) - Another not bad movie. 3rd in the Operation Condor series. It's cheesy, but there are some fun action sequences (like the opening roller sequence). And Jackie actually fights again. The best part of the movie though is the end - instead of showing his usual outtakes from the movie it includes stunt scenes from throughout his career. He's had some incredible stunts, so it's an amazing montage.
Police Story: Lockdown (2013) - The second reboot of Police Story in 9 years - if the last gritty reboot wasn't enough for you, here's a grittier one (it starts with a scene of Jackie shooting himself in the head). The reviews are pretty badso I may have had overly low expectations, but I thought it was fine, even though the English dub on the version I saw was terrible. It's just not a Police Story movie. No great action scenes, cursory fights. But the plot resolution of the hostage situation I thought was mildly interesting.
Dragon Blade (2015) - Jackie Chan / John Cusack fight scene. Jackie Chan / Adrien Brody fight scene. Two things I never thought I'd see. The acting isn't great, the story confusing and the editing terrible but I still found myself enjoying it. A weird mix of Chinese and Western style.
Skiptrace (2016) - Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville directed by Renny Harlin. Totally disposable. I don't know what it is about Western-directed films but they get the tone wrong, way too broad. The plot is nonsensical and the two leads don't have good buddy chemistry. I have to admit though that Knoxville made me laugh a few times.
Railroad Tigers (2016) - This got bad reviews but I kind of liked it. Engaging action, with a couple inspired bits. It just took a long time to engage because it has a persistent slapstick tone that's jarring given how much death there is. And it's another tired Chinese patriotic movie, this time an anti-Japanese one, and it's so tedious.
Kung Fu Yoga (2017) - One of the highest grossing movies ever in China and I'm not sure why. It's fine. Fight scenes are adequate, the last one even good. But the acting's pretty bad, the story confusing and the effects (like The Myth, the movie it's a sequel to) cheesy and terrible.
The Foreigner (2017) - The first Jackie Chan movie I've seen in over a decade. And a weird one at that - it's Jackie Chan as Rambo / Jason Bourne, and he's basically tangential to the plot, which is really a Northern Ireland action drama. But really good! The fight scenes are pretty generic, but the man is in his 60s.
Bleeding Steel (2017) - Jackie Chan versus a bionic vampire cult. There's a couple decent action scenes and interesting fight cinematography but the concept is just too weird.
Namiya (2017) - I can barely find any reactions to this movie, and what I see is tepid, but I really liked it. I'll even say I loved it. It's not a Jackie Chan movie - he's a secondary character, and it's a straight fantasy drama, no action whatsoever. But I found myself unexpectedly charmed. It's like a mix of Il Mare and The Red Violin.
The Knight of Shadows (2019) - I don't know who this movie is for - it's a fantasy movie with super cheesy effects and animated characters. Is it a kids movie? I don't know. I didn't like it.
The Iron Mask (2019) - A Russian-Chinese coproduction set in the 18th century featuring Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger as an English prison warden, a dragon that provides tea, a flying monkey creature, a bunch of terrible CGI and the titular man in an iron mask: Tsar Nicholas I. If it's not already clear, this movie is totally random and a complete mess. Arnold and Jackie have more like extended cameos but I doubt more of their time would have made this movie any better.
Vanguard (2020) - Not good. Bad special effects in a bunch of exotic locales. The director (Stanley Tong) used to make movies with some personality - this was totally sterile.
Ride On (2023) - The worst kind of Jackie Chan movie - meh. Not good, not even interestingly bad. Jackie plays an old stuntman who knows kung fu, who has a stunt horse who knows kung fu. For a horse that means it does back kicks a lot. Feels like it's a commentary on Jackie's career - it goes into practical stunts being better than CGI, and it shows a lot of his actual stunts from the past. But it tries to add familial emotion that's not earned in the movie itself. I don't know why, but mainland Chinese films have great quality in terms of things like cinematography but there's no heart compared to classic Hong Kong. Liked the Wu Jing appearance though.
Hidden Strike (2023) - Jackie Chan and John Cena. I liked this way more than I should have. Really confusing plot, kind of brain-dead as a movie. But it had surprisingly interesting camera work and a couple of entertaining action pieces. Better than expected.
A Legend (2024) - Weird movie. It looks expensive, with huge setpieces and beautiful locations. But populated with terrible acting and just awful special effects, capped by the terrible decision to de-age Jackie. The latter resulted in a lot of criticism and mocking in China, and for good reason - his face looks like a 2nd rate deepfake, and totally takes you out of the movie. Especially the fight scenes since it doesn't feel like (and probably isn't) Jackie fighting. I'm a broken record about this but this is another example of how his mainland Mandarin movies are tedious, they always have to have some propaganda. Here the message is about the superiority of the Han over the Huns. Just gets old.