Rumble in the Bronx

Before I'd seen "Rumble in the Bronx", I'd heard of Jackie Chan but never seen any of his movies. Well, when I saw this, I practically died laughing. Basically an hour and a half of him bonking people in every direction, the movie is physical humor at its best. The plot has Hong Kong cop Keung (Chan) coming to New York for his uncle's wedding and having to battle street gangs and a crime syndicate. By battle, I of course mean pulling every crazy stunt imaginable. I really liked the early scene in the store, and then the whole hovercraft sequence.

I gotta ask: how did we get by before these kinds of movies? There was once a time when movies all followed the Disney formula, and Jackie Chan-style plots were unfathomable. Thank God for Bruce Lee! As it is, Jackie Chan often seems to be spoofing Bruce Lee. Hilarious.

Well here we go once again with the undisputed king of action comedy. The one and only Jackie Chan. While this is nowhere near Chan's best movie we can be grateful for the fact that this is the film that finally gave Chan his much deserved break in the USA. This is the story on Chan's character Keung who comes to the Bronx for his uncle's wedding and ends up caught up in a series of events that involve biker gangs, and diamond robbers. But really none of this matters this is just an excuse for Jackie to show of his amazing action skills (in the fight scenes which he also choreographed), and this he does to his usual amazing standards. There seems to be more edits in the fight scenes that is normal for Jackie but I suspect this might be down to one of two things. One making the film more palatable for a western audience. Or two that Jackie broke his ankle in the filming of this movie. Still tell me the last time you saw a western movie star leap from a roof on to the fire escape of the next building!!! Truly amazing stuff. On the down side the western characters and acting are very wooden but hey just enjoy Chan and hopefully then go seek out his Hong Kong movies.

I've read reviews from a number of people who were fans of Jackie Chan before he was well known in the west, that express disappointment that Rumble in the Bronx is the film that finally made Chan a household name in America, because they feel the film is quite a come-down from the "Police Story" films that formed the main link between Chan and his past before making this film.

I must strongly disagree. Yes - the Anglo actors aren't very good; the plot is silly at times; the dialog is weak, some of the characters are unbelievable.

But there's seems no question that the stunt-work is excellent, and the fight scenes are excellent - these really form the reason for making the film in the first place.

Furthermore, I think that, of all the protagonists he's played, Chan's character here is the closest to being a true hero of the highest caliber - incorruptible, unstoppable, compassionate, smart - if all our heroes were like this, this would be a different world; if we were all like this, it would be heaven.

And I'm not getting all that ironic here - I sincerely mean that Chan returns a kind of virtuous character to the silver screen, that hasn't been seen for a very long time.

Consequently, despite occasional violence, I would not stop children from seeing this film - I would encourage them to do so. They can learn a lot about ethics and character from watching this film - and that is actually quite remarkable, to be able to say that of a Martial Arts film.

Jackie Chan's fight scenes and stunts: 9 stars.

The incredibly corny dialogue and cheesy humor: 5 stars.

The mind boggles at Chan's abilities and charisma; he's in a class of his own and an international treasure. The mind also boggles at a film whose silly humor seems aimed at ten-year-olds also containing a grisly murder by wood chipper. Fun with hovercrafts, with Anita Mui's appearance an added bonus. As always, the behind the scenes stuff included at the end is half the fun, and Jackie Chan lays his body on the line for our viewing pleasure. Watch this one for him, not all the silliness.

I'd guess you'd have to call 'Rumble in the Bronx' an extreme example of a guilty pleasure. Though back in the 1990s, it was not my first introduction to Jackie Chan (the inferior 'Supercop' was) it was the one that got me hooked on his work. All the way through this viewing – the first in many years, the word "silly" kept popping up in my mind. It's dialogue, acting, stereotypes and shoddy cop work was so hilariously bad, I could only think this had to be written by someone who's only contact with the U.S.A. involves watching old 1970s cop hour-long dramas. And while some scenes were actually funny (SEE: the wrench threat) some were downright unintentionally funny (SEE: the toddler-toss and the entire closing on the golf course.) Leaving all that negative behind, it was an extreme joy watching Chan perform his own stunts in many, many inventive ways while simultaneously creating a very human and good-hearted character. The stunts were simply amazing and if one were to watch today for the first time, they need to know: he did them all himself, without a green screens, cables, etc. As arrogant as Chan is – I've read his biography, it's dripping with arrogance, he does have great gifts in originality, showmanship, pride in his work and making sure he never uses traditional American trickery/stunts. (This changes later in his work, when he was forced and got older, but this work and ones around it were all pure Chan.) Synopsis: Good-natured nephew Chan visits NYC and gets thrown in extraordinary circumstances: fighting both gangs and mob bosses while helping 2 women, his Uncle and a handicapped child. All that's irrelevant; what matters is once the action starts, it never lets up. And with an open-mind, what a fun rumble you'll have.

Side Note: Wow.. not only was it painful for all the actors to get hurt during production (not to mention the roughly 16 dozen vehicles) it was also gut wrenching to watch the closing credits that showed mostly the unintentional crashes, broken bones, etc. You really have to hand it to the devotion of the crew, cast and Chan. Definitely Chan. My comments about his arrogance does not mean I don't admire the man, especially his extremely poor and underprivileged beginnings to the entertainer he became. He's one of the very few actors/action stars that no matter how incredibly silly his movies look to me – it has to be a culture thing, it's always a rush to see how long his fight scenes last, how inventive he becomes and simply how exciting they are.