Starring:
Jackie Chan as Dragon Mao
Kenny Bee as Cop
Anthony Chan as Cop
Wai-Man Chan as Tiger Au
John Cheung
Maggie Cheung as Maggie
Mui Sang Fan as Fat Triad
Kenny Ho as Kenny Ho
Ricky Hui as Homely Cop
Regina Kent as Regina
Hoi-Shan Kwan as Chi
Rosamund Kwan as Miss Pak
Benny Lai as Pirate
Ben Lam as Chun’s Man
David Lam
Wai Lam as Chun
Carina Lau as Carina
Siu-Ming Lau as The Prince
Hoi San Lee
Siu-Tin Lei as The Maestro
Ken Lo as Chun’s Man
Ray Lui as Mr. Man
Sam Lui
Bozidar Smiljanic as Police Commissioner
Po Tai as Tai/Mr. B
Bill Tung as Police Chief Bill Tung
Lung Wei Wang as Bravo Wong
Special Features:
None
Other Info:
Widescreen (2.35:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Synopsis:
This is one of Jackie Chan’s films from 1987. It has been reissued in this dubbed version. (Jackie Chan does not dub his own voice.) It was written and directed by Chan. It is the sequel to his earlier film “Project A”.
In the early 1900’s, Dragon Mao has been recruited from the navy into the Hong Kong police force. The department is filled with corruption and Mao is sent in to clean house. However, while taking care of that he becomes entangled in a secret rebellion to overthrow the government. He makes many enemies on both sides that all want to see him taken out of action. After Mao is framed for a jewel robbery, he must face spies, vengeful pirates, revolutionaries, and corrupt police to clear his name.
Project A2 is rated PG-13 for violence.
The Movie:
I’m a big Jackie Chan fan, so I was excited to see this DVD arrive. I haven’t seen many of his older films, so I was looking forward to this one. However, when I finally saw it I was a bit disappointed. Though his old movies featured spectacular action and little plot, this film features a bit less action and even less plot. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but the story made very little sense to me.
The plot jumped around randomly and was hard to follow. Half the time you can’t even tell who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. You can’t even tell what time period the film is set in until you see a “horseless carriage” roll by halfway through. This story is really nothing more than an excuse to string a few action sequences together. Normally I’d be OK with that, but the plot was so bad I could barely watch it.
That leads to the one and only highlight of the film – the action. There are really only four major action scenes in the film, and they all carry the trademark Jackie Chan humor. They’re almost like live action cartoons. One scene features Chan handcuffed to another fellow while trying to fight (and outrun) six men wielding hatchets. Another scene has Jackie Chan and a number of other good guys and bad guys all hiding from each other in a woman’s house. Her reaction when she finally realizes they are all there is priceless. Though the action is not as intense, it’s quite amusing.
The grand finale is really the most impressive action sequence in the film. Chan faces off with the corrupt government officials in a warehouse / produce shop. A chase takes place across the roofs, along rickety scaffolding, and everywhere else imaginable. One of the most impressive stunts is when Chan falls from bamboo scaffolding that appears to be about 4 or 5 stories high. He bounces off the braces until he finally hits the ground hard. It looked rather painful, but cool.
Chan surrounds himself with some good secondary characters / stuntmen. Some of their fight moves are the best of the movie. It’s amazing that a few of them didn’t have their necks broken performing them.
The ending of the film features Jackie Chan’s trademark bloopers and outtakes. As they play, the upper left corner shows Jackie Chan singing the song for the credits. He does so wearing cheesy 80’s attire. It’s really quite funny, especially when he takes a long pause and stands around doing nothing while the music plays out until the next verse. Too bad he didn’t mean it to be funny.
The Extras:
There are no extras on this DVD.
The Bottom Line:
Project A2 is only for the most die-hard Jackie Chan fans. It’s his least interesting film that I’ve run across so far and it doesn’t feature his best action sequences.
