Jackie Chan's Project A (1983)

Project A gets an F.

The worst of Jackie Chan's movies. The fight scenes are good, as expected. But the movie has a poor, or non existent, storyline. It just drifts along propelled by poor acting all around. What a disappointment.
October 1, 2008

WARNING!!! BEWARE OF THE DIMENSION DVD EDITION!!! Features inside.

INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT A:

Jackie Chan is an underestimated genious outside his own reputation, the historical importance of his legacy trascends his best known image as a comedian and daredevil acrobat: There's a talented Director and visionary, a man who changed the Action film industry in Honk Kong forever with his personal touch and style in the early 80's, by creating the perfect fusion of goofy physical comedy and incredible restless action with some of the most impressive and dangerous stunts ever displayed on film. This 1982 period film about sailors, police and pirates, was the consolidation of Chan as a star in Asia after his major breakthrought with Yuen Woo Ping's kung fu classic "Drunken Master", and a movie that started an influence to follow from there on in the industry.

This is a true milestone, considered by critics not only as the first important Honk Kong action comedy , but one of the best productions of the genre next to Chan's second best directed film, the timeless classic "Police Story". Besides being one of his most entertaining and funny movies, the film contains some of Jackie's best stunts ever. We've all seen the reckless and almost imprudent asian stuntmen falling on their heads and backs from the roof to the solid floor in many occasions in 80's HK action movies, but no one can get used to watch Jackie climbing handcuffed to a flag pole, jumping to the top of a clock tower, and then falling to the ground with no protection but a couple of cloth roof tops. And he did it at least three times, two of them registered in this film. Even the MTV idiots getting their private parts bitten by baby alligators, thinks that its totally insane. Outstanding comedy and action, great period scenarios, enjoyable classic soundtrack: This movie defines an era.

So Jackie became a hughe international star and the world embraced this delightful character and action hero that he is, and then came the re-releases of his early and most important work to satisfy the needs of us fans. Among those DVD releases, unfortunately we can find editions like this one. Check this out:

THE PROBLEMS:

- Incomplete, cutted version with english dubbing, and the worst of all, the original amusing and perfectly synchronized music score was replaced by a new, awful synthesized random score, killing the comedy and sucking the joy out of the movie by trying to turn it into the current action flick. I mean, the "updated" new cover of the DVD speaks for itself.

- The Classic Golden Harvest presentation and original opening sequence with credits, was replaced by a computer generated pirate flag : Jackie Chan's Project A, the new title, makes clear that this release is a mere vehicle to show Jackie to new audiences, with no respect for anything else.

- The bar fight sequence is incomplete: The whole "spaghetti" incident was excluded, along with precious seconds of the brawl. Nice.

- The scene in the gambling house in wich the Sammo Hung's character is introduced to the movie, was completely excluded. Now, he just happens to know everyone. Awesome.

- From the Police training sequence, the "shower" scene is missing.

- The intro of Sammo, Jackie and Yuen Biao in the arrest sequence at the club house is missing. The fight sequences are chopped off too.

- The intro of the rifle robbery on a boat at night perpetrated by Sammo and Jackie, conceived as a Pekin Opera satire, is chopped off and ruined by the lack of score, waysting the rhymes and the joke intended.

- The pirate assault to the english ship sequence, chopped off.

- From then, everything is in place, till the new ending credits. By this time, only sadness for the lost original music score and impotence for the waysted money remains.

Honestly, the picture and sound are decent. But that's it. The intention of this DVD edition is to introduce new audiences to Jackie's glorious past, and in that part only, it delivers. But this is not the final choice for any collector or faithful fan, not for a moment.

THE SOLUTION:

A couple years ago, FORTUNE STAR released a flawless remastered ALL-REGION DVD Edition, including the complete version in Cantonese DTS, 5.1, and original 2.0 mono soundtrack (Hurra!) with original character voices and music score, all the deleted scenes and outtakes, original HK trailer, and photo galleries. More than any fan could ask for, i tell you.

Dear Customer: Look for this edition in Asian DVD stores online, and forget about this Edition. Don't be afraid, they're just as safe and efficient as here, i guarantee.
August 15, 2008

Project A

I asked for and paid for Project A. What I recieved was a dvd cover of project A with a dvd labled Project A. In fact the dvd contained a copy of Project A 2 - the sequel. This is not acceptable. Another point I would raise was that I checked the box to wait until all the dvd's in my order where all ready to be shipped together, they were shipped in two packages over two different periods. Please explain. March 30, 2008

a...navigational error.

Where to begin? This is a terrific movie, and one of Jackie Chan's very best. Full of imaginative fights and stunts, Jackie's athleticism will amaze even those already familiar with him. It also features fantastic moments from Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, and a couple of Shaw Brother's alumni in Dick Wei and Lee Hoi San.

Jackie is Dragon Ma, a naval officer in early 20th century Hong Kong. His navy is taking crap from the police for losing ships and not capturing the pirate, Lo Sam Pau (Wei) and his henchmen. After they lose two more ships, the navy is forced to merge with Yuen Biao and the police department to fight local corruption, and THEN go after the pirates.

Those in the know say that the uncut, remastered version from Fortune Star is the way to go. That being said, this version from Dimension does have a very good, widescreen picture with some bad English dubbing and no subtitle options. For Dimension, the dubbing is actually pretty good. If you want bad, check out any of the many Jet Li films that they've released. This one does have Danny Trejo as the voice of Lo Sam Pau. So if you're into pirates but have a hard time getting through those long, narcolepsy-inducing Johnny Depp films, give "Project A" a shot. This one has good fights AND pays homage to Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. 4.5/5 and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

1983 March 7, 2008

PIRACY PRODUCT

Dear Ragini !

Thank's for your email UNFORTUNATELY the DVD that I received yesterday is
not the same that I bought from you.
This is A JET LI movie with a BAD QUALITY ....I'm sure this product is
PIRACY.
What can we do now? I'm very dissaponited with AMAZON.....

Best,

Roberto
August 6, 2007

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