Police Story 4: First Strike (1997)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Hong Kong inspector Chan Ka Kui (Jackie Chan) is working with the CIA to follow Natasha to Ukraine on a nuclear smuggling case. Soon he's following the bad guys to a hideout where scientist Jackson Tsui is doing a deal. He falls into the icy waters and rescued by the Russians. He starts working with the Russian FSB to find Tsui who was recruited by the CIA. He goes to Australia to get close to Tsui's younger sister Annie and their dying father.Jackie Chan is a fun charming guy. All he has to do is show up with a silly baby seal hat and it's a fun time for everyone. The plot is a mess. A few more rewrites and it could pass for a bad Bond movie. This would be a bad movie without Jackie. With him, this has a few good chuckles and some great stunts. Walking on the ledge of the building is vertigo inducing.

This is probably the breakthrough movie for Jackie Chan into the western Hollywood scene. It has just about all the crazy Jackie Chan stunt works in this, with those trademark silly and goofy moments. I can see why this movie was a hit when it first came out, it just has almost all the right Jackie Chan elements. It's short, but fun and exciting most of the way through. The plot is typical with no appearance by Maggie Cheung. Which doesn't really matter since, this movie is on target and knows which direction to head to for the most part. This movie just might have the biggest budget and the most crazy stunt work by Jackie Chan in this franchise as well. Maybe it's because the premise and setting of the movie doesn't only take place in China. Which might be one of the reason why this movie was able to reach wider audiences at the time. This one might not be the end of the "Police Story" saga but it's the end of this series story. Until the reboot that is. Overall this isn't just a good Jackie Chan movie but it's also a important film for Jackie Chan. It's worth checking out for sure, especially for the fans of Jackie Chan and his work.8.4/10

jackie chan's first strike is your typical jackie chan fare featuring all the brilliant fight scenes and breathetaking stunts one expects from the chanster. a big improvement over supercop while not as good as jackie chan's who am i, never the less this is perfect entertainment from start to finish as jackie chan is hired by the c.i.a and gets tangled in some dangereous stuff and people are not to be trusted, but hey jackie chan movies are rarely there for story lines, the storyline is just the excuse to have some great fight scenes and stunts and here first strike delivers. i am one of the biggest jackie chan fans in the uk i think anyway and have seen all his films, and even though first strike isn't one of his best it's a solid effort none the less.

I'm pretty sure this was one of the first Jackie Chan movies I saw, and the point where I became a fan. After watching it again last night, I can see why I started to like Jackie so much after this film.The film isn't perfect, far from it. As very common in these films, it takes ages to settle into any proper action or story, carries the trademark terrible dialogue in all talking scenes and has a whole host of continuity errors and goofs. But what this film does have, in my opinion, is possibly Chans best overall performance of his career so far.This film shows how much of an athletic talent Jackie really is, from the fight scenes to all the ways Jackie climbs over obstacles and into windows during the movie. This movie really showed me what a leading man was capable in the way of stunts when I first saw it, and still shows what the human body can do in any situation.I don't think it really needs any more praise on here, but the mid movie ladder fight (and all build up to it) really needs to be seen to be believed. The gag real at the end of the movie show how dangerous this really was as well.I just love Jackie's acrobatic style in this film. I am so glad I still find movies like this entertaining after I was so disappointed by the much hyped drunken master and original police story. I still need to see a few more of Chan's early work, but for now, this is my fav.