The original may not have been top-flight Jackie Chan, but the U.S. repackaging gives this the feel of your typical Golan/Globus actioner. Jackie plays an HK cop working for the CIA in a plan to coordinate intelligence with the new KGB to stamp out a duplicitous group of Russian mobsters. Everyone's object is to steal a nuclear detonator held by a Chinese/Russian double agent and spy-master (Jackson Lui), whose deft disguises include a couple of blonde wigs and some sunglasses. Lui himself is attached to a triad family -- that lives in Australia! It becomes increasingly clear that the film's distinction lies with the plot, but rather a handful of great fight scenes (including Jackie's sparring match with seven foot Russian toughs who can endure any manner of pain, except being bit on the ear, and whose offensive value is offset by the fact that they forget they have guns); on the other hand, the ladder-fighting sequence represents Jackie at his near-best. Armour of God-style spectacle fills in the rest of the screentime, including Jackie snow-boarding down mountains and swimming with hungry sharks; the triad leader's daughter (Chun Wu) is the welcome visual relief/girl-in-distress. Put Jackie in a Chinese period piece where he can use fu, pole fighting, and his superior athletic ability, and the formula works; but as a fist-fighter in a world of handguns and AK-47s, the incongruities are bothersome.

(2/4)



[Reviewed by Steve Spinali]