Police Story 4: First Strike

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First Strike

USA DVD cover
Directed by Stanley Tong
Produced by Barbie Tung
Written by Greg Mellott
Elliot Tong
Stanley Tong
Nick Tramontane
Starring Jackie Chan
Music by Nathan Wang (HK version)
J. Peter Robinson (US version)
Cinematography Jingle Ma
Editing by Peter Cheung
Yau Chi-Wai
Distributed by Flag of Hong Kong Golden Harvest
Flag of the United States New Line Cinema
Release date(s) January 10, 1996
Running time 110 mins
Country Hong Kong/USA
Language Cantonese/English
Preceded by Police Story 3
Followed by New Police Story
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Police Story 4: First Strike (traditional Chinese: 警察故事IV之簡單任務), released in English-speaking markets as Jackie Chan's First Strike, is a 1995 action-adventure film made in the typical humorous style of Jackie Chan.

Jackie reprises his role as Chan Ka-Kui (also known in some versions as Jackie) yet again as a Hong Kong cop who works with Interpol to track down and arrest an illegal weapons dealer. Later Jackie realizes that things are not as simple as they appear and soon find himself a pawn of an organisation posing as Russian intelligence.

The movie was shot partially in Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, where the last half of the movie is based. Chinatown, Brisbane in Fortitude Valley and Underwater World on the Sunshine Coast were used.

To advertise First Strike, Jackie recorded the song Zenmo Hui and also made music-video for it. As is typical with Chan's pictures, the US version does not feature the theme song.

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[edit] Box Office

First Strike was an enormous box office success in Hong Kong, grossing HK $57,518,794 during its theatrical run. It remains Jackie Chan's highest grossing film in Hong Kong.

The film was released on January 10, 1997 in 1,344 North American theatres, grossing US $5,778,933 ($4,299 per screen) in its opening weekend. Its total North American box office gross was US $15,318,863.

[edit] Critical reception

The version of the film released in North American cinemas by New Line was met with mixed critical response. It currently has a 52% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]

Mike LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle was among the most enthusiastic of the reviewers:

One of the pleasures of being alive at this period of history is Jackie Chan. There are other pleasures, of course, and other movie pleasures, too. But few things in film today are as reliable as a Jackie Chan movie.

Even if the picture is weak, Chan is never disappointing. Watching him in Jackie Chan's First Strike, a brand-new effort opening today, there's no doubt that this is a lovable original and a great popular artist.

So this time Chan swims with sharks. He climbs from balcony to balcony on the top floor of a tall hotel building. He even -- get this -- drops 100 feet from a helicopter into a frozen lake, just as the helicopter explodes.

[2]

[edit] Awards and nominations

Police Story 4:First Strike's Movie Poster
Police Story 4:First Strike's Movie Poster


[edit] See also

[edit] External links