| Police Story 4: First Strike | |
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Original Hong Kong movie poster of Police Story 4:First Strike |
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| Traditional | 警察故事4之簡單任務 |
| Simplified | 警察故事4之简单任务 |
| Mandarin | Jǐngchá Gùshì Sì zhi Jiǎndān Rènwu |
| Cantonese | Ging2 Chaat3 Gu3 Si3 Sei3 Zi1 Gaan2 Daan1 Yam6 Mou6 |
| 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 | Hong KongGolden Harvest France Gaumont Film Company United States Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | Hong Kong February 10, 1996 United States January 10, 1997 |
| Running time | 110 mins. (Hong Kong) 83 mins. (US) |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese Mandarin English Russian Ukrainian |
| Gross revenue | Hong Kong: HK $57,518,795 United States: US $15,318,863 |
Police Story 4: First Strike (Chinese: 警察故事4之簡單任務), (released in English-speaking markets as Jackie Chan's First Strike), is a 1996 Hong Kong martial arts action comedy 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 Ka-Kui realizes that things are not as simple as they appear and soon find himself a pawn of an organization posing as Russian intelligence.[1]
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. The movie was shot in the months between August and November 1995.
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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Whilst working for the CIA, Jackie Chan Ka-Kui (played by Jackie Chan) is assigned to follow leads of a nuclear smuggling case. He follows a woman named Natasha to Ukraine, when he realises that she had been hiding vital information. When Jackie calls for backup, she is arrested. However, Natasha's partner is an unknown man, who turns out to be Tsui (Jackson Lau), a Chinese American nuclear scientist with CIA links, suspected of stealing a nuclear warhead. Jackie follows Tsui to a restricted area, and after a trap set by Tsui, CIA agents together with Ukrainian authorities engage in battle. Jackie finds a briefcase which contained evidence that Tsui had, but as he is chased by unknown forces, he loses the briefcase as he fell into frozen waters.
When he recovers in Russia, he meets Colonel Gregor (Yuri Petrov) who explains the situation. Jackie goes with the FSB and is taken to Moscow where he discovers he has been assigned to work with Colonel Gregor to solve a similar case involving nuclear weapons being smuggled out of Ukraine. His task is to track Tsui, who disappeared after their last encounter. He is taken by a Russian submarine to Brisbane, Australia, where Tsui's attractive younger sister Annie Tsui (Annie Wu) works at an aquarium doing shark shows. Uncle 7 (Terry Woo), the Tsuis' father and the local Triad boss, is seriously ill, and Chan suspects the criminal will show up soon. Unbeknown to Jackie, Tsui is hiding at the hospital, and has given a nuclear warhead to Annie, who hides it at the aquarium. Whilst following Annie, Jackie gets to meet the aquarium animals and is kidnapped by Tsui, who claims to have a deal with Colonel Gregor. Jackie, after realising he has been used by Gregor decides to return home, but two toughs are sent to kill him, and he is framed for the murder of Uncle 7. He attempts to clear his name by going to see Annie at the memorial hall, but he is (unsurprisingly) unwelcome, having to fight bodyguards and Tsui has to eventually rescue him. Tsui explains that Gregor caught him on a CIA assignment three years before, and forced him to turn into a triple agent: a CIA agent ostensibly turned by the FSB, but in reality serving Gregor's private criminal schemes.
Annie, Jackie and Tsui decide to work together to fight Gregor. Uncle 7's elaborate Chinatown funeral then becomes the scene for a complex showdown between the various parties. Annie and Jackie attempt to retrieve the stolen warhead from the shark pool (so that they can return it to the police), but Gregor and his toughs follow them, leading to a climatic confrontation underwater. In the midsts, Gregor attacks the aquarium and shatters the aquarium glass which releases the killer shark, which makes a good diversion for him to escape. Jackie then saves the tourists and follows Gregor. While Gregor escapes with the weapon and Annie as hostage in a getaway boat, Jackie comes up with an unusual plan that allows him to recover the weapon and return it to the proper authorities, while Annie makes her escape, in which he drives and launches a display car onto the boat.
Gregor and Tsui are apprehended by Australian police and turned over to Russian authorities. The case is solved, Jackie is thanked for his work by the FSB, and the film ends. As is usual in Chan's films, out-takes (generally accidents involving the star) are shown under the closing titles.
First Strike was an enormous box office success in Hong Kong, grossing HK $57,518,795 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.
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.[2]
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. |
” |
New Line Cinema re-edited the film, adding in an opening sequence of Hong Kong scenery, making some cuts and changing the film's score. Although much of the film is in English, almost all of the remaining Cantonese, Mandarin, and Russian soundtrack was completely dubbed into English. The Mei Ah Entertainment VCD and the Japanese Warner Home Video DVD are the only versions to date that contain the film uncut and without the language dubbing. The Mei Ah VCD is the only one that has English/Chinese subtitles for the original version of the film, however.
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