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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Rim
Salesrank: 20054
Released: May 16, 2000 |
| Our Price: $5.07 |
| Used Price: $1.93 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
International martial arts megastar Jackie Chan (RUSH HOUR, TWIN DRAGONS, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX) directs and performs all his own death-defying stunts in a hard-hitting and humorous action adventure that's been called one of his very best! Chan rocks the high seas as Dragon Ma, a determined coast guard officer on patrol in late 19th-century Hong Kong. As he battles with a ruthless syndicate in a seemingly never-ending struggle for control of the dangerous waters, you'll be blown away as Jackie literally throws himself into some of the most amazing movie stuntwork ever captured on film! Also starring popular Sammo Hung (TV's MARTIAL LAW), this must-see, adrenaline-pumping adventure delivers all the intense thrills and witty fun that Jackie Chan fans demand!
Description of Jackie Chan's Project A:
For people who've discovered Jackie Chan through his American hit Rush Hour and want to learn what his Hong Kong movies are like, Project A is an excellent place to start. Chan plays a sailor in 19th-century Hong Kong; pirates have been terrorizing the seas for months, and all efforts to combat them have been sabotaged by the corrupt chief of police and a criminal gang, who are in cahoots with the pirates. But the plot is hardly the point--a Jackie Chan movie is about astonishingly acrobatic action sequences and breathtaking stunts, and Project A has plenty. Of particular interest is a bicycle chase that is more suspenseful than any car chase you've ever seen. Chan is joined by Sammo Hung (star of TV's Martial Law) as a shifty con man who comes through when the chips are down. Project A also features Yuen Biao, a frequent costar in Chan's movies, who's yet another astounding martial artist. But what separates Jackie Chan movies from other kung fu flicks is his sense of humor; every fight scene is punctuated by something--a clever use of a prop or sudden reversal of your expectations--that will make you bark with laughter. Sometimes it's just so exquisitely choreographed that the entire movie seems to float on a cloud of giddy delight. Purists may object to the movie being dubbed, but given the overall hamminess of the acting, it's not particularly intrusive. Jackie Chan is often compared to the classic silent comedians for his grace and timing--he lives up to it. --Bret Fetzer
Jackie Chan's Project A Reviews:
Its Pirates and kung fu! 
2009-10-30 - This is a decent movie. jackie chan's moves are always on point, it can get a little boring but overall its good.
The Password is Beat Me Up 
2009-09-24 - While Jackie Chan's previous film Dragon Lord (1982) did not have as much local success as Chan wanted* his next film Project A would be an artistic and commercial success. It is the maturation point for Jackie as a filmmaker and would start a string of successes that would help establish Chan as an action auteur. He directed, starred, co-written and even hired two "brothers" in Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao (they had grown up together in the same opera troupe and performed as the Seven Little Fortunes amongst others; Sammo was already an established success at this time and certainly is a prodigious presence in this movie) in the first film where they all had decent acting time -- kudos to those who can name the first film they acted in together.
Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) is a sergeant in the Hong Kong Water Police where pirates are problematic on the coastline (they would remain an issue even past WWII), his department is poorly financed, there are interdepartmental squabbles with the landlubber police and their haughty commander Captain Chi (Kwan Hoi-San) and his nephew Inspector Hong Tin Chi (Yuen Biao: Knockabout) and they just had their remaining ships blown up real good (nice model sets in that scene). Project A is the codename to combat these buccaneers. However, it looks bad for the Water Police when they get merged back into the main police force and there is a plot to steal rifles and be sold to the pirates headed by Lo San Po (Dick Wei: The Five Venoms) who ultimately does not seem that bad to me. Later the pirates make the ultimate mistake in kidnapping a ship with a Rear Admiral aboard and take them hostage. This leads to Dragon Ma eventually teaming up with wayward thief and gambler Fei (Sammo Hung) and Inspector Hong to combat these irascible swashbucklers.
There are several stunts in this movie that are truly amazing. Much has been stated about the clock tower fall inspired by Harold Lloyd in Safety Last and with good reason. It is a superlative stunt and still one of my favorites as well as Jackie too. Jackie hangs by a clock hand about 50 feet above the surface and lets go to crash through two cloth awnings until the rude smacking into the ground proving that gravity is indeed a harsh mistress. It would be the first "superstunt" Jackie would do in a film and which would soon be a reoccurring theme in his movies to risk his life to please the audience. All three takes of this life-threatening drop are available to see on the film: two are shown in the movie and one is shown in the outtakes at the end. Every take looks quite painful. Leading up to this situation is another quick stunt that was quite dangerous. He climbs a flag pole to the top while handcuffed so he can unwrap himself from that mast and escape his predicament. But you look at how high he is from the concrete floor below and realize that if he messes this stunt it could be much worse than the fall through the awnings.
The comedic fighting in this film is also quite adroit and amazing in its action direction led by Jackie and Sammo. The first scene between the water and land police is a crazy melee of kung fu, throwing objects and spaghetti. It is quite reminiscent of an updated western bar fight. The Keatonesque bicycle chase and action sequence is a brilliant combination of the two. While the scene certainly had been influenced by such films as Sherlock Jr., especially in the bicycle camera view towards the end, Jackie gives it such a unique touch that makes it such an aesthetically pleasing and entertaining spectacle. Add in several other fight scenes and a fantastic finale with the three brothers and the antagonist and you have quite a satisfying film.
Project A was a hit in Hong Kong (19M HK dollars box office) and found critical support there as well. Jackie Chan would be nominated for Best Actor for Hong Kong Film Award; however, this film would win Best Action Design (Jackie Chan's Stuntman Association was even nominated against itself that year in Wheels on Meals) an award it truly deserved. It is also an important film for Hong Kong cinema. It helped push action movies into modern day locales and away from the Qing era and before dominated themes (though this film is considered a period film since it takes place in early 20th century).
While the film may not know what to do with female characters like Wong Man-Ying and the plot is not the most sublimely cohesive -- there is a grenade scene early in the film which seemed a bit excessive, not that funny and did not seem to fit -- this film is consistently fun and beautifully directed (cinematographer Cheung Yiu-Jo does not get enough credit for the work he has done with Jackie Chan). Action aficionados certainly talk about this film though it is somewhat overshadowed by Police Story (one of my favorite films) when they discuss the oeuvre of Jackie Chan. With the humor, the dangerous stunts with complete disregard for human life and the awesome action scenes it is easy to recommend this. I certainly love this film and find multiple viewings rewarding. There does remain one question that I will resolve soon: which film is better: this or the sequel?
The DVD I have of this movie is the slightly antiquated Media Asia R0 which is uncut but not as preferable as the R2 HKL release or the R3 Fortune Star release if you are region free. I do prefer it over the Dimension release which is cut, dubbed-only and a modified score. You can find a variety of links explaining the differences between the uncut and the Disney release but all you need to know is that the end credits are cut (like in Dragon Lord). Anyone who would cut the "ouchtakes" of these movies does not understand the audience who would purchase these DVDs. One huge negative of this is that you miss one take of the clock tower fall where things do not go quite right.
* I feel it has been overstated as being a flop since it was a success in Japan and made a modest amount of money in Hong Kong. The idea that this film was a flop was possibly done to increase the stature of Project A, but regardless Project A is a seminal movie in the history of Hong Kong cinema. I do think if Golden Harvest had any qualms about helping finance this film the presence of Sammo Hung during one of his most popular periods certainly soothed any worries.
Project A gets an F. 
2008-10-01 - 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.
WARNING!!! BEWARE OF THE DIMENSION DVD EDITION!!! Features inside. 
2008-08-15 - 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.
Project A
2008-03-30 - 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.
