It’s been quite a year for British fans of Jackie Chan, thanks to the fine folks at Eureka Home Entertainment. Not content with reissuing the screen legend’s breakthrough film Drunken Master on Blu-ray back in April 2017, 2018 has seen the British label give similar treatment to Jackie’s benchmarks Police Story/Police Story 2, plus the somewhat lesser City Hunter; and now, Eureka have released another of the action comedy icon’s signature duologies, Project A and Project A Part 2. The 1983 original, coming two years before the first Police Story and three before Armour of God, was probably the largest scale production Jackie had taken up to that point, both as lead actor and writer-director, and it sees him fine-tune his signature Kung Fu comedy style whilst both paying homage to his vintage Hollywood influences and honouring his Hong Kong heritage. It’s also notable for being one of the key films in which Jackie shares the screen with his two most esteemed collaborators, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.
Project A (on which Sammo Hung was also an uncredited co-director) is set in 19th century, British-ruled Hong Kong. While affluent, the area is not without its share of strife, partly down to underlying tensions between the locals and their white masters, but also due to the threat of gangsters inland, and pirates off the coast. The need to combat this threat leads to an uneasy alliance between Hong Kong’s marine police, whose ranks include Sergeant Dragon Ma Yue Lung (Jackie), and the mainland police, including Inspector Hong Tin-Tzu (Yuen Biao). This joint venture doesn’t come easy, given the two respective police forces seem to hate each other almost as much as they hate criminals, as evidenced by a large-scale bar brawl early on. However, when intel from the street-smart Fei (Sammo) points toward corruption within the Hong Kong police arming the pirates, the unlikely trio pool their resources to take the bad guys down.
Jonathan Ross, an early celebrant of Jackie’s work in the UK, has long held up Project A’s bicycle chase as one of, if not the definitive sequence of the star’s entire career. It’s every bit as set on getting laughs as it is on providing thrills, with our hero fighting off the bad guys in increasingly absurd ways, whilst inadvertently doing injury to himself. Hand in hand with this, it’s a perfect example of Jackie’s signature screen combat style, as much utilising his surroundings and any objects to hand as his own well-practised fighting skills. These kind of immaculately choreographed set pieces, designed as much to evoke awe as to inspire massive bursts of giggles, are absolutely Jackie Chan’s bread and butter, and while the bike scene is a standout it’s far from the only such moment in Project A, from the aforementioned bar room brawl, similar altercations in ball rooms, streets and pirate caves, and most memorably a recreation of Harold Lloyd’s iconic clock face stunt. All this, combined with the beautiful sets and the great chemistry between the three leads make Project A one of the real classics of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema, even with its often overstuffed and slightly incoherent plotting (not that this is too unusual for HK films of this ilk).
Not unlike Police Story 2, Project A’s sequel can’t help but be just a little underwhelming by comparison, particularly given that neither Sammo Hung nor Yuen Biao return (reportedly both were too busy shooting Eastern Condors at the time). The plot delves more deeply into police corruption, as Dragon is hired to help out taking down gangsters in a district where the only cop authorised to carry a gun, Chun (David Lam), is suspected of abusing his position. Once more there’s a curious blend of serious action thriller plotting, sincere Chinese patriotism (Dragon winds up working with local revolutionaries against his imperial commanders), and comedic hi-jinks, notably in a sequence at the home of the Governor’s daughter (another frequent Jackie Chan collaborator, Maggie Cheung) with multple parties hiding from one another, which manages to be at once suspenseful, and a classic slamming door farce.
All in all, Project A Part 2 feels a bit flat and unmemorable by comparison with its predecessor, but even so it’s got that requisite charm that makes all Jackie Chan’s best films shine, and in any case it’s one that completists will be keen to get hold of. And, once again, Eureka have provided fans with a handsome package here, with both films looking and sounding great, and no shortage of extras including several archival interviews/featurettes as well as new material on both discs, plus accompanying booklets for each film.
Euereka Home Entertainment’s Project A/Project A Part 2 DVD/Blu-ray combo box set is available now.