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| Images courtesy of 88 Films |
Jackie Chan was an up-and-coming star of Hong Kong based
martial arts movies going as far back as 1962 with bit parts and stunt work in
Bruce Lee films like Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon before
working his way up towards key starring roles in New Fist of Fury and
his breakthrough kung-fu action-comedy Snake in the Eagles Shadow in
1978. Just a year later, Jackie Chan
would level up to writing and directing in addition to starring in The
Fearless Hyena and quickly became a major force in the Hong Kong based martial
arts moviemaking empire. Continuing on
with The Young Master and Dragon Lord, Jackie Chan worked his way
towards generating the first of three action-film series with the Police
Story films, the Armour of God films and today’s 88 Films 4K deluxe
boxed set The Project A Collection.
Designed as a turn-of-the-century set actioner concerning
the coastguard tailing after pirates, smugglers and corrupt policemen, the
first Project A film in 1983 follows Hong Kong Marine Police Lt. Dragon
Ma (Jackie Chan). A nineteenth century
marine in training, he aims to defeat evil pirate leader Sanpao (Dick Wei) and
his denizens of miscreants terrorizing the waters and locals in the area. After a fight breaks out between the Hong
Kong Police Force recruits and the Marine Police in a bar and Dragon Ma’s squad
is forced to become members of the Hong Kong Police under the tense training of
the captain’s nephew Hong Tin-tsu (Yuen Biao).
Soon as police corruption is in cahoots with the piracy threat is
discovered, Ma joins forces with a navy admiral and skilled thief Fei (Sammo
Hung) in an effort to take on the pirates themselves.
Best remembered for an incredible stunt where Jackie Chan
hangs from the hand of a clock tower and drops sixty feet to the ground below
crashing through awning canopies on the way, wildly choreographed fight
sequences with a unique blend of intense action and slapstick physical comedy,
the first Project A film co-written with Chan by Edward Tang and
produced by Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest company is a wildly entertaining and
successful action-comedy hoot. Winner of
the Best Action Choreography award at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards,
the film broke several trends of the Hong Kong action film at the time
including but not limited to Michael Lai’s use of orchestrated music rather
than library music or cribbing and the scope widescreen cinematography Yiu-Tsou
Cheung captures the period setting and fast paced action choreography
beautifully. Needless to say, it was
considered by many to be the first real fully fledged Jackie Chan action-adventure
comedy thriller with reckless abandon.
Four years later, Chan, Tang, Chow, Lai and Cheung all
reunited once more for Project A Part II which trades in Yuen Biao and
Sammo Hung for newcomers Bill Tung, Rosamund Kwan and Wong Kar Wai stalwart
Maggie Cheung in one of her earlier roles.
Picking up where the first film left off but upping the ante in terms of
spectacular action fights including a scaffolding battle that goes down in
cinema history as one of the greatest, Project A Part II finds police
inspector Chun (David Lam) running a corrupt police force staging “arrests” of criminals
and mobsters. British authorities are
well aware of his criminality but have been unable to infiltrate his carefully
guarded empire until military policeman Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) decides to pose
as Chun’s partner while taking on Chun’s empire himself. Throughout the film, the action-comedy antics
are taken to even further absurdist heights including a chase scene with two
handcuffed characters and vengeful pirates from the first film eager to settle
a score with Dragon Ma.
Taking bigger risks that its predecessor and more inclusive
of female characters this time around with Maggie Cheung and Rosamund Kwan
taking on central supporting roles, turning up the heat on Jackie Chan’s character
with far more spectacular setups and battles, Project A Part II is in
many ways the superior film of the twosome.
Not afraid to threaten Dragon Ma with considerably dangerous scenarios,
amping up the comic outlandishness of the plot including a scene where everyone
from Chun’s agents, imperial agents, the commissioner and Dragon Ma are crammed
together in a house (a goof on the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera),
as a film it is as eager to deliver a brass knuckled punch to the face as it is
to step on a whoopee cushion. Funnier
and more fearsome than the first, it takes the framework of the original and
seems to build on it in unexpectedly satisfying ways.
Going on once again to win the Best Action Choreography Film
Award in 1988, Project A Part II was like the first film an instant
commercial success in its native country.
Far more attuned to the nature of silent film comedy including a direct
reference to Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr. in the grand finale,
the film displays in Chan’s direction not only a greater understanding of
action-comedy but a throwback to the early origins of cinema itself. More than just another action comedy with
Jackie Chan, it ups the ante while also informing the audience on where much of
the film’s humor actually stems from.
Chan’s leading performance also betters the first, mixing spectacular
fights and jumps with hilarious physical comedy reminiscent of the heyday of
Laurel and Hardy.
88 Films’ deluxe four-disc set consisting of both blu-ray
discs and 4K UHD discs of both films, it goes without saying, is one of the
most lovingly detailed and designed packages from the boutique label yet
released. Whereas previous editions
involved the black amaray cases with reversible sleeve art were housed in
slipcovers, this box comes hardbound with soft white edging on the sides and
includes a reversible poster and collector’s booklet. Each film comes with multiple cuts of the
film including the original Hong Kong cut, an extended Taiwanese cut and an
Export cut of the second film presented in 4K with Dolby Vision encoding and
HDR10 compatibility. What fans will
notice right away in this box are the inclusion not only of the original mono
tracks but newly rendered Dolby Atmos tracks for each film. While some purists will balk at the idea of building
an Atmos track from a mono source, in both instances the films sound full and
rich with warmth to the dialogue while refraining from rerecording sound
effects. Those old school mono punches
you’re used to hearing, they’re still intact but have been moved around the
soundstage.
Possibly the most cutting-edge package yet released from 88
Films, The Project A Collection is a solid set of kung-fu
action-comedies from one of its greatest screen icons in films that display not
only Jackie Chan’s skills in fighting and physical comedy but his total command
of storytelling as well. Pushing the
envelope for what people are used to getting from the slapstick
action-adventure comic thriller that perfectly encapsulates what a Jackie Chan film
is, Project A and its beloved sequel come to moviegoers in the best possible
home-video release yet attempted by the boutique label. Stacked with extras including newly recorded
audio commentaries by key players including Yuen Biao, Dick Wei, Michal Lai and
Edward Tang, The Project A Collection doesn’t just explode onscreen, it
soars and twirls about the screen faster than the camera shutter can capture
it.
--Andrew Kotwicki
