Mid-level Chan

Ms. Spenser is off for a little while, so I'm watching "guy" movies, mostly martial arts flicks, because she doesn't care for them. First up, a Jackie Chan racing movie, Thunderbolt (1995).

Jackie is a junkyard mechanic and racecar driver who commandeers a reporter's car (with her in it) to help the Hong Kong police catch a street racer. It turns out that the driver is a Euro-trash criminal, but his crooked lawyer gets him sprung. He revenges himself on Jackie by trashing his junkyard and kidnapping his two sisters. Then he offers to release them if Jackie will race him in Japan.

This is not one of his best, or worst, films. He was nursing an injury from Rumble in the Bronx, so the fighting is a little lower key, with racing filling in. Also, when the bad guys come to wreck the junkyard, Jackie does all right at first, but really gets put through the wringer. I don't think I like seeing him beaten so badly - it's almost realistic.

What I do like about Jackie Chan fights is that there is always something more than the fight moves - a theme, a style, a statement. There is a fight in a pachinko parlor that has the theme of Verticality - Jackie is always moving up a level, or feinting up and dropping down a level. He goes on top of the pachinko machines, goes up and down stairs, and finally uses some decorative ceiling thingies as trampolines. I don't know if he says, let's do something with level, or if it just flows like that, but I love it.

The racing isn't bad either. There starting chase at night in Hong Kong is pretty thrilling. The final race, maybe not so much. But there was a nice touch when Jackie crashes his car before the big race and Mitsubishi, his long time partner, comes through with a hot car and a supply of tires. It's just kinds of sweet.