http://10moviestosee.com

What a great night. Yet another stellar night of programming by Edgar Wright. Tonight was a Jackie Chan double bill of Police Story and Legend of Drunken Master, two movies I’ve never seen on the big screen. No wait, make that two movies I’ve never seen full stop. I’m very glad that I got to see both of them on the big screen for the first time. Jackie Chan’s particular brand of fighting style really needs to be digested in a large scale format. Now that I’ve seen two of his Chinese movies, especially on the big screen, I firmly believe that he is fully wasted on the Rush Hour-s and Shanghai Noon-s of the Hollywood world. Jackie Chan’s not only a comic genius, but also a brilliant fighter, a good director and, as Edgar puts it, an athlete. He puts the ‘art’ back in ‘martial artist’. Really, he’s very impressive.

Police Story is a genuinely great movie. It’s both a police procedural and a kick-ass action movie. The plot is significantly more cohesive than many of his Chinese movies (including Legend of Drunken Master) and I enjoyed it very much. It’s also possible that it was such an Western-style story that it was a lot easier for my poor North American brain just didn’t have to think about it. There’s your standard ‘bust gone bad’, then your standard ‘protect the witness’, then your standard ‘persecute the good policeman’, then your standard ‘everything gets sorted out in one big kick ass denouement in which more candy glass is broken than in any other single movie I’ve ever seen and everything can be solved with a punch and some stolen financial documents’. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so standard, but you get my point. The best part about this movie for me is that there was actually very little comedy. Chan played it pretty straight for most of the movie, including a really emotional shouting scene near the end. There was still lots of his classic ham-it-up style, but not as much as, say, Legend of Drunken Master. If you can see this movie at some point, definitely do. It’s a really good time. Here’s Edgar’s intro below. (apparently this print came courtesy of Quentin Tarantino.)

Legend of Drunken Master was also a great movie, but in a very different way. First off it was later in his career. Second, it’s plot is that slightly incoherent style I referred to earlier, in which it’s most just bits of dialogue in between the fight scenes, but it’s a great watch overall. Chan is once again excellent, but with more of his signature hammy style. The fighting is incredible and watching the bloopers at the end you can see that he actually did do all the stunts you think he didn’t. Yes, they all look like they hurt. The best part of this movie though is Anita Mui, who plays Chan’s stepmother. She’s so comedically brilliant that you can’t help but watch and love her every time she’s on the screen. She reminded me so much of Lucille Ball. Hysterical. Here’s Edgar’s intro, which is largely about his state of mind (that’s what you get for watching Too Faster-er, Too Furious-er-er), but there’s a hint of something awesome coming up (hopefully!) too.