Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits!

What makes Jackie Chan so compelling isn’t how he throws a punch…but how he takes one. Bruce Lee famously refused to lose any of his onscreen battles, projecting a stoic, serious take on martial arts that always kept a straight face. Meanwhile, Jackie is beaten to a pulp in nearly every one of his films, stretching his mug into comedic poses that would make Jim Carrey proud. It’s apples to oranges, but it didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it wasn’t until the early ‘90s that Jackie’s particular brand of action-comedy broke into the American mainstream with Rumble in the Bronx making a big impression during the Sundance midnight screenings. Now Arrow Video has scooped up six of those flicks from his glory days as part of a superb collection called Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits!

Here’s where we’d normally go through the plot of each film, analyze the action sequences, praise the co-stars, fight choreographers and stuntmen. But at this stage of his career, Jackie was a brand unto himself. Each film is simply a variation on his screen persona: a lovable student, mechanic, cop, what-have-you who gets mixed up with smugglers, gangsters, terrorists and all-around bad guys and stumbles his way into coming out a hero. And it’s that humbleness that’s at the core of Jackie’s appeal. Well, that and the some of the most incredible stunts ever put on film.

Many will argue that this collection begins when Jackie Chan’s best days were already behind him. And there’s no denying that these films were designed with a broader audience in mind. Drunken Master II is the only one that has any nationalistic edge, casting snooty Brits as the bad guys stealing Chinese artifacts. The other films – Rumble in the Bronx, Thunderbolt, Police Story 4: First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy and Who Am I? – are inoffensive escapist action vehicles. But what incredible action vehicles they are! Surrounded by a team always looking to top the last stunt, Jackie pushed himself physically and creatively while other Hollywood action stars were already hanging it up.

After spending decades in the clutches of Miramax, these Arrow versions are a welcome sight, all with brand-new 4K restorations from the original negatives. Yep, it’s 4K UHD only, but you don’t need a 4K TV to enjoy them, just a 4K player. The extras themselves would take up a full page to list so zip over to Arrow’s home page and check them out. Suffice to say there are multiple cuts of each film (Hong Kong, International, Japanese and network TV versions), English and original language tracks, new interviews, featurettes, appreciations and limited-edition packaging that houses all ten discs along with a 160-page book, lobby cards and a reversible poster.

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