In the last couple years, Disney has used its Dimension branch to release Jackie Chan’s recent Hong Kong films from the 1990's (like SUPERCOP, TWIN DRAGONS, and OPERATION CONDOR) to theaters, home video, and pay services. These movies are profitable for them because though the movies are already made, they are new to the U.S. market (hence the low investment). Thereupon comes the problem of ‘adapting’ these films to the US market, which in Dimension’s case means dubbing, reediting, rescoring, etc. PROJECT A made out better than most Chan films in the US, since only the soundtrack was tampered with. Dimension is showing their bravery a bit here (or maybe testing the waters) with the release of PROJECT A, a film Chan made back in 1983. Furthermore, this is not your average piece of martial arts cinema, it defies most conventions because of it’s setting and background. Up until PROJECT A, most martial arts films have taken place in either 2 periods—either modern day China or ancient China. But PROJECT A takes place in the early 20^th Century when China was building up its Navy. This must be a hard sell for Dimension, because PROJECT A does not have the formulaic elements that Americans have come to expect. But surely, someone over there must have recognized PROJECT A for the great film that it is. Chan not only starred in PROJECT A, but he wrote the script and directed it too! Some speculate that PROJECT A was his best film, and it was made when he was at his physical peak. Dimension probably planned this for a theatrical release and released it on DVD when they realized how hard the film would be to market to jaded Americans.

Jackie Chan recruited his old pals, Sammo (EASTERN CONDORS) Hung and Yuen (THE PEACOCK KING) Biao to co-star in PROJECT A. Together, these three found their biggest Hong Kong successes working together in films like WHEELS ON MEALS, WINNERS AND SINNERS, and the great DRAGONS FOREVER. Sammo plays Chan’s thieving friend, Fats. Yuen Biao stars as Hung Tin Tze, a police operative and trainer. Hak Suen Lau is the elder Admiral who commands the Navy forces. Dick (SUPERCOP 2) Wei is Sanpao, the bad-ass leader of the pirate clan. The martial artist actor known only as Mars (he starred in Chan’s film, DRAGON LORD) plays the hot-shot police member named Jaws. Chan’s character is a young lieutenant of the Navy named Dragon Ma.

A battalion of rogue pirates has destroyed the Chinese Navy’s ships. The proud young sailors and their commander, the Admiral (Lau), are reassigned to the police force. This is terrible news to the Navy personnel because they don’t get along with the police men and their short-tempered chief. Young lieutenant Dragon, (Chan) is sent to police training, and after a while becomes a pretty good police cadet. A rival police fighter Hung Tin Tze (Biao) leads Dragon on his first undercover mission. But after he busts a crime lord, his superiors sell out Dragon and the criminal is freed. Dragon is so upset he quits the force.

The upset Dragon runs into his old friend, Fats (Hung). Fats is a hustler type, who is trying to ingratiate himself with the pirates so he can steal their weapons and sell them. Fats tries to get Dragon in on the scam by mentioning that he knows there is a traitor in the police force—that’s how the pirates could blow up the Navy ships. Fats and Dragon have a falling out of sorts when Dragon ruins Fat’s opportunity to sell some guns to criminals. Now the criminals are after both Fats and Dragon.

Meanwhile, on a nearby island, the Pirate gang are holding hostages and ransoming them to the Chinese government. Dragon confronts the corrupt government official and talks him into reassembling the Navy to deal with the pirates. The Navy and the Police force team up to fight the Pirates. Both factions land on the Pirates' island, and prepare to break out the hostages when Dragon gives them the word. Dragon disguises himself as a crime lord and cons his way into meeting Sanpao, the Pirate leader. Sadly, the plan is ruined when the real crime lord arrives! Dragon must rally the Navy and Police and fight the army of Pirates to if they are to save the hostages and escape.

During the period that Jackie Chan made PROJECT A, he was transitioning himself from the classic martial arts style into a more modern cinematic role. Gone were the days of the cliched martial arts plotlines with the older style of fighting. At this time, Jackie was focused on adding as much humor to the script as possible. To separate himself from the rest of the Hong Kong action stars of the period, he decided to incorporate stunts into his films, that were so dangerous that none of his competitors would dare imitate them. This strategy worked, and his films rose to the top of the Hong Kong box office.

PROJECT A was Jackie’s pet project. Being the perfectionist that Jackie is, you can imagine how coherent the film is in all areas of production. Not only does PROJECT A have breathtaking action, unbelievable stunts, and lotsa laughs, it also has a polished script with interesting characters. Jackie didn’t want the film to center around him; he intended it to be a group effort and as a result Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao play central characters. Sammo and Biao play their roles extremely well, and they each steal their own share of scenes. Of course, there is plenty of situation humor mostly from Chan and Sammo. Especially funny are the police training camp sequence involving disciplinary procedures, grenades, and showers.

There is plenty of inventive stunt work from Chan and the whole crew. This is the film where Jackie adopts a Buster Keaton daredevil streak by riding a bike through alleyways while being chased by crooks. A handcuffed Chan shimmies up a flagpole, and leaps into a building through a plate of glass! Then there is the all-time classic fall from the top of a clock tower and the slow motion plunge until he hits the ground. All stunts are taken in a single shot, with no cuts. Chan purposely films it this way to prove that he is not using a stuntman or camera tricks. At this time he was probably in the greatest shape of his career, and it shows with his martial arts choreography and stunt work in PROJECT A. When two skilled martial artists combine together with good choreography, the fight scenes become works of art.

I had some problems with Dimension’s treatment of PROJECT A on DVD. I accepted the dubbing, and rescoring because they are both done with high quality. For some reason they truncated the original opening and closing titles sequences. They tacked on their own credit sequence, but it’s confusing because everyone is grouped together without crediting who played who or did what. Also missing is Chan’s trademark outtakes after the film. The DVD packaging is very misleading with the artwork depicting Chan and Hung as they look today. Yuen Biao is not even credited on the DVD packaging! The blurb indicates the film takes place on the high seas, but that is false. So obviously the marketing people at Dimension are taking some liberties here.

Except for 2 Jet Li trailers there are no other extras. One trailer is for FIST OF LEGEND. This trailer is full frame, Dolby Digital 5.1 and runs 1:19. There is also a trailer for JET LI’s THE ENFORCER. This trailer is full frame, Dolby Digital 5.1, and runs 1:49. Neither of these trailers are the original Hong Kong theatrical trailers; they are custom made by Disney/Dimension. There is no trailer for PROJECT A or any other Jackie Chan films.

- Tony Mustafa

This DVD Available from HKFLIX.COM

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