First things first: only one of the three movies on this DVD ("The Young Master") actually stars Jackie Chan. The others where either had action choreography done by him ("36 Crazy Fists") or have a short cameo ("Fantasy Mission Force.")
"Young Master" is an enjoyable movie, similar in tone and style to his relatively early "Drunken Master" period. The first half has its lulls, but the second half picks up with some terrific action and comedy.
"36 Crazy Fists" actually has footage of Jackie doing choreography tacked on at the beginning, adding sleaziness to this hilariously bad epic. Obviously intended as a rip-off of "Drunken Master," this is truly awful, but it's entertaining in an odd sort of way.
Chan apparantly did "Fantasy Mission Force" as a favour to Jimmy Wang-Yu, who helped get him out of a contract. This is a completely wild, insane movie, full of Amazon women, odd references to American movies, a singing hobo, and even vampires! It's wonderfully stupid in every conceivable way, although, truth be told, the final battle between Jimmy Wang-Yu and Chan is relatively exciting.
Like most DVDs that try to cram three movies on them, this looks pretty atrocious. "Fantasy Mission Force" and "36 Crazy Fists" are both panned-and-scanned, and they look very claustrophobic. "Young Master" is in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, making it the best looking of the bunch. It still, however, looks smeary, faded, and fuzzy. As an extra feature, there is an average Jackie Chan biography, as well as some "film facts" in the form of liner notes. |
Jackie Chan: Triple Punch Collection dvd movie.