Armour Of God II: Operation Condor coming 6/15/20 from 88 Films

[Shingster]

It still pisses me off to this day that these asshat studios felt they needed to team Jackie Chan up with Chris ****ing Tucker because he wouldn't be enough of a box office draw on his own. This after Rumble in the Bronx brought in over $30mill on Chan's name alone. WTF the **** has Chris Tucker ever starred in as a leading man that made a fraction of that, before or since?

I mean, if they teamed him up with a Dave Chappelle or Eddie Murphy I could understand the reasoning and it would have been less insulting to JC, but Christ Tucker? And IIRC Chris Tucker demanded and got a bigger payday for Rush Hour 2 and was I think paid more money than Jackie!

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Shingster

It still pisses me off to this day that these asshat studios felt they needed to team Jackie Chan up with Chris ****ing Tucker because he wouldn't be enough of a box office draw on his own. This after Rumble in the Bronx brought in over $30mill on Chan's name alone. WTF the **** has Chris Tucker ever starred in as a leading man that made a fraction of that, before or since?

Friday sold more tickets, Money Talks made over $40m in the US and shifted a ton of videotapes and he was coming off supporting roles in Jackie Brown and The Fifth Element. He was certainly a safer and more affordable bet than Chappelle (whose movie career never took off beyond supporting turns) or Murphy (who'd drive the budget way up and could have driven the boxoffice way, way down after Metro and BHC3) and he'd already worked with Ratner and had a relationship with New Line. He was basically the studio's insurance in the US. And apart from The Karate Kid, none of Chan's American films without Tucker even came close to grossing as much. Nor had the New Line or Miramax films after Rumble done as well - Police Story 3 did $16m in the US, First Strike $15m and Mr Nice Guy $12.7m, which may have been a factor in the assumption from many after the first trailer dropped that it was going to be the third time Chan's attempts to break into the US market were botched by an American studio that didn't 'get' him.

None of which made Tucker less annoying: when I saw the trailer at the Cinerama Dome and someone in the audience cried out "Can't he just shut up for a ****ing second?" it got a round of applause. And worse than the payday was the way Ratner overindulged Tucker's tiresome motormouth shtick while sidelining and rushing Chan's action and physical comedy in the sequels.

[Markgway]

Dialogue improvement #254

CT: Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?

JC: No one does!

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Friday sold more tickets, Money Talks made over $40m in the US and shifted a ton of videotapes and he was coming off supporting roles in Jackie Brown and The Fifth Element. He was certainly a safer and more affordable bet than Chappelle (whose movie career never took off beyond supporting turns) or Murphy (who'd drive the budget way up and could have driven the boxoffice way, way down after Metro and BH3) and he'd already worked with Ratner and had a relationship with New Line. He was basically the studio's insurance in the US. And apart from The Karate Kid, none of Chan's American films without Tucker even came close to grossing as much. Nor had the New Line or Miramax films after Rumble done as well - Police Story 3 did $16m in the US, First Strike $15m and Mr Nice Guy $12.7m.

None of which made him less annoying: when I saw the trailer at the Cinerama Dome and someone in the audience cried out "Can't he just shut up for a ****ing second?" it got a round of applause. And worse than the payday was the way Ratner overindulged Tucker's tiresome motormouth shtick while sidelining and rushing Chan's action and physical comedy in the sequels.

Everything I’ve seen of Jackie’s after DRUNKEN MASTER II is part of a gradual career comedown, artistically/creatively speaking at least. RUMBLE IN VANCOUVER is okay, but it’s all downhill from there IMO, whether Hong Kong or Hollywood. For some inexplicable reason POLICE STORY 4: FIRST STRIKE was his biggest hit in Hong Kong as well as the third top-grossing film of all time in Hong Kong. The mind boggles.

However, I very much liked THE FOREIGNER. Excellent change of pace, and quite effective I thought.

[Aclea]

Where's laryngitis when a movie really needs it?

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by WaverBoy

However, I very much liked THE FOREIGNER. Excellent change of pace, and quite effective I thought.

The Foreigner is one of his best, but, like Skiptrace, Netflix picked it up in the UK and blocked any theatrical, physical media or streaming to buy release in the UK, so it's a well kept secret in what should have been one of its biggest markets.

The fact that Chan's weaker 21st century films often do so well is probably down to the expansion of the Asian market - Kung Fu Yoga isn't a patch on Condor, but it took over a quarter of a billion US$ in China alone while Condor struggled to break even, Chinese Zodiac did $170m, Railroad Tigers $102m and Skiptrace $136m. By comparison, even inflation adjusted the local grosses for the classics he made at his peak look puny today.

[sonny gaunt]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Aside from Rumble, those New Line and Miramax films sold fewer tickets in the US than Battlecreek Brawl once you adjust for inflation. Rush Hour was his breakout US theatrical release, but it's absolutely absurd to pretend he was 'unknown' in the US prior to 1996, especially in an era when VHS created bankable action stars whose films barely made a ripple theatrically yet made bank on video and cable. Rush Hour was the film that turned him into someone American audiences would see on the big screen, but as with the New Line releases he already had enough name recognition in the US to build a marketing campaign around and get booked into over a thousand screens. In the 80s and 90s theatrical wasn't everything, and then as now there were plenty of actors the public were simultaneously aware of but didn't pay to see.

Rumble in the Bronx may have been your introduction to Chan, but for many people in the English speaking world, Police Story and - especially because of Chan's highly publicised serious accident - Armour of God were the first exposure many had to Chan's films in their entirety (or near entirety since they may have seen bowlderised or dubbed versions). That they didn't see them on the big screen doesn't change that.

Rumble was not my introduction to Chan-his pre-Hollywood HK films were in heavy rotation on the "Kung-fu" TV Saturday circuit.

I do not recall if in the late 80's(1986), I was interested in his newer films via an article or a friend having access to PS/AOG-but, at that time there was no way for me to acquire these films. I was bewildered by my inability to see these films.

Around 1990, record show "conventions" started to come to my area(bootleg CDs of bands live AND VHS tapes). At that time I was able to acquire many of Chan's, Hark's, Woo's, Lam's, and To's films YEARS prior to their release on VHS in the US.

My initial statement was that Rumble was Chan's second attempt to break into the US market, which succeeded-after which his fantastic 80's HK films saw release in the US(legitimately licensed).

I did not mean to have an argument, I respect your reviews and comments on many films. I did not intelligently state my opinion.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by OldPangYau

Who says my tease was only about one movie? Or that AOG2's release won't have some surprises in store All I can say for now is that Fortune Star is going to keep us entertained for a while...

That news makes me as happy as a kid in a candy store

[Aclea]

No sweat: I was worried my comments may have come across too harshly.

Much of my introduction to Chan came through late night TV screenings (often TNT and TBS IIRC) until I hooked up with enough fans to score the good stuff as bootleg tapes with barely readable subtitles, but even in the US pre-New Line you could find some titles in video stores from legit or at least semi-legit indie labels - though you had to try quite a few stores to find them, which was the case with most non studio releases in the goldrush days of VHS. BCB and The Protector had created a VHS niche market for labels who presumably got them cheap. So there was awareness of him since the 80s, if only as that suicidal Chinese guy who was supposed to be the next big thing but wasn't - a sort of Colin Farrell or Clive Owen that the media and studios hyped up but who never sold tickets to the general public unless they were in a supporting role to a major star (though to be fair Brawl recouped its budget in the US and did well on VHS there).

Mainstream and theatrical success eluded him, and even Rumble in the New York Mountains was pretty much a flash in the pan subsequent US retooled releases couldn't come close to (a bit like those one-off foreign hits Miramax would have like Cinema Paradiso or Il Postino only for the director and stars to never make another ripple at the US boxoffice) but I think to say he was unknown was an overstatement. I think his problem was far worse - he was known but written off as someone who never made it and never would as far as the US was concerned. Rumble put him briefly back in the spotlight the way Brawl had a decade and a half earlier, but without Rush Hour's surprise blockbuster success those declining lower Stateside grosses for the HK films would have sent his films straight to video.

[Lasse Reden]

Originally Posted by Drake2222

I thought Supercop has a 4k scanned Hong Kong release with English subs? Is that one not good?

There's that, but it's region A locked and i only have a couple of region B players (PS3 & PS4), so i'd love to have a nice UK release, although apparently that's a very long shot and is unlikely to happen. At some point i'll just have to invest into a region free player, but right now there are other things that take priority over it.

[The Mole]

Originally Posted by Drake2222

I thought Supercop has a 4k scanned Hong Kong release with English subs? Is that one not good?

Remixed audio with new sound effects only.

[Ben_C]

Would absolutely love a decent release of Police Story 3.

[backslashio]

Originally Posted by The Mole

Remixed audio with new sound effects only.

New sound effects...since when is that ever a good idea?! I don't think any fan would watch a movie and think "gee, I wish this had some new sound effects". It'd be fine if they were the same sound effects restored or re-enacted using modern hardware vs "can't find that original goat noise, lets just use that elephant one instead"

[Owenjohnston]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Would absolutely love a decent release of Police Story 3.

Hopefully someone buys / has bought the rights to the Miramax asian films so we can see them restored and uncut like they were supposed to be seen

[johnlennon696]

Yeah the only release of PS3 I have is the Umbrella DVD from a few years ago.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Would absolutely love a decent release of Police Story 3.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jackie-Chan...y/372740190941

I own it. It's quite good.

[Drake2222]

Originally Posted by backslashio

New sound effects...since when is that ever a good idea?! I don't think any fan would watch a movie and think "gee, I wish this had some new sound effects". It'd be fine if they were the same sound effects restored or re-enacted using modern hardware vs "can't find that original goat noise, lets just use that elephant one instead"

In the UK those were cut by the BBFC as they were squeezing the goats too hard

[Tiger Tanaka]

Originally Posted by CrockettandTubbs

Some more:

HARD BOILED 2: THE LAST BLOOD (I still have the VHS from Eastern Heroes)
PURPLE STORM
TIGER ON THE BEAT

yes yes and yes!!

especially the last blood, have two dvd versions but they do need an upgrade
tiger on the beat i do have the hkl dvd and the HK blu-ray
purple storm is also cool, still have the hkl dvd

[Owenjohnston]

Purple storm was good. There were lots of good HKL films like 2000 AD and the black sheep affair that I blind bought and enjoyed, but since selling all my HKL stuff I had totally forgotten they existed!

[TarPot1]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jackie-Chan...y/372740190941

I own it. It's quite good.

Buyer beware, the subtitles are shocking.