Jackie Chan: Battle Creek Brawl / City Hunter

Battle Creek Brawl was one of my Kid Time Favorites growing up. One of the first time seeing Jackie Chan and like everyone else jumped started my Martial Arts Training.

Good story, Great Action for Old school style and Jackie is always funny.

City Hunter is fairly Kooky and story is just goofy. Some good martial arts action and some good stunts but overall I would say only rate about a 5 out of 10. Not one of Jackies better flicks.

The twin movies contained here 'Battle Creek Brawl' and 'City Hunter' are well matched, even if they are over a decade apart. Both are broad comedies, possibly the two broadest comedies in Jackie's career (which is saying something). Both were also made outside of Jackie's usual Hong Kong crew, and both display different aspects of his talents not shown in the movies he directed himself. But otherwise these are two very different pictures.

"Battle Creek Brawl' was Jackie's first attempt at an American crossover, hot on the heels of the cameos in the 'Cannonball Run' movies. The same producer and director who worked with Bruce Lee made this, and expectations were high. But the people behind the camera understood Jackie's talents and charm better than the general public of the time, it seems, and focused on comedy action instead of an intense martial arts. Think of "Every Which Way But Loose' style comedy, but with some Jackie Chan style mayhem sprinkled in. Personally, I love the movie, which is painted in very broad strokes. It is great to see Jackie challenged by gigantic men who look straight out of 1960's professional wrestling, complete with the tights and walrus mustaches. Not to mention the roller derby!

Broad stroked is also a way to describe 'City Hunter', a production where Jackie stepped in at the last minute as the lead. It is based on a Japanese manga, and the mood of the movie is one long cartoon. Every action is exaggerated, and in a way Jackie is perfect for the part, although I am personally glad he only went this far once in his career. Still, it is great to see him over-the-top in his reaction shots. And the fight at the end where fighters turn into video game characters is very very funny. The movie is juvenile, and has more sexual innuendo and gun play that the norm for a JC film. Still, with a couple of beers to help things flow along, the movie is pretty entertaining.

In summation, neither film are essential viewing because both represent very different sides of Jackie's talents. But both are funny, if very different, films, with tons of action. They also have pretty good production values and look great on Blu-ray. There are also a couple of neat extras, such as current interviews with the producer and co-star of 'Battle Creek Brawl', and some period interviews in Chinese for 'City Hunter'. I enjoyed the hell out of both these films, and in a way they are strangely but well matched.

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