★★★
A young man visiting and helping his uncle in New York City finds himself forced to fight a street gang and the mob with his martial art skills.
Classification: 15
Who doesn’t love Jackie Chan? Rumble in the Bronx is a likeable action comedy with the main focus being Chan’s martial art skills and likeable leading man persona. the story isn’t that strong and neither is the acting put Chan’s passion which can be felt throughout makes this an enjoyable film.
The story is Jackie Chan coming to America, then using his awesome martial art skills to battle street gangs and evil criminals. There’s more stuff in there: a love story, a mystery with diamonds, an investigation into crime syndicate but they don’t they really drive the emotion of the film, there are just ways to have Jackie Chan fight the bad guys. The film is more about its action set pieces, they are very exciting so its shame the filler in between isn’t engaging. You get invested in Jackie Chan’s character but you don’t really care about his story or the story of any other character.
The characters are mostly one-dimensional, there’s no complexity, their good or bad it’s very easy to tell. Chan leads a cast that are not particularly skilled with acting but all talented with the action set pieces. One of the major problems I had with this film was its dubbing of dialogue, I understand many of the actors speak a foreign language but a much better job could have done. The acting can be distracting as well, moments of character change and important emotion do not come across because of limited skill from the performer. It comes of as comical or annoying, making the one real likeable character Jackie Chan.
That’s what this film is really about, it isn’t about fighting criminals and saving people. It’s about the talent and charm of Jackie Chan, Rumble in the Bronx was Hollywood’s first look at their new martial arts star. Chan doesn’t just star in this film, he also had a a crucial behind the scenes role as the stunt director. Chan performs every one of stunts, crafting a showcase of thrilling moments and visually dynamic moments. Motorcycles driving over cars, buildings collapsing, cars exploding, jumping over rooftops – Chan can do it all. The film’s end credits reveal Chan’s dedication to creating the best cinematic experience for his audience and the dangerous commitment that comes with it. Stunt performers risk their lives constantly to create cinematic spectacle and Rumble in the Bronx celebrates their work. It’s revealed that Chan broke his leg during filming and that many of the film’s final scenes were actually of Chan’s cast painted to look like a shoe.
Rumble in the Bronx is a fun fun film to watch with friends, get excited by the fight scenes and 90’s style action. Laugh at the questionable acting and sound mixing of the dialogue dubbing. You can have so much fun with this movie, so turn off your brain and let Jackie Chan do what does best: kick ass and entertain.
Director: Stanley Tong
Cast: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Françoise Yip
Release Date: July 4th 1997
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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