Touches You

Memorable, crazy movie

Fresh and Exciting

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

At this point Hong Kong might be getting too small for a Jackie Chan movie. Small time mechanic doesn't do him any justice, and Hong Kong can't provide the right stars.Lack of interesting settings also didn't help to put humor into his action, and the movie became like a rehash of Police Story 2.Maybe only Jacke Chan didn't know how big he really was getting.This was more like just another Hong Kong movie, and wasn't a real Jackie Chan movie. But he quickly changes pace with his following movies, before breaking big in Hollywood.So take this movie as a transitional Jackie Chan. The movie proves to me that Jackie Chan really is a Super Star, and wouldn't fit into a regular movie star role.Even then, it would be hard to envision another actor who can play the role he's played in this movie.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but I'd much rather watch a better Chan film, such as "Police Story" or "Legend of Drunken master." The Story was good, and the racing was an interesting Idea, but I don't think there were enough fights, and even when there were fights, bad camera work made it impossible to see what was going on. one good thing about the movie, there was one shootout scene, and it was awesome! This one is a good "Renter" but not a "Buyer." If your a fan of Jackie Chan, you need to see this movie, but don't buy it without seeing it first. This is one of the only Jackie Chan films I won't buy, unless I have a lot of money to spare, and i'm in a store with the DVD in front of me.

Version: Cantonese VCD, with English SubtitlesJackie Chan + yakuza + cars + evil white guys... 'Thunderbolt' should equal pure brilliance. It doesn't. Jackie Chan plays (according to the subtitles) Jackie Chan, a mechanic working with the police. Jackie gets on the bad side of the obligatory-evil-white-guy: In this case, he is Cougar, a race-driver and all-round evil dude. Cougar kills a bunch of policemen, and kidnaps Jackie's sisters, threatening to kill them if Jackie doesn't race him.'Thunderbolt' is more serious, and darker than a lot of Jackie's movies. Unfortunately, a lot of Jackie's movies are better than 'Thunderbolt', even the other serious ones. Cougar tends to shout a fair bit - he is played by Thorsten Nickel, and I'd be lying if I said he was the most talented actor ever. I'd even be lying if I called him an actor. At least his acting ability provides some much needed comedic relief. On the other hand, the action scenes range from awesome to boring. The fights are generally pretty good, even though there is some obvious doubling and wirework. The final scene, however, is boring, and the speed-up obvious.6/10.

Jackie Chan goes back to his roots in this exciting, martial arts, car racing drama. I was kept interested by the film throughout and I rarely got bored due to the adrenaline pumping fight scenes and fairly captivating plot.Jackie Foh's (Jackie Chan) sister's are kidnapped by a criminal racing driver and Jackie must beat him in a race to get them back. What the plot lacks is intelligence and justification of the ideas. Why did the racing driver kidnap the sister's in the first place? Why does he want to race Jackie? These are things that are never really developed and don't really make much sense. However, what the plot lacks in intricacies it makes up for in intensity and entices the audiences with 'Rocky-esque', uplifting scenes where we see Jackie train to become the best racer there is. It is done in a typical, feel-good way and gets the viewer behind Jackie throughout.The acting is actually very good and Jackie Chan, Michael Wong and Kar Lok Chin are particularly impressive in their roles as Jackie Foh, Steve Cannon the attorney, and Jackie's racing trainer respectively. However, as usual in Hong Kong films, the Western actors are pretty poor, most notably Cougar (the kidnapper) played by Thorsten Nickel.As far as the action goes, we see a familiar style reminiscent of Jackie's 'Police Story' days, with some of the best fight scenes you are ever likely to witness, especially a scene where Jackie uses a sledgehammer to fend off his adversaries. The action is presented in such a way where the viewer can actually 'see' what is happening, as a result of clever camera-work, so it is made that more exciting because we know it is real. This is where Chan films always excel; we feel the danger for the character, because we know the stunts are real and not computer generated effects; this adds so much to the exhilaration.There is not much character development, plot depth or originality, but it achieves to entertain the audience and even at times 'move' them. Definitely a 'must-see' for all Jackie Chan fans and worth taking a look at for those even slightly interested.A good, exciting, film.7/10