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Rumble in the Bronx (1995)

Rumble in the Bronx overcomes its weaknesses by delivering what you want from a Jackie Chan action film. The acting may be weak, the plot a little jumbled, but you don't mind. Not as long as the leads are charming, the choreography inventive, and the action is exciting.

Mao Hon Keung (Jackie Chan) is traveling to New York to attend his uncle’s wedding. There, Keung gets embroiled in a battle with a biker gang and professional thugs serving the White Tiger (Kris Lord) after a diamond heist goes wrong.

Examining the film's plot does it no favors. You won’t remember what was going on while Chan wasn’t around kicking butt. There’s a bunch of villains, they need to get beaten up. Some of Keung’s newfound friends are endangered, he needs to save the day by knocking them over with various impromptu weapons. That’s it. It’s important to know this in advance. If you don’t, you’ll be frustrated trying to figure out how all of these different characters fit together. Anita Mui as Elaine is fun to watch, but her character is superfluous by the time the end credits roll. It’s like the plot is a mashup between two films, one where Chan’s love interest is the meek businesswoman who can’t believe her eyes when the boy next door is able to do these amazing physical feats, and the other would have focussed on a woman who’s turned to the dark side of the streets (Françoise Yip as Nancy) that slowly realizes the error of her ways and eventually joins with our hero. The bad guys are flat, the plot is disposable. It’s not a good thing, but you can get over it.

The reasons to pay attention despite the flaws are the stunts and the action. It’s Chan at his best among a sea of bad dialogue and lame performances. Every segment where Keung faces off against a meanie is gold. There’s a wide variety of action segments and the comedy is well woven in. It’s a trademark of his so if you’re a fan that’s nothing new, but the guy’s getting older. We’ll never see him in his prime again. A film like this - while not the best in his portfolio - shows why he became a superstar. Even if you’re not already a fan, the footage of stunts gone wrong during the end credits put everything in perspective. You see the effort needed to choreograph and perform these stunts by seeing footage that you might have overlooked if it had been banished to the “special features” menu on your DVD.

It speaks volumes about Jackie Chan that he’s able to take an unmemorable script and inject enough charm, humor, and excitement in it to make Rumble in the Bronx worth seeing. It took me a bit to get used to, but once settled in, I found Rumble in the Bronx entertaining for a myriad of reasons. (On VHS, June 20, 2016)