Customer Reviews

Jackie Chan Is the Prisoner

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Before I get to anything let it be known that there are spoilers in this review.

Although Jackie hardly speaks in it and is showed in it, it kinda seemed like he played a big part in the movie, but I think Tony Leung was the main character in this movie. I thought it was awesome. Sammo Hung I thought was kinda funny how he always tried to escape from prison and would get caught, and the one where he ran over that one police officer(You could easily tell that was a doll). If your a diehard Jackie Chan fan that always likes to see him succeed this is not your movie because Jackie Chan gets killed in this movie. It's the first one where I have seen that and I was suprised. Overall its a great movie and it actually has a good story to it if you pay attention to the beginning.

Not a bad movie for this genre, but the title of the movie ("Jackie Chan is the Prisoner") is a Big Fat Lie. This is not a Jackie Chan movie -- he's just one of many in the cast. Maybe it's naive to let such bold face lying (marketing) bother me, but it still does. We got the movie, actually believing that it was what Columbia/Tristar Studios promised it would be ...

Bottom line: Jackie Chan owed Jimmy Wang Yu a favor, but apparently so do a lot of people. I wouldn't recommend this movie, but do recommend reading about how it came about in Jackie's autobiography "I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action".

This cheesy kung-fu prison movie, contrary to the box art, does not "star" Jackie Chan. Chan and several other Hong Kong actors (like Sammo Hung) reportedly did this as a favour to co-star and producer Jimmy Wang-Yu ("One-Armed Swordsman," "Fantasy Mission Force"). Much of this movie is laughably bad, with goofy dialogue and entire scenes ripped-off from "Cool Hand Luke" of all things. Jackie Chan is in the movie for about 15 minutes.
The DVD is in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it looks reasonably good. The dialogue is dubbed, but it hardly seems to matter in a movie like this. There is a commentary by a martial artist and filmmaker named Phillip Rhee that is okay. His historical insights aren't fabulous, but his anecdotes about some of the films stars are enjoyable. Rounding out the extras are some cast biographies and a trailer (which, deceivingly, shows Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung as being the central characters).

This is not a Jackie Chan movie. Jackie Chan is in it, that's for sure, but the extended cast of various action stars makes him just another character.

He's not the main character, not that there really is a main character, it seems. The plot, tangled as it is, seems to be about some prison that pretends to execute people and then uses them as assassins. But we only hear about this during the first few minutes and then at the "climax" at the end of the movie where Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and that other guy run around an airport shooting a bunch of people with not much reason. Most of the movie deals with innumerable subplots that serve only to drag out this ordeal.

Yes, Jackie Chan shoots people.

So we have here a movie with Jackie Chan where you only see Jackie Chan fight a couple times (the highlights of this movie) and then a bizarre climax where pretty much everyone dies.

This movie seems far, far longer than the 96 minutes of my life it has stolen.

i thought this was a great movie as the sceme gets deeper , i liked it alot as jacky chan was not the main character in the film but a host of characters put together make this a great film

This movie followed the typical 'jail house' plot line with both a cop and a gangster's murderer on the inside forming an unspoken, unportrayed alliance. The cinemography was average for a high budget martial arts flick (better than I expected it to be), and there is a delightful selection of great actors present. The title is quite misleading, as Jackie Chan may well be the least represented of the big names, and it left me wondering for the first 15 minutes if the publisher confused actors, as it took about that long for his first appearance. That being said, a change of title would likely raise the average rating of this movie, and I could see it easily gaining 3.5-4 stars.

As alluded to earlier, Jackie Chan's roll in this movie is really something of a bit part. He has maybe a dozen lines of dialogue, and three fight scenes to my recollection (not counting the shoot-out). His total screen time is probably about 30 minutes.
The discrepency of the title dealt with, the coreography is fairly good (though not on a par with Jackie's other movies), and the acting is convincing an enjoyable. The plot seems to get forgotten at times, and the direction seems a bit confused between trying to be an action flick and an emotional flick without giving enough screen time to either to satisfy. The dubbing sounds to be performed by native English speakers, and has some colorful dialogue.. unfortunately, the voices were not well chosen to match the actors they represented.

All in all, I enjoyed this movie once I got over the part where I was trying to figure out how Jackie Chan tied into the story. Though the fight scenes do display some enjoyable martial arts, I would be quite hesitant to call this a martial arts movie; similarly, while there are several action scenes, I also doubt I would call this an action movie. Ultimately, it seemed to be a movie without focus... foruntately, the actors carried it and you are able to get engrossed just by watching the antics on a moment-by-moment basis.

The only reason to watch this movie is a pretty good acting performance by Andy Lau, a beautifully choreographed scene between Andy and Jackie, Sammo in a decent role, and the great Jimmy Wang Yu (one armed boxer, one armed swordsman) in a bit part. I thought the ending was just ridiculously stupid as was the entire movie.

The commentary makes sure you will watch the dvd twice, but THAT IS IT!!!!! Commentary is not very exciting or anything btu is pretty good and is actually a tad more enjoyable than the movie itself. The guy who directed the Best of the Best movies does it and tells some prettty good stories.

The title is misleading. It's 'Cool Hand Luke' meets 'Lock Up' in Hong Kong, with some slightly bizarre plot twists that leave you going "Huh??". I enjoyed it, though, in spite of the fact that this is NOT your typical Jackie Chan film. It's gritty, the dubbed dialogue is comprised of American slang, and there's an abundance of gratuitous profanity. Also, be warned that Chan's character is a rather minor one with not much face time and minimal fight scenes. If you aren't familiar with Chan's work, I suggest becoming acquainted with it before you see this one. Though it obviously wasn't meant to be, if viewed with a grain of salt, this film is a hoot.

Jackie Chan is not the main character, he isn't even dubbed in his own voice. Minimal fight scenes, and the fight scenes they had could've been done by any acter. This is unlike other Jackie Chan films, the fight scenes just aren't fun. I wouldn't spend my money on this, instead save your money and buy Drunken Master, or Who Am I, two other Jackie Chan dvds that are worth it.