Customer Reviews

Mr. Nice Guy

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

With nearly non-stop action and thrills Jackie Chan's "Mr. Nice Guy" is probably without a doubt one of Jackie Chan's BEST films ever, featuring Chan's trademarked ultra-choreographed but jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring just plain AWESOME action sequences (including the trademarked end-of-film outtakes).

THE MOVIE:

A TV cook Chan unwittingly stumbles into the middle of a drug-related murder between Australian mobsters and a street gang when he saves the life of a woman and unknowingly comes into possession of her incriminating tape. From the get-go it's an all-out adventure ride setting the standard for the amount of action per frame as Jackie battles the mob while trying to save his girlfriend and his other friends.

Notable Scenes:

1. The Horse and Carriage Battle Scene

2. The Warehouse With Many Doors Fight Scene

3. The Ending Battle Which Puts Rumble In The Bronx's Hovercraft scene to shame!!

THE DVD FEATURES:

The DVD is a little sparse on special features, but it does contain a few great extras including a pretty detailed bio (more so than the Rumble in the Bronx DVD) and filmography of Jackie Chan as well as the film's theatrical trailer. Also included are selected scenes from some of Jackie's other films (Rush Hour, Rumble In The Bronx, First Strike, and Police Story all on sale from New Line Cinema).

THE VERDICT:

Action movie/martial arts film fans will love this movie. Fans of Jackie Chan will probably rate this toward the top of his movies as the action standards this film set are just off the charts!!! The action, as well as the story, are solid. New fans of Chan will also love this film and its mind-boggling action sequences. The DVD features, while a bit sparse compared to more recent DVD releases, are alright and are in fact a little better than his other releases with New Line. Overall, whether you rent, borrow or purchase this DVD/movie, it is worth a watch.

Highest Recommendation.

As an Aussie, I cringe slightly whenever I see this movie in English! The Australian actors are SO bad - especially the gang leader of the Demons (who thankfully gets killed early!) By the way, is he Australian? He sounded English to me! This aside, the action and stunts are great - typical crazy Jackie, very fast paced. The cameo with Sammo Hung on the bicycle is also very funny. I must mention that I have also seen the Chinese version of this movie. Believe it or not it is so much better to hear the Canontese dubbing and read the English subs! Covers up the bad acting by the Aussies. The music surprisingly in the Cantonese version is also better, very tense and adds some atmosphere to the story of Miki's kidnapping. I think when the movie was released in the West they wanted to reclassify it for general release, so the movie was "watered down" considerably. Some quite violent scenes involving the women actors getting beaten up were deleted, especially one scene with Miki and Richard Norton, the bad guy. Also, one scene where Jackie was fighting the Demons in the van is a scream but was deleted. Jackie actually BITES one of the bad guys in an unmentionable place on the chest! Ouch!! Good movie for Jackie fans who don't like reading subtitles, but I think the Chinese version is better.

This isn't Chan's best film, but he's made so many, that's not really saying anything. Nearly every film he's ever made is worth seeing if only to enjoy his acrobatic madness.

The plot for Mr. Nice Guy would fill a postage stamp, but who watches these for plot? They're always just a thinly veiled excuse for some brilliant action sequences. And this movie is full of them. They're not exceptionally creative by Chan's standards, but they're still lovingly executed and a joy to behold. I just wish there was one last fight instead of the dumptruck ending, though it is kind of cool to watch stuff getting crushed.

The plot should be stupid. I think the common misconception about Jackie Chan is that he wanted his films to have engaging plots and failed. Ummm, Jackie Chan is as much a comedian as he is a martial artist. In fact, if you want martial arts without the comedy you'd be better off with Jet Li or *cringe* Jean Claude Van Damme. Ouch, okay now that I've shaken that one off, Jackie Chan is one of the great Kings of B-Moviedom. The most famous are the horror Kings (Bruce Campbell, John Carpenter), but the archetypal Hong Kong action flick of yesteryear was hideously low budget (still is) and the choices are limited. Does one make a high action film with no plot, or a no action film with all plot. These are the two main choices in most of Asia. But I think Jackie has found the best option: Make a funny action movie with a deliberately weak plot and laughably cheesy acting. And voila. A unique and value-budgeted movie.

Jackie Chan's superb martial arts skills makes the whole movie so exciting and funny. Unlike people who don't have any taste in martial arts movie, i loved this flick. I guess those who don't like jackie chan films think that Under Siege is the greatest martial arts film, huh?

When it comes to the career of Jackie Chan as far as his films and stunts go Mr. Nice Guy won't be one of the first brought up; Chan has made a career out of amazing fight scenes and some of the most dangerous stunts ever seen on film. In my opinion Jackie Chan just might be the greatest action star of all time. Chan really raised the bar for action sequences and nobody has really ever managed to top him.

The thing about Jackie Chan even if you view some of his 80s movies like even Police Story you can clearly see the Hollywood influence and Mr. Nice Guy was clearly aimed at an American audience. This movie does have that B-grade feel, but its Chan's fighting and stunts that raise the movie above the normal B-Flick. Here in Mr. Nice Guy it seems to be a more slightly toned down Jackie Chan or just maybe it's just damn near impossible to top some of his earlier work. Regardless of which it is this isn't gonna make the Jackie Chan highlight reel, but it's still filled with some great fight scenes and some great stunts.

The screenplay by Fibe Ma & Edward Tang is what it is; look nobody really goes into a Jackie Chan movie for the script. We watch his flicks for the fights and stunts. The script by Ma & Tang is good in the sense it's never boring, but the plot is very thin and actually as the movie goes on its quite easy to even forget how this whole thing started. The characters though are mostly likeable and the villains are silly fun. The script is weak, but I suppose it serves its purpose.

Mr. Nice Guy was directed by Sammo Hung who has appeared in many of these kinds of flicks and should be best known to American audiences from the TV series Martial Law; Sammo's directing is fairly good; the movie is well paced and there really isn't a slow moment at all. The action starts off quick and its non-stop. Most of the running time is filled with action and any breaks are very brief. This isn't one of the great martial arts movies and does feel too American in structure, but Sammo Hung does a good job in the sense the movie is never boring.

The performances are decent from the cast with Chan being the best of the lot. But like we don't see these movies for the script we also don't really watch them for the acting. Jackie Chan really isn't a bad actor he's actually fairly good and while I'm a big fan of his work I would love to see him with better material from a writing stance. Miki Lee as Miki is just so cute and fun to watch and her scenes with Chan are highly entertaining.

Like I said before most of the running time of Mr. Nice Guy is packed with action and while these may not be the best of Chan's career they are still excellent and thrilling to watch. While Mr. Nice Guy isn't quite a 4-star movie and it really is very much an American B-Movie, I still rate it 4-stars for the simple fact Mr. Nice Guy is just so entertaining; from the get go until the closing shot this movie is never once boring and will keep a smile planted on the viewers face. Don't go in expecting classic Jackie Chan just sit back and enjoy the ride.

As with many of his films, Jackie Chan relies more on stunts and action than story in Mr. Nice Guy. The movie contains mostly stunts like Rumble in The Bronx & First Strike and not so much in the way of one on one fights such as Who Am I and Legend of Drunken Master.

Jackie Chan plays "Jackie Chan", famous tv chef located in Melbourne, Australia, where the movie pretty much all takes place in. He becomes the "Nice Guy" by helping out a female reporter escape from Gene Carter (Richard Norton) and his gang of goons. She accidentally leaves her videotape of one of Gene's illegal business deals with Jackie, and that's when Jackie becomes entangled in the mess throughout the rest of the movie.

Several highlights in this film include Richard Norton, who plays the bad guy boss, like in many of his movies. There is a funny cameo from Sammo Hung, who also directed Mr. Nice Guy. There are tons and tons of chase/stunt scenes featuring Jackie. The best is one of the last scene at a construction sight. Another good but small one is on the street. A Pepsi truck overturns, looses all the cans of soda, and Jackie and a goon are fighting it out in thousands of exploding cans of soda. The final scene in the movie involves Jackie driving a MASSIVE construction vehicle through Gene's "cheap-looking" mansion. Really cool, though you can kinda tell its a cardboard set. Oh yeah, and his sports car collection gets crushed too. Oh, and the dubbing on the film is rather done well too.

I miss a really good fight scene the most from this movie, but the stunts make up for it. If you enjoy Rumble In The Bronx, First Strike or Supercop, Mr. Nice Guy needs to be added to the collection.

Mr Nice Guy is probably the most recent JackieChan(JC) movie that followed his original ways. OK, I admit that the plot is nowhere near the state of being good. However, it truly is an action-packed film. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen even for a moment- it was amazing! If you are a true JC fan, then don't skip this one; lack of plot is okay by me, because the action/comedy does it all!

Mr. Nice Guy has a lot of flaws. On the downside, the plot is ludicrous, the acting is terrible, and the camera-work is extremely annoying. The slow-motion video sequences are absolutely awful, and detract from Jackie's incredible movement vocabulary.

On the plus-side, we have daredevil choreography and we have Jackie.

Some of the best stunts involve a tablesaw (reminiscent of the cutting laser aimed at James Bond's crotch in Goldfinger), a cement mixer, a fight inside an A-Teamesque van, and an atypical car chase scene involving a team of horses. Once again, the out-takes show a little of what goes on behind the scenes.

Perhaps Jackie, like Rutger Hauer, purposefully chooses bad films. It makes him seem all the more a diamond in the rough, or a pearl in a pigsty. Yet when he appears in a movie with talented actors and a half-decent script, I don't think it detracts from his charm whatsoever. So why does he act in these horrid little movies? I dunno. I'm guessing he just has a warped sense of humour, and delights in being a B-movie king.

Jackie Chan is so damn funny. If you forgot which Jackie Chan movie this is, it is the one where he destroys a nice house with a big truck and rolls over a razor blade. It is very much funny and a much cool, and stuff!