Jackie Chan: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I don't want no trabble!"''|'''Pick a movie. Any movie!'''}}

 

 

Chan is best known as a stunt performer and fight choreographer, and really that's the entire point of going to see any of his movies - watching dumbfounded as he does all sorts of insane tricks and stunts in jaw-dropping fight scenes. He reportedly says that he loves action, but hates violence. Rather than being bone-crunching kung fu instead he is heavily inspired by the physical comedy of [[Buster Keaton]] and [[Charlie Chaplin]] (being that those were silent films, he was able to watch them without a problem with the language barrier). Most of his films are just backdrops to amazing stunts, creative fight scenes and little wire work.

 

 

And in case you don't believe it, there's usually a montage of outtakes over the end credits showing things going wrong while filming (go to Youtube and search for Jackie Chan outtakes... and prepare to be amazed!). Often involving ambulances. It's a good thing he's been so successful, because he's gone on record in many interviews as saying that ''no insurance company in the world'' will give him coverage. As he's grown older, despite being one hell of a [[Badass Grandpa]] at the [[Younger Than They Look|age of 57]], he understandably [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,410040,00.html has stopped doing 100%] of his stunts, partly because he has been told that if he falls on his head ''one more time'' it will KILL HIM, also in part because in the Hollywood system, insurance for the stars is a must and, as aforementioned, he has a little trouble with that.

Needless to say, he's been injured fairly frequently. His closest brush with death came from ''Armour of God'' when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. A comparatively "safe" stunt, it was a reminder that he can't be casual about anything he does. Among his injuries he has dislocated his pelvis, broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions.

 

 

In the last decade, Chan has been the subject of much controversy in Asia. His political stance that Taiwan should reunite with China earns him few friends outside [[Red China|the People's Republic]], but he cannot be accused of not putting his money where his mouth is, because this devastates his box-office profits in Taiwan.

* ''Fist Of Fury'' and ''[[Enter the Dragon]]'': Yes, [[Bruce Lee]]'s last movie was also one of Jackie's first... as one of the goons in the cave (Bruce snaps his neck). Even earlier, in ''Fist of Fury'', Jackie was a stuntman, most notably standing in for the [[Big Bad]] [[Disney Villain Death|when he falls to his death]]. He recalled that Bruce Lee was a harsh taskmaster but very appreciative of hard work, and as Chan got injured doing several stunts, including an accidental blugeoning by way of nunchaku. After said incident, rumors state he was promised to be in all of Bruce Lee's movies.

** ''New Fist Of Fury'': After Bruce's death, Jackie starred here as the successor of Bruce, in what would be called a [[Bruce Lee Clone|Brucesploitation]]. Unfortunately, this movie ''bombed'' big time, and could've been a [[Career Killer]] for Jackie. Fortunately for Jackie, future movies after this start developing his character in his much more well known slapstick badass style rather than imitating Bruce, growing out from his shadow, and it was good for his career from that point on.

* ''[[Shinjuku Incident]]'' is his attempt to branch out into serious (and [[Darker and Grittier|gritty!]]) drama.

* ''Police Story'' features some jaw-dropping amazing stunts (with no CGI!) and is sometimes called 'Glass Story', due to the ridiculous number of sugar glass panels that break in the final 20 minutes of so of the movie. It's also important to mention that it has ''three'' sequels.

** ''Armour of God 1'' is notable for being the closest Jackie Chan has come to death, suffering a critical head injury after a stunt misfire. The irony is that the stunt wasn't one of his usual showstoppers; even the "little" stunts can kill you. The ending credit outtakes go into great detail on this.

* ''[[City Hunter]]'': Based on the [[Hojo Tsukasa]] manga, and most famous for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Psls1ngwM funny and enterprisingly well done] [[Street Fighter]] 2 parody, which is usually considered to be [[Better Than Canon|better than the movie]]! [[Old Shame|Jackie personally dislikes it, though]].

* ''[[Rumble in The Bronx]]'': His breakout movie in the U.S.; prior to this movie, he had been offered a roles in Hollywood (such as the villain in ''[[Demolition Man]]''), but declined to avoid being typecast as either a villain or a bumbling Asian man. He wanted to succeed in Hollywood as Jackie Chan and not as a [[Bruce Lee Clone]].

* ''First Strike'', also known as ''Police Story 4'': The stepladder fight? This is the movie it's from.

* ''[[Rush Hour]]'': Probably his most famous and successful movie in the world, it cemented him as a ''bona fide'' Hollywood action star.

* ''[[Shanghai Noon]]'': Not as famous as ''[[Rush Hour]]'', but some consider it superior, as the fight scenes are way better. ''Shanghai Knights'' features one of the most inspired "Singing In The Rain" tributes in cinema history.

* ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]'': Part of his attempt to do more 'serious' movies and roles.

** Also notable for being his only collaboration to date with [[Jet Li]]. ([[Just Here for Godzilla|just that promise got asses in seats]], we assure you.)

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'': Surprisingly, given his well-known difficulties in speaking English, he's the voice of master Monkey!

* ''[[The Karate Kid]]'': Jackie Chan as Mr. Miyagi? Actually not that bad.

** [[Actor Allusion]]: There is a poster in his room of the Mitsubishi he drove in ''Cannonball Run 2''.

* ''[[The Spy Next Door]]'': This is, though.

* ''[[Cannonball Run]]'': Easy to miss as this movie was before he broke out as a international star. He and another Asian actor were brought over to be the tech-savvy [[All Asians Are Alike|Japanese]] racers who cannot speak a word of English.

** This is the movie that he credits with his decision to add outakes at the end of all of his movies.

* ''[[The Myth]]'': Part historical epic, part contemporary action movie, featuring an impressively international cast.

* ''[[The Twins Effect]]'': He has a supporting role as a paramedic in this Hong Kong vampire movie (the protagonists gate-crash his wedding).

* ''[[Mulan]]'', in the Mandarin AND Cantonese dubs. He does ([[Crowning Moment of Awesome|and sings!]]) Shang's voice.

* ''1911'', Chan's 100th film. It concerns China's 1911 Revolution, which [[No More Emperors|ended the rule of emperors]]. Unlike most of Chan's films, it contains little martial arts or comedy.

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=== Video games starring Jackie Chan include ===

* ''Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster'' - [[Play Station]]

* ''[[Jackie Chan the Kung Fu Master|Jackie Chan: The Kung-Fu Master]]'' - Arcade

* [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]]: Jackie abhors violence in real life and claims to having only been 1 fight his entire life and only then because his friends dragged him into it.

** Most of his characters, though, are normally [[Beware the Nice Ones|nice guys pushed too far.]]

{{quote| "(Talking about the elaborate setups for stunts in America) Just give me the money, and I'll climb that tree! No need for all this complicated stuff."}}

** In particular, [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298648,00.html he doesn't care for] the ''[[Rush Hour]]'' films, doesn't get the American humor, and only did a second film because they offered him an "irresistible" amount of money (reportedly something like 20 million to match his co-star Chris Tucker's salary). When it came time for a third one, they had to give Jackie and Chris Tucker both 25 million, promise Chris Tucker 20% of the gross, and give Jackie the distribution rights to the entire continent of Asia.