Famous around the world for being a master of action and humor, Jackie Chan has been acting for over six decades, known for expertly blending the seemingly unrelated genres of extreme combat and slapstick comedy. Chan made a name for himself using his superior control over his body to execute unbelievable stunts and simultaneously create humorous instances of physical comedy by twisting and falling in hilarious ways. His facial expressions in moments of intensity never fail to elicit laughter, with over-the-top reactions to any big reveal or surprise in a film.
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Also famous for doing his stunt work by himself, Chan has wowed fans for years with appearances in over 150 films. Be they comical or serious, most of Jackie Chan’s best stunts always involve impressive physical flexibility and resilience. Having proven again and again that he is willing to go the distance to create realistic sequences, many consider Chan the greatest kung fu movie star ever. While he’s been around since the ’60s as a child star, he rose to popularity in the ’90s, the decade when some of his most popular films were released.
10 Twin Dragons (1992)
Directed By Ringo Lam & Tsui Hark
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A sort of comedy of errors, Twin Dragons features Chan in the double role of twin brothers separated at birth. One of them is a pianist while the other is a martial artist. When the two of them meet again in Hong Kong, they’re inevitably misidentified, and the pianist has to deal with gang members, while the fighter has to conduct a concert.
Related What’s your favorite pre-Hollywood Jackie Chan movie?
While he may be better known to international audiences for the likes of the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon franchises, Jackie Chan’s storied career extends well before his Hollywood tenure, having worked extensively through the ’70s and ’80s in his home country of China. Having started with more traditional martial arts fare, Chan’s early movies did start to generally turn toward the comedic as the star developed his unique mix of slapstick humor and skillfully choreographed action. I still think his best pre-Hollywood movie is that of 1978’s Drunken Master, which not only laid the groundwork for his unique fighting style, but still holds up as an outright treat of a film. I would say, though, that Police Story 3: Supercop is a fairly close second, and would love to see both Chan and Michelle Yeoh return to the franchise for a more comedic outing after the overly serious Police Story 2013.
The differences in personalities of the two brothers demonstrate Chan’s range as an actor. However, perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the Twin Dragons is that sometimes even the viewer isn’t in on the joke of which of Chan’s characters is on the screen from the beginning of a scene. With his signature exorbitant fight sequences featuring the most complicated and simultaneously comical choreography, Chan seamlessly shifts between the personas of the skilled fighter and the pianist who gets beaten up a lot.
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9 Mr. Nice Guy (1997)
Directed By Sammo Hung
With an elaborate plot involving a mob and a gang, Mr. Nice Guy is one of Chan’s most underrated action movies. The actor plays a chef who unintentionally gets involved in a fight between two rival factions, both of whom want to kill him for their own reasons. Relentless with the action, Mr. Nice Guy is best thought of as a collection of elaborate fight scenes with ridiculous choreography made believable by Chan.
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The plot is both convoluted and paper-thin, with most narrative beats written only to justify the resulting action sequence. However, Chan’s charming comic timing makes his character’s confusion regarding the events of the film majorly entertaining. The stunt work is the real plot of Mr. Nice Guy, which features one of Jackie Chan’s funniest fight scenes.
8 Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)
Directed By Stanley Tong
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Police Story 4 PG-13ActionCrime
Officer Chan Ka-Kui collaborates with Interpol to capture an arms dealer but soon uncovers a deeper plot, finding himself manipulated by an organization pretending to be Russian intelligence.
Director Stanley Tong Release Date January 10, 1997 Writers Stanley Tong , Greg Mellott , Nick Tramontane , Elliot Tong Ming-Kei Cast Jackie Chan , Jackson Liu , Annie Wu , Bill Tung , Yuri Petrov , Nonna Grishaeva , Ailen Sit Chun-Wai Character(s) Jackie , Jackson Tsui Kit , Annie Tsui , Inspector Bill Chou , Colonel Gregor Yegorov , Natasha , Allen Runtime 107 Minutes Expand
The only movie in the Police Story series to be made partly in English and the last installment until the reboots of 2004 and 2013, Police Story 4: First Strike is set in Ukraine, where Chan’s character goes as a security detail. He gets embroiled in a conspiracy involving nuclear weapons and has to travel to Moscow and then back home to thwart the criminals. The fourth chapter in the action series may have seen a significant drop in ratings, but it is still worth it for die-hard Jackie Chan fans.
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|
Movie |
Release Date |
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Police Story |
1985 |
93% |
|
Police Story 2 |
1988 |
84% |
|
Police Story 3: Super Cop |
1992 |
93% |
|
Police Story 4: First Strike |
1996 |
57% |
With an elaborate plot as usual, full of convoluted twists that seem to become less believable as the film progresses, First Strike‘s strongest point is, as always, Chan’s performance. His acting involves playing up the charm of his character to get favors as an undercover agent and then switching over to complex martial arts for the well-spaced-out action sequences.
7 Who Am I? (1998)
Directed By Benny Chan & Jackie Chan
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Co-directing with the late Benny Chan (who’s not related to him) Jackie Chan plays an amnesiac protagonist with his own name in Who Am I? After an accident in Africa that he can’t recall, Chan’s character wakes up and gets named “Who Am I?” by the locals because those are the three words he says the most. A series of misadventures leads him to the Netherlands, where he realizes that everyone he’s trusted has been secretly spying on him.
Related 10 Jackie Chan Movies With His Most Intense Stunts
Jackie Chan is best known for his skills in martial arts, footwork, and stunt work. There are 10 movies that stand out as having his best stunts.
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Playing out like a mystery thriller with fight scenes in classic Jackie Chan style, Who Am I? is an engaging caper with spy elements that aren’t so typical of the actor. His comic timing and acting skills are more on display here than most of his action films; even the stunt work is less focused on fighting and more on parkour, as Who Am I? feels more like an extensive chase than a traditional action movie.
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6 Crime Story (1993)
Directed By Kirk Wong
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Crime Story RActionCrimeThrillerDrama
Crime Story, directed by Kirk Wong, features Jackie Chan as Inspector Eddie Chan, who is assigned to protect a wealthy businessman targeted for kidnapping. The film is notable for its darker tone compared to other Jackie Chan movies, focusing on the intricate criminal underworld of Hong Kong. As tensions rise, Inspector Chan must navigate the treacherous landscape while dealing with his own internal struggles.
Director Kirk Wong , Jackie Chan Release Date June 24, 1993 Writers Tin-Nam Chun , Man-Keung Chan , Lai Ling Cheung , Teddy Chan Cast Jackie Chan , Kent Cheng Jak-Si , Law Kar-Ying , Susanna Au-Yeung Pui-San , Christine Ng , Poon Ling-Ling , Blackie Ko Shou-Liang , William Duen Wai-Lun , Ken Lo , Paul Chung Fat , Wan Fat , Wan Seung-Lam , Stephen Chan Tak-Gwong , James Ha Chim-Si Runtime 107 Minutes Expand
Crime Story features Chan in one of his most emotionally challenging roles, playing Inspector Eddie Chan, who is going through an existential crisis after having to kill people in self-defense, an act that makes him question his integrity. However, he has no choice but to resume active duty when he’s assigned the task of tracking down a kidnapped businessman. With few jokes that you can count on your fingers, Eddie is definitely one of Chan’s most serious roles.
Chan’s acting skills are on par, as he delivers an angry and self-destructive persona for Crime Story. While necessarily lacking in comedy, Crime Story is still chock-full of action, especially fighting, from Chan, as his character goes around Hong Kong causing explosions and taking down more people than it’s possible to keep count of, on his hunt for the kidnapped man.
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5 Rumble In The Bronx (1995)
Directed By Stanley Tong
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Rumble In the Bronx RActionComedyCrime
Rumble in the Bronx is a 1995 action-comedy film starring Jackie Chan as Keung, who travels to New York for his uncle’s wedding and becomes entangled in local gang conflicts. Directed by Stanley Tong, the film showcases Chan’s signature blend of martial arts and stunts, earning acclaim and introducing him to a wider international audience.
Director Stanley Tong Release Date February 23, 1996 Writers Edward Tang , Fibe Ma Cast Jackie Chan , Anita Mui , Françoise Yip , Bill Tung , Marc Akerstream , Garvin Cross , Morgan Lam , Ailen Sit Runtime 87 Minutes
Set in the heart of New York’s fictional criminal underworld, Rumble in the Bronx is one of Chan’s most violent films. While most of the gory violence is delivered by the villains of the story, Chan’s fight choreography is considerably intense, with his character delivering quick, heavy blows in every combat scene.
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Despite having to fight a biker gang, fend off the henchmen of a crime syndicate, and commandeer a hovercraft, Chan is charming and funny as always. He strikes a delicate balance between his charismatic persona who charms the female protagonist and the fierce fighter who the gangs always fail to capture. The stunts are ridiculous and dangerous as ever and a blooper reel at the end of Rumble in the Bronx shows how risky Chan’s work can be.
4 Armour Of God II: Operation Condor (1991)
Directed By Jackie Chan
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10/10 Armour of God 2: Operation Condor PG-13ActionAdventureComedy
Armour Of God 2: Operation Condor is an action-adventure film starring Jackie Chan as Asian Hawk, a treasure hunter on a mission to retrieve Nazi gold from a North African desert. Directed by Jackie Chan and released in 1991, the film features a blend of martial arts, comedy, and thrilling stunts, as Hawk faces various obstacles and adversaries along the way.
Director Jackie Chan Release Date July 18, 1997 Writers Jackie Chan , Edward Tang Cast Jackie Chan , Carol Cheng , Eva Cobo , Shôko Ikeda , Aldo Sambrell , Ken Goodman , Steve Tartalia , Vincent Lyn Runtime 80 Minutes Character(s) Asian Hawk , Ada , Elsa , Momoko , Adolf , Adolf’s Guard #1 , Adolf’s Guard #2 , Mark Expand
The sequel to one of his most successful films in Hong Kong, Armour of God II: Operation Condor, saw Chan return to the director’s chair as he reprised his role of a treasure hunter. Hired by a Spanish baron to find World War II Nazi gold hidden in the Sahara Desert, Chan’s Asian Hawk turns even more into Indiana Jones in this film than in the first part. With some direct references to Steven Spielberg’s trilogy, Chan as the director brings his glorious vision of an expansive treasure hunt to life.
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Related 10 Great Jackie Chan Movies You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
These 10 incredible Jackie Chan movies showcase the kung fu legend’s dominating talent–even if they aren’t the titles he’s most known for.
What sets Asian Hawk apart from Indiana Jones is that while the latter’s sense of humor is dry, the comedy for Chan’s character is pure slapstick. With quirky stunts that turn him into a comedic presence at times, Chan stumbles from adventure to adventure on his hunt for the treasure. The most fascinating part of Chan’s work is perhaps how he balances the wild movements of his characters with their expert ability when it comes to kung fu.
3 Rush Hour (1998)
Directed by Brett Ratner
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9/10 Rush Hour PG-13ActionAdventureComedy
Rush Hour is an action/adventure comedy that stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. When the F.B.I. becomes agitated over dedicated Hong Kong Inspector (Lee) being sent to Los Angeles to rescue the Chinese Consul’s kidnapped daughter, he is forced to team up with a reckless and loudmouthed L.A.P.D.detective (Tucker) to keep him front interfering. Despite the differences between the two, they’ll put them aside to prove themselves and save the girl while finding themselves caught in a notorious crime lord’s crosshairs.
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*Availability in US Director Brett Ratner Release Date September 18, 1998 Writers Ross LaManna , Jim Kouf Cast Ken Leung , Chris Tucker , Tzi Ma , Tom Wilkinson , Jackie Chan , Mark Rolston , Rex Linn , Elizabeth Peña Runtime 98 minutes
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Arguably his most famous film, Rush Hour features Chan as a Hong Kong cop on a mission in LA, where he’s coupled with an LAPD detective played by Chris Tucker. The most formulaic Hollywood film Chan had appeared in at the time, Rush Hour is a classic buddy cop comedy. Tucker and Chan have an infectious chemistry, working off of each other’s comedic timing to create some of the funniest scenes in movie history.
Perhaps the only complaint about Rush Hour is that, for aficionados of Chan’s intense kung fu action, the film is a letdown. While there’s still some ridiculous stunt work, most of it is played for gags or else in parkour, and Chan’s dexterous fighting skills are rarely on display.
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Related This Jackie Chan Classic Is The Whole Reason Rotten Tomatoes Exists
Rotten Tomatoes has had a major impact on the movie business since it debuted, but it began as a fansite for this Jackie Chan action hit.
However, Chan’s comedy talents are utilized creatively as he plays the more somber character opposite Tucker, whose character couldn’t be less serious if he tried. The film is so beloved that it gave rise to an entire trilogy, and recently, Tucker confirmed Rush Hour 4 is in the works.
2 Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992)
Directed By Stanley Tong
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Police Story 3: Super Cop RActionCrimeThriller
Police Story 3: Super Cop features Jackie Chan as a Hong Kong detective collaborating with Michelle Yeoh’s character, a Chinese agent, to dismantle a notorious drug cartel. Released in 1992, the film blends action and comedy as the duo navigates dangerous missions to apprehend the drug lord.
Director Stanley Tong Release Date July 4, 1992 Writers Edward Tang Cast Jackie Chan , Michelle Yeoh , Maggie Cheung , Josephine Koo Mei-Wah , Kenneth Tsang , Yuen Wah , Bill Tung , Philip Chan , Kelvin Wong , Ailen Sit Chun-Wai , Lo Lieh , Mars , Shum Wai , Hon Yee-Sang , William Duen Wai-Lun , Cheng Ka-Sang , Chan Ging-Chi , Chan Man-Ching , John Wakefield , Ken Lo , Rocky Lai Keung-Kun , Kong Miu-Deng , Lam Chi-Tai , Chan Sek , Lam Foo-Wai Runtime 95 minutes Expand
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Reprising his role as Kevin, Chan goes undercover in a drug lord’s organization in Police Story 3: Super Cop. He’s working alongside Inspector Jessica Yang, played by another expert martial artist actor, Michelle Yeoh. Their cover eventually gets blown, leading to a climactic chase and face-off as Kevin’s girlfriend is held hostage by the drug lord.
Yeoh and Chan both perform their own stunts in Police Story 3: Super Cop, and it looks like a competition between the two, to prove who’s more skilled. The fight sequences are daring, exhilarating, and a showcase of kung fu. A stunt in Super Cop nearly killed Yeoh and by the end, it’s clear she can hold her own opposite Chan. Super Cop‘s strongest selling point is the joy of watching two legendary martial artists showing off their skills in a series of dangerous situations that never stop arising until the credits.
1 Drunken Master II (1994)
Directed By Lau Kar-leung
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Over 15 years after the release of his most iconic martial arts film, Chan returned to play his fictionalized version of Wong Fei-hung for Drunken Master II. Wong brings shame to his family, much like in the first film, and decides to stop drinking, meaning he can no longer access the drunk fighting style he mastered in the last movie. Because of that, he gets beaten up and captured, leading to further shenanigans, which end with him confronting the British consul.
Related Jackie Chan’s 1 Problem With Drunken Master (& How It Changed The Sequel)
Jackie Chan had one major issue with his most iconic kung fu movie, Drunken Master. Here’s what it was and how it influenced him to make a sequel.
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The unique kung fu of Drunken Master involves a mix of physical comedy and expert martial arts. While some of the action sequences involve Chan losing fights, when his character employs the technique in Drunken Master II, it is a sight to behold. Often called Jackie Chan’s most important movie, it is a demonstration of his mastery over his body as he seamlessly switches from a watered-down version of his usual dexterous kung fu to the drunken fighting style.
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Drunken Master II RActionComedy
Drunken Master II is a martial arts film directed by Lau Kar-leung and starring Jackie Chan as Wong Fei-hung. Set in early 20th century China, the story follows Wong Fei-hung as he employs his unique style of drunken boxing to combat corrupt officials and foreign agents smuggling valuable artifacts. The film is renowned for its intricate choreography and traditional kung fu elements.
Director Chia-Liang Liu , Jackie Chan Release Date February 3, 1994 Writers Edward Tang , Man-Ming Tong , Kai-Chi Yuen , Rod Dean Cast Jackie Chan , Lung Ti , Anita Mui , Felix Wong , Chia-Liang Liu , Ken Lo , Kar Lok Chin , Ho-Sung Pak Runtime 102 Minutes Character(s) Wong Fei-hung , Wong Kei-ying , Ling , Tsang , Master Fu Wen-Chi , John , Fo Sang , Henry Expand