Thunderbolt (1995)
Director: Bennie Chan
Starring: Jackie Chan, Anita Yuen, Michael Wong, Thorsten Nickel
Primary genre: Sports
Secondary genre: Action
Thunderbolt is a prime example of Chan’s effort to move away from his good guy cop persona (Project A (1983), Police Story (1985), Police Story 2 (1988)) to adopt a good guy white-collar worker persona (Mr. Nice Guy (1997)). Interestingly, anything after Drunken Master II (1994) has a more international James Bond flair; Chan’s unlikely hero travels from country to country under flimsy circumstances to engage in less inventive fights while maintaining his desire to perform jaw-dropping stunts, the true reason for these stories to be stitched together in the first place.
From a storytelling perspective, mid-90s Chan was at his weakest following scripts that were less about his thrilling and funny on-screen interactions with Hong Kong’s finest actors and more about his famous marketing brand in the same way Dwayne Johnson embarks these days. After reinventing the action wheel with his lengthy and grueling mano-a-mano sequences in his belated sequel to Drunken Master (1978), Chan decided to hang up his adrenaline shoes and cater towards more family friendly plots playing the tired fish-out-of-water trope across the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, and the USA. In Thunderbolt’s case, the focus is car racing heavily sponsored by Mitsubishi (a brand Chan always featured in his movies since the 80s) and director Gordon Chan (Fist of Legend (1994)) makes Michael Bay’s efforts in product placement look meagre in comparison.
The film’s opening is happening purely to establish famous Asian faces in minor roles, Japan’s work ethics and culture only to introduce hastily the villain, a golden-ponytailed outlaw named Cougar (yep) whose overacting is an on screen delight. For some weird reason, Chan’s path crosses with Cougar’s; the latter developing an unjustified fascination with our protagonist forcing him to race in Sendai because Jackie is not only an amazing car mechanic but an awesome retired driver too.
This bizarre hybrid of martial arts, sportsmanship and crime has many outrageous elements although truly engaging action is somewhat limited. Despite Sammo Hung (Wheels on Meals (1984), Dragons Forever (1988)) being the action director, it is evident how Chan’s broken ankle from Rumble in the Bronx affected the quality of stunts and editing with extreme close ups, obvious stunt doubles and choppy editing. Nevertheless, there is a fun if OTT bloody police station rescue, a breathtaking container drop and two extended car sequences of technical panache, a rare feat to be witnessed from a Hong Kong perspective.
It’s a shame then to see a lack of momentum here. From characters to the cast’s interactions, things are stale and surprisingly dull; no one really stands out. Thunderbolt’s pace unlike its fast-moving topic is a slog and while the Police Story flicks (1985-2013) and Project A series (1983-1987) have their own issues, they alternate between visceral street fighting and inventive comedy reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Besides a few memorable stunts, Thunderbolt is not even in the top twenty of Chan’s ultra large filmography. He will continue this trend of starring in lackluster entries such as Police Story 4: First Strike (1996) and Mr. Nice Guy until Brett Ratner’s mega hit Rush Hour (1998).
Misguided Chan flick
+A few memorable stunts
+Chan’s always charismatic on screen
-Too long
-Pace is a drug
-Unmemorable fights
-Ridiculous villain
-Forced stakes