Rumble in the Bronx (1995) [Film Review]

Rumble in the Bronx; or, A Fish Out of Water
     That’s my uncle’s car!
Fresh after the success of Police Story 3: SuperCop (1992) and Project S (1993), the duo composed of director Stanley Tong and action star Jackie Chan continued their fruitful cooperation in yet another bombastic project called Rumble in the Bronx. This movie would go on to prove itself especially important for Jackie’s career because it is often cited as one of the 90s flicks that made the Hong Kong actor recognisable in the United States.

Release Info

Directed by: Stanley Tong Starring: Jackie Chan, Françoise Yip, Anita Mui

Language: Cantonese, English Original Title: 紅番區 Runtime: 90 min

Synopsis
Keung (Jackie Chan) arrives in New York to visit his uncle (Bill Tung) who is going to remarry soon. Uncle Bill sells his grocery shop to a businesswoman called Elaine (Anita Mui). Nevertheless, problems arise when local thugs raid the shop. Keung helps out Elaine, but for his heroic action, he is assaulted and wounded by the bandits. He is looked after by his neighbour Danny (Morgan Lam), a physically-disabled boy, and his sister Nancy (Françoise Yip). In the meantime, a crime syndicate is looking for stolen diamonds in the neighbourhood. In order to fight the syndicate and protect his friends, Keung will have to join forces with the thugs.

Street Fighter
Rumble in the Bronx was made in-between Jackie’s popular Police Story movies, so it comes as no surprise that the team behind this franchise (director Stanley Tong, producer Raymond Chow, and screenwriter Edward Tang) crafted this particular motion picture. What is more, the movie was shot primarily on location in Vancouver, Canada, so the crew had to make sure that the setting would resemble NYC cityscapes.

The narrative premise as well as the fact that the film was shot outside of Hong Kong are reminiscent of Bruce Lee’s The Way of the Dragon (1972). In that film, Bruce plays a well-meaning newcomer from Hong Kong who finds it difficult to operate within Western culture, but who tries his best to protect his friends from baddies. This is exactly what Jackie channels in Rumble in the Bronx and he does that very well indeed. The movie is packed with breathtaking action stunts, meticulously choreographed fight sequences, and a light-hearted humour (mostly coming from Anita Mui’s character).

When it comes to US releases of Jackie’s films, as always there are differences in various cuts. The most popular edition of the Rumble in the Bronx from New Line Cinema runs at 90 minutes and is very much watchable; however, the Hong Kong release actually provides different contexts for the characters through the Cantonese dubbing. For instance, in the original cut, it is said that Keung is actually a cop and he has a girlfriend back in Hong Kong. In the American cut, there’s absolutely no mention of such a thing.

With regard to performances, Jackie as always shines on the screen as the happy-go-lucky everyman who never wants to cause any trouble. For some of his 90s productions, Jackie had this great skill of choosing pretty wooden actors, especially Western ones, but this is not the case with Rumble in the Bronx. Françoise Yip does well as the friend/love interest character, and (that’s only my observation), she reminds me a lot about young Cherie Cheung. It is always great to see the late Anita Mui alongside Jackie, especially in a comedic role. The actors playing thugs, such as the late Marc Akerstream, and Gavin Cross also did quite well, and it is clear that they must have had a lot of fun on the set.

Unsurprisingly, the only person who did not have fun on the set was Jackie himself who badly injured his leg. In the making-of footage during the end credits, you can see that he filmed some of his stunts with a leg in a cast that had a sock coloured to resemble a shoe!

Recommendations
Needless to say, Rumble in the Bronx marks Jackie’s epic entry into the Hollywood showbiz. 27 years after its original release, the movie is still an enjoyable ride. I saw it for the first time on a promo-VHS copy from Imperial Entertainment Home Video and the memories of the hovercraft chase stayed on with me throughout childhood.The DVD edition I have contains the standard Miramax cut and no bonus features, but there is a DTS audio track.

Overall score: 8/10

«Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us»