Ging chaat goo si 4: Ji gaan daan yam mo (1996)

Director:

Stanley Tong

Writers:

Greg Mellott (writer)
Elliot Tong (writer)

Release Date:

10 January 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Jackie Chan fights for America in his biggest action film ever.

Plot:

This installment of Chan's Police Story series has our hero trying to locate a missing nuclear warhead.

Plot Keywords:

Australia | Former Soviet Union | Bloopers During Credits | Snowmobile | Helicopter

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Insp. Chan Ka Kui
Jackson Liu	...	Jackson Tsui (as Jackson Lau)
Annie Wu	...	Annie Tsui
Bill Tung	...	'Uncle' Bill Wong
Yuri Petrov	...	Col. Gregor Yegorov
Nonna Grishayeva	...	Natasha
John Eaves	...	Mark
Terry Woo	...	Uncle Seven
Kristopher Kazmarek	...	Cmdr. Korda
Ailen Sit	...	Golden Dragon Club Member
Chan Man Ching	...	Golden Dragon Club Member
Rocky Lai	...	Golden Dragon Club Member
Chan Wai To	...	Golden Dragon Club Member
Brett Arthur	...	Hit Man
Mark French	...	Hit Man

Also Known As:

Jackie Chan's First Strike (USA)
Jing cha gu shi 4: Zhi jian dan ren wu (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Police Story 4: First Strike (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for plentiful action/violence.

Runtime:

Hong Kong:107 min | USA:88 min

Country:

Australia | Hong Kong | Russia | USA

Language:

English | Cantonese | Mandarin | Russian | Ukrainian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS (US version)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34522) | South Korea:15 | Hong Kong:IIA | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | UK:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

Most of the vehicles used were provided courtesy of Mitsubishi Motors. In the beginning, there are several Diamantes, Galants and a couple of Lancers. Near the end, they showcase the GTO Twin Turbo convertible (3000GT VR-4 Spyder). Also, there are a few Hyundai vehicles, some of which are manufactured by Mitsubishi.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Jackie gets on the snowmobile for the first time we see Russian signs all around him. Yet a moment later he drives by some signs very much in English.

Quotes:

Col. Gregor Yegorov: You even share the same coffin as your father.
Jackson Tsui: The coffin is for you. You killed my father!
Col. Gregor Yegorov: He had to die somehow. At least it was for a reason.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Creeps (1997)

Why the hate?

In this apparent 'Police Story IV', Jackie plays, of all people, Jackie, a cop from Hong Kong working on a case with the CIA. Pretty soon he is off to Ukraine, and then to Australia for some reason. In Australia, he shares a hotel room with a Koala, and generally beats up very big Russian mobsters. Wow.

OK, I'll admit it isn't as awesome as it sounds, nor is it as bad as it may sound to others. The plot is standard spy-stuff, and accompanied by some very poor dialog. The bad guys are the stereotypical bad guys who know they can kill the hero straight away, but opt for something else, in this case, its "lets have fun with him" or "lets beat him". Ah, classic. Those very big Russian mobsters don't look or sound very intelligent anyway.

Sure, the plot might be trying to be too much like James Bond, the dialog bad, and some of the actors poor - but Jackie beats people up using a ladder. A LADDER! Some of the other action scenes are pretty cool too - ranging from Jackie snowboarding, to Jackie fighting on stilts, to Jackie jumping cars. Awesome.

7/10 - Only for fans of action or Jackie Chan