Rumble in the Bronx (1996)

Newer (and very casual) fans of Jackie Chan may think of Rumble in the Bronx as his first film, because it marked the moment when someone finally decided to market this kung-fu whiz kid to American audiences. It's actually his 55th, and all those years of experience come together delightfully in one of the actor's most fun features ever, regardless of the fact that it's dumbed down for those not schooled in martial arts cinema. That this is clearly not the Bronx (those Vancouver mountains in the background are a dead giveaway), and that the villains represent an idea of Americans born of too many viewings of West Side Story, hardly matters. Chan grabbed hold of Western audiences with his ability to climb walls, jump through shopping carts, dodge pinball machines, and leap across balconies, and his older films began hitting theaters at a rate of two per year. What stands out, other than the lightning-speed kicks and punches, is the actor's underlying decency. Differing from fellow countryman and martial arts superstar Jet Li, Chan sees his gifts as more a cartoonish circus act than an opportunity to crack vertebrae, keeping the scowls and body count almost at zero, with the villains either arrested or humiliated rather than killed. Even the vicious street punks who pelt him with the shrapnel of glass bottles become allies by the end -- Chan just wants everyone to get along. Rumble in the Bronx also introduced new viewers to Chan's trademark closing-credit outtakes, which feature the hilarious (and sometimes painful) mishaps involved in Chan's stunts. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide