Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The Killer Meteors (as it’s most commonly called in the States) was a movie Jackie Chan did as a favor for Jimmy Wang Yu. It’s not one of his favorites probably having a lot to do with the fact that he plays a villain.

While it is far from a great movie, it’s not as bad as Jackie makes it out to be in I Am Jackie Chan. It has an unusual and complex plot, but it’s often unclear with underdeveloped ideas, weak characters, and terrible editing. Problem is I don’t know how much of that is due to translation and how much it really lacks.

An example of the ideas I speak of is the weapon Killer Meteor (Jimmy) uses. We’re never really told what it is, what it does, where it comes from, or why it’s so necessary to keep it concealed unless it’s removed for the purpose of killing someone. It almost sounds like it’s some cosmic thing that an alien dropped out of its sleigh one December. Maybe the people in the culture at the time recognized it, but I’m willing to bet nobody knows what it is supposed to be.

An example of the weak characters is the Meteor -- both of them really (besides Jimmy the Killer Meteor there is Jackie as the Immortal Meteor). Is “Meteor” some kind of designation above master? Have they earned this by proving themselves unbeatable? Are they the only two? It seems to me like the titles are reversed, also: “Immortal Meteor” fits the hero better while “Killer Meteor” sounds like a villain.

As for the editing, it’s common low-budget type stuff: terrible jump-cuts, throwing a dagger then cutting to the blade stuck into the victim, and that sort of thing.

Jimmy is known for his odd ideas. I mean is this guy smoking something? Still there’s some intrigue and unpredictable twists that give a little merit to the plot.

Content:
There isn’t much questionable. There’s some fighting, of course, and some bad language. It’s PG13 at worst, but I’d say more like PG (I don’t think it has an actual MPAA rating).

DVD:
I’m pretty sure there are at least 2-3 versions of the DVD. Mine (by Scimitar) is probably not the ideal one, but it was cheap and the only one available at the time. It actually came in a box with several other Jackie Chan movies from that era.

First of all it’s Pan & Scan. The video quality is no worse than VHS, but not impressive by any means. The audio claims to be Dolby Digital but is really just cleaned mono. There are no English subtitles, but there is a Cantonese language track even though it’s not selectable from the interface. It doesn’t do me much good anyway without the subtitles.

The interface is a little confusing since they are not laid out or labeled very well, but if you hit the arrows enough times you will eventually get to where you want to be. 2 chapters are not selectable from the Scene Selection menu and are not listed on the insert card. They are 1 and 12 which I have titled.

Extras:
There are 4 extras most of which are the same as the other Scimitar Platinum Series releases.

The Jackie Chan interview is the most notable. It’s several minutes with him done about the time of the Supercop release. It’s a good interview, but I would like to have seen them give us a collection of different ones between the different releases. With the 5 movies I got in the set I got 5 copies of the same interview.

Some lesser extras are various facts about the movie, a Jackie Chan bio, and a Jackie Chan film list, nothing to get excited about but worth seeing if you get the release.

Final Thoughts:
This is really only for die-hard fans of Jackie Chan and Hong Kong Cinema films. It’s worth checking out if you fall into those categories, but don’t kill yourself trying to find it. I say keep your eye out for a Widescreen remastered version. Still, this version is acceptable if it’s the only one you can find. 2* for a watchable movie +1 for Jackie Chan = 3*.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12