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

I found Rumble in Hong Kong on DVD under the title Young Tiger. It’s primary title, as listed in I Am Jackie Chan, is Police Woman. If you see a terrible old movie with Jackie as a bad guy with a huge mole on his face then it’s the same one. Since you will probably kick yourself if you buy it once, I thought I’d better share the title differences so that you don’t accidentally buy it twice! I also didn’t want anyone thinking this one has anything to do with Rumble In The Bronx. If you’ve already read my Young Tiger review then you’ve read most of what I’m going to say about this one. I’ll talk about the movie again, though, so you don’t have to run all over the net to read about it.

Of the 30 or so Jackie Chan movies I own this is by far the worst. It can barely be considered a Chan movie at all. He has a small role as a bad guy, and not even the main bad guy! He doesn’t have much in the way of fighting, and what he does take part in sucks.

Nothing against him, mind you (I wouldn’t have gotten this movie in the first place if I didn’t think he was the greatest), all the fighting sucks. In fact, it really isn’t a Martial Arts movie at all - it’s a drama with a few fight scenes. Problem is, it’s not a good drama. The story is weak, the acting sucks, and the quality is horrible. I cringe when I hear some of the awful dialogue and laugh (it’s not a comedy, by the way) at the logic of thinking the cop sister is an imposter while the imposter is genuine. The lighting is so dark and the sound so distorted that it can be disorienting at times leaving you to wonder what exactly is going on.

Here’s a quick summary. A girl being chased by a gang dies in a cab but not before she hides her purse containing evidence of the gang’s crimes. The gang begins harassing the cab driver, who they figure has the purse, until the woman’s sister, a cop, steps in to bring them to justice. There is a little character development with some of the male hero’s fellow cab drivers realizing they should come together to help him. One guy in particular goes from not wanting to help to rallying the others together. The druggie girl, friend of the dead woman, fights her addictions to do the right thing which I thought was more interesting than the primary plot but gets only a small portion of the movie. We spend a lot of time getting to know the cab driver, but the police woman just kind of pops in with no development at all. We don’t even know if what she’s doing (stopping the gang) is out of revenge, pure justice, guilt, gratitude for the cab driver trying to help her sister, or what. There’s an interesting debate over whether contemporary entertainment is corrupting the minds of children and what can be done about it, but it seems out of place with the rest of the movie. There’s not enough strength in any of it (character development, social commentary, etc) to make the movie worth watching.

The movie is so bad that Jackie gives little information about it in his book other than the title variations. He obviously hated it, and it bombed in the theatres.

Content:
I would call this PG13 I guess. Mostly for drug content and a little language. The violence is by and large not bloody or graphic.

DVD:
This is a rare DVD because nobody wants it! I’m sure there are multiple versions since there are multiple titles, but I seriously doubt any will be high quality. If you want to read about the details of the DVD I have go here: http://www.epinions.com/content_153178246788 There’s not much to tell since it doesn’t have so much as a menu interface much less any extras which is not uncommon for these old Hong Kong movies with such small marketability. The only real value it has is a little nostalgia for the Chan completist. If you get it for that reason you at least won’t beat yourself up for spending the money.
I’m one of those. I had to see this movie to be the Chan go-to guy my buddies expect me to be. Besides, I got it for a lousy $2 so I don’t consider it a complete waste.



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older