The trio of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yeun Biao put Hong Kong cinema back on the map in 1983-84 with three films that captured their ability to blend comic moments with death defying stunts. They moved Hong Kong martial arts movie beyond the search for the next Bruce Lee. Fans of action cinema had new stars that captivated their attention in a dark theater. The first Winners and Sinners and the last Wheels on Meals were set in contemporary times. Project A was a massive period piece set near around the arrival of the 20th Century. The Project A Collection brings together both the original film and the sequel in 4K UHD.
Project A (1983 – 106 minutes) has pirates attacking ships sailing in and out of Hong Kong around 1890. The Hong Kong Marine Police’s Sergeant Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) is part of the force that’s supposed to be fighting them. But they mostly seem intent on fighting the members of the Hong Kong Police Force. There’s one of the greatest barfights in cinematic history between the two sides. After the pirates score a major victory, the Marine Police are taken over by the Police Force with Inspector Hong Tin-tzu (Yuen Biao) put in charge. He demands the Marine Police to be retrained including learning how to march, shower faster and avoid grenades. It’s a battle of egos. Fei (Sammo Hung) is a local hustler who gets involved in a gun deal that might involve the pirates. Things get wild as the trio eventually have to team up to fight the pirates. This is one of the best of the trio’s collaborations because they went all out. The script has depth to it. The action is thrilling as they keep pushing the stunts. Jackie dangling from a clock tower recalls Harold Lloyd, but he tops it with his massive fall that has him hitting the dirt. Not matter how many times you see this stunt, you’ll wince. The finale between the trio and pirates will have you gasping for breath. The Extended Version running 115 minutes is included. You can tell the extra scenes is since they’re only in Mandarin.
Project A Part II (1987 – 107 minutes) brings back Sergeant Dragon Ma. We also get to see the pirates that survived the first film. They’ve sworn revenge on him. Dragon Ma receives a new assignment. There’s a dirty cop (Twin Dragons‘ David Lam) working the streets of Hong Kong. Dragon Ma must work undercover to find out what’s happening and collect evidence. Turns out there’s a lot going down in the district involving gangster activity. Dragon Ma also finds himself in charge of the security of the Governor’s Ball where revolutionaries have a nefarious major plan. Plus there’s the matter of the pirates roaming the streets of Hong Kong looking for Dragon Ma. There’s enough going on in Project A Part II to be considered two more sequels. The major action stunts are stunning from that era before CGI took over. There’s a fight involving Jackie on a ladder. Jackie does his take on a classic Buster Keaton collapsing building stunt. There’s a bit of a feel of the film that this is almost like a time travelling installment of Police Story. His co-star Maggie Cheung had just made that movie with him. His undercover cop outfit with a loose tie doesn’t look completely out of place in the ’80s. But he does get more period authentic such as his fancy dress at the ball. There is an Export cut that slices the film down to 98 minutes with the English dub.
Project A was a rather massive undertaking for Golden Harvest and showed how much they believed Jackie Chan was going to be their biggest star since Bruce Lee’s death. They built a massive outdoor set. They had real sailing ships for the pirate action. The plot has enough complications to give Jackie, Sammo and Yuen Biao their moments to shine without overshadowing each other. Project A Part II changes things up immediately by only having Jackie as the lead. By making him an undercover cop, the film works with a whole new crew in the major supporting roles. Back in the early ’90s, I drove nearly 90 minutes to Dave’s Videodrome in Carrboro, NC to rent Project A and Project A Part II. This is how bad we wanted to see Jackie Chan films instead of being stuck with Hollywood junk. Getting to see both movies in 4K UHD instead of a VHS tape has made me really appreciate the mayhem the trio brought to the first film and what Jackie accomplished in the sequel. The bonus features add to the greatness of the movies. The Project A Collection boxset is magnificent and deserving of an A.
The Video for both movies and both of their cuts are 2.39:1 anamorphic. The 4K Remasters are from the original negatives presented in Ultra High Definition (2160p) with Dolby Vision encoding (HDR10 Compatible). You get to see the details in both Jackie’s stunts and the production design. The Audio for Project A includes Cantonese & Mandarin-language tracks in Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono. The English Dub is DTS-HD 2.0 mono. The recording sounds like it’s a RiffTrax production. The movie is subtitled in English. Project A Part II has the DTS-HD MA 2.0 Cantonese Mono in Hong Kong mix, Cantonese Remixed Mono 2.0 in DTS-HD MA, Cantonese Dolby Atmos of Hong Kong Mix, Cantonese Mono Japanese Mix in DTS-HD 2.0 and Mandarin Remixed Mono in DTS-HD MA 2.0. The Export Version has the English dub in DTS-HD 2.0 Mono. The Hong Kong version has English subtitles.
Rigid Slipcase featuring new art by “Kung Fu” Bob O’Brien
Six double-sided collectable art cards feature the posters from the original release. Suitable for framing.
Double-sided foldout posters for both films that are also suitable for framing.
100-page Illustrated collectors’ book includes photos from both films and essays by Thorsten Boose and Paul Bramhall with an interview of Robert Chow, director of Someone Will Know Me.
Two Blu-ray Discs featuring the films and the bonus features. There aren’t as many bonus features on the 4K UHD discs.
PROJECT A:
Audio commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto allows the two men to discuss all the action going on. We get to hear about how the original audience reacted when the film first played. They give background on Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao history and collaboration.
Solo audio commentary by Frank Djeng has him giving even more about the films. This is only on the Hong Kong cut. He does reference what’s in the Tawain cut. We also get to learn the slang being used in the film. You always get more out of a martial arts film with Frank Djeng’s insights.
Interview with Jackie Chan’s Best Stunt Double, Mars Cheung (14:35) has him talk about quitting school at a young age. His mom put him in Peking Opera school. An older student was working in films as a stuntman. He ended up getting hooked in the stunt world with him. He gets into how the death of Bruce Lee messed up the movie industry and a lot of stuntmen moved on to other careers. Mars breaks down how the clock tower stunt was created. We also learn the fate of the sailboat in the film.
Dancing With Danger — Interview with Stunt God Mars (15:26) has him explain how he got his nickname Mars. This was from a few years back.
Master Killer — Interview with Grandmaster Lee Hoi-san (22:03) has him reflect on his over 30 years in movies. He was recruited by Shaw Brother legends Ti Lung and David Chiang. He was part time since his regular job was as a Wing Chun martial arts instructor. Even though he’s an instructor, he follows exactly what the action director wants. He has no problem playing the bad guy. He gets into his work in Project A. He gets into Jackie’s hard work.
The Elusive Dragon — Interview with Yuen Biao (18:07) has the actor talking about how him, Sammo and Jackie worked with Bruce Lee as stuntmen when he came back to Hong Kong. He gets into his relationship with Sammo Hung. His name was changed when he joined the Peking Opera school.
The Pirates Den — Interview with Dick Wei (13:57) gets into how he was running a martial arts studio in Taiwan when director Chang Cheh discovered him. He ended up in plenty of Shaw Brothers films. He had to learn how to act beyond the action scenes. He also mentions that Sammo Hung insisted during fights that you hit flesh. Jackie on the other hand is all about the technique.
Can’t Stop the Music – Interview with Composer Michael Lai (17:27) has him talk about his dad was also a composer for films. He became a musician and MC of variety show. Lai was a child star. He eventually began composing scores for Jackie Chan. He even produced Jackie’s first record album. They’d known each other for decades. Jackie finishes cutting the movie before he brings in Lai to create the score. He got his musical idea from Hollywood movies about sailing ships.
Project Collector with Paul Dre (16:17) is a visit to outside London to see a massive collection of Jackie Chan items. He has a lot of posters and promotional materials. There was a soundtrack album and a single. He shows off a VHD of the movie and the video game. All I have in my Jackie Chan collection is a copy of his autobiography that he signed when we met in Manhattan. (BTW Mars was acting as Jackie’s bodyguard at the book signing).
Plan B — Writer Edward Tang on Project A (15:11) has him talk about writing the dialogue for the movie. He was a staff writer at Golden Harvest. He explains how it’s like working with Jackie on a script.
Out-takes (24:03) has behind the scenes shots including the clock tower falls.
Japanese Version Ending (2:24) is the end credits with the blooper reel action.
The Making of Project A (11:45) has Jackie behind the camera lining up shots at all points of the movie. There’s also Sammo Hung working with the actors and stuntmen. Unlike an American production, there’s not a boom microphone in sight.
Lunar New Year Introduction (3:32) has Jackie Chan wising us all a Happy New Year. He’d like us to come see Project A since he’s spent 2 years working on it. The trailer is in Mandarin with English Subtitles.
Hong Kong Trailer (4:00) lets us know that this is film with pirates, ship battles and crazy bicycle stunts.
English Trailer (2:22) has an English narrator talking about pirates and the three allies who must fight them.
Stills Gallery includes 47 images of international posters and press photos.
PROJECT A PART II:
Audio commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto is on the Hong Kong Cut. DeSanto gets into how the film is from the time when Jackie became more of a solo act which is why Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao didn’t return. Although he brings in actresses to be his sidekicks. Djeng once more gives us context in both cinema and cultural.
Interview with Anthony Carpio (25:25) talks to a member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He was originally signing up for the Jackie Chan fan club when he dropped by the office to fill out an application. While there, someone he knew spotted him and asked about joining the Stunt Team instead. He talks about the process of coming up in the crew and getting injured on stunts.
The Big Boss — Interview with Chan Wai-Man (19:40) has him explain that he was born in Hong Kong and learned kung fu at an early age along with boxing and kickboxing. He learned martial arts in after school classes. He was a competitive boxer. When he won a competition Victor Lam asked him to be in his film. He gets into working with Jackie Chan during fights. He explains the coach flipping scene in the film.
Someone Will Know Me (13:12) is a 1988 documentary by Roberta Chow about three members of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. We see the ceremony before a movie production including a Hong Kong style pig picking. Mars is covered in the film. The focus is on the scaffolding fight scene.
Japanese Ending (3:59) has the Japanese credits with the blooper reel and Jackie singing the song in the top corner of the screen.
Full-Screen Jackie Chan Recording Session (2:33) takes us into the studio to Jackie lay down his music. He might have the best singing voice of all the ’80s action heroes.
Hong Kong Trailer (3:09) focuses on the stunts including showing Jackie setting them up.
Export Trailer (2:14) gives us the physical action of the film.
Tai Seng Trailer (1:41) shows the dangers of Hong Kong during the colonial period during this re-issue.
Stills Gallery is 35 images of press photos.
88 Films present The Project A Collection. Directed by Jackie Chan. Screenplays by Jackie Chan & Edward Tang. Starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Dick Wei, Lee Hoi-san, Mars, Maggie Cheung, Bill Tung & Rosamund Kwan. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 2 4K UHDs and 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 15, 2024.
