My Lucky Stars
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charlie Chin, Jackie Chan, Shui-Fan Fung, Sibelle Hu, Tat-wah ChoBrand: CHAN,JACKIE
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Cantonese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-12-30
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of My Lucky Stars
Movie Review: Do not dry your hands on the fax paper
Summary: 4 Stars
Some films seem destined to have sequels. This is especially true if you have a multitude of popular stars that do not have to contribute to the whole film (and if one does not work out replace him), a boilerplate formula and financial success on the first movie. In fact, My Lucky Stars (1985) was more of a hit in HK than its predecessor Winners and Sinners (1983) with the original raking in 22M HK dollars and the sequel 30.7M HK. While I have grown in appreciation of the first film, I have also grown a little less interested in the first sequel though a few segments transcend above the mostly mediocre material. When watching this film it is good to think of this as an ensemble piece not a Jackie Chan or a Sammo Hung film (though Sammo did direct this in his most prolific period and after the success of The Own and Dumbo (1984)). That frame of mind might help in enjoying this uneven picture more.
In the beautiful locale of Japan, Muscles (Jackie Chan) is chasing a corrupt Hong Kong cop (Lam Ching Ying: Mr Vampire) though an amusement park with the help of Ricky (Yuen Biao: Prodigal Son in an extended cameo compared to Winners and Sinners) until Ricky gets whisked away by a band of ninjas. This nice little 11 minute sequence of Jackie works well with the fight choreography and shows some nice jump stunts by Jackie. I am not sure of Sammo's use of slow motion in the beginning though. It just seems timed poorly (I have sensed this problem in a few of his movies like Mr. Nice Guy). There is also a strange scene where Muscles gets stopped by tourists to take a picture. If you were chasing a crook would you let yourself be stopped by tourists?
Jackie needs help to find his partner. The help will have to come in the form of five trusted crooks since the cops could be spotted by the former HK officer. The ringleader is Sammo (once again having a horrific haircut) and he (after a stint in jail) has to recruit the old gang: Rawhide (Stanley Fung: The Owl And Dumbo), Sandy (Richard Ng: Shanghai Express), Herb (Charlie Chin) and Round Head (Eric Tsang who is in this movie instead of John Shum from the first film). They will be lead by a legitimate police officer Inspector Woo (Sibelle Hu playing basically the same foil role as Cherie Chung did in the first - I did say this was a boilerplate formulaic movie) who is consistently being hit on by the males (during a very tiring six minute gag) while having to take them to Japan.
The whole second act of the film and the majority of the movie are the comedic sequences of Sammo getting the gang together, meeting the female assistant and going to Japan. While some of it can be funny (Richard Ng is almost always hilarious and those damn curly haired bus drivers), some of it is just strange like the Eric Tsang sequence of playing "fly" poker and some jokes just fill like filler. And there is that Bolo Yeung Sze cameo.
When the third act starts with the appearance of Jackie Chan the pace of the movie goes from stagnant to ludicrous speed (interesting how the comedy segments were less fun than the action). Without giving too much away the haunted house fight segment with Jackie Chan going through the maze like corridors is quite good and the most talked about aspect of this film is the Japanese villainess played by female bodybuilder Nishiwaki Michiko in her first Hong Kong role (she did not speak Cantonese at the time) and her fight with Sibelle Hu. Her fight introduction (disrobes her kimono and then flexes) has also been mentioned in many male-written reviews. There are other fights with Lam Ching Ying and Lau Kar Wing that are quite good if a bit short. Also check out that nasty fall toward the end - breaking bodies for our entertainment.
Fans of action films will find something to like in this movie. While it is quite uneven there are worthy scenes (especially the end and beginning) to watch several times. Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung fanatics will, of course, have to watch this, but on multiple viewings will probably only want to watch the first and third act. If you have not seen Winners and Sinners then see that film first. The comedy aspects did not work as well for me as the first movie and the characters seemed less in depth. Richard Ng was underused and that is enough to make me and anyone angry.
I have the uncut R1 Fortune Star/Fox release which has a good transfer but no extras except trailers. The big minuses are the dubtitles and no original mono. The dubtitles are quite atrocious because of the amount of narration (voice over) on the English dub causing a huge amount of phantom subtitles if you listen to the Cantonese track (no one speaks but the words are there) and at least one questionable in taste Japanese imitation. Also since a lot of the humor is verbal, a lot is lost in translation. Here is another example of a Hong Kong R1 release that does not match the Hong Kong Legends R2 release for extras including a Bey Logan commentary (unless you would prefer a scholar like Stephen Teo doing your commentary).
Summary of My Lucky Stars
No Description Available.Genre: Foreign Film - Chinese
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 30-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD
An enjoyable sequel to the 1984 gag-fest Winners and Sinners. Jackie Chan and an assortment of his pals (martial artists and comedians) make like the Rat Pack in this knockabout kung fu romp filmed in Japan in 1985. Undercover cop Chan, with partner Yuen Biao, has been stranded in Nippon, and Sammo Hung's gang of slapstick cutthroats, the Lucky Stars, is sprung from the pokey to get them back. The middle hour is all lame comedy, including a lewd and decidedly un-politically correct routine in a hotel room in which the boys fall all over each trying to catch a glimpse of girl in the shower. At one point the horse-faced veteran comic Richard Ng (from the Mr. Vampire films) tries to hypnotize a duck. Toward the end there's finally some effective, body-slamming action, the high point of which is Sammo's face-off with the eye-popping female body builder Michiko Nishiwaki. --David Chute
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