Jackie Chan's First Strike

So Pierce Brosnan is playing James Bond again this year? Big deal. Jackie Chan is playing James Bond right now . . . sort of . . . in "Jackie Chan's First Strike."

Chan stars as "Jackie," a Hong Kong police detective, in the fourth film of his "Police Story" series. But instead of battling bad guys on his home turf, Jackie is assigned to work with the CIA in taking on the Russian Mafia. And the movie, with a much bigger budget than his previous outings, takes Chan to the Ukraine, Russia and Australia, as well as Hong Kong.

With locales as varied as snowcapped mountains and a submarine in the middle of the ocean, Chan has ample opportunities to perform his outrageous, death-defying comic stunt work against exotic backgrounds — he's chased in a snowmobile and on a snowboard, climbs all over the outside of a high-rise building, disrupts a Chinese street parade, is chased by a car inside a shopping mall, battles bad guys in a shark tank . . . .

Chan, however, is not a typically cocky movie hero. He has none of Pierce Brosnan's swagger, and you won't see him being smart-alecky like Bruce Willis or fearsome like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Chan is more the hapless everyman. Oh, he has his wits and he's trained in karate — but when he puts his wits and training to use, especially when he's playing a scene for laughs, what happens seems accidental. In terms of physical ability, Chan may be the most skilled human being on the earth. But in the context of his movies, the character simply seems like an incredibly lucky fellow.

Chan is also at his best when he gets inventive with a common, everyday, household item in those standard-issue fight scenes where he takes on 15 or 20 villains. Here, it's an aluminum ladder, and it provides the film with its most masterful centerpiece as he swings it around, jumps through the rungs, uses it to trap someone, performing the moves with amazing grace, comic aplomb and eye-popping dexterity. (Offering a few painful outtakes at the end of the film, of course.)

There is a plot — some dense nonsense about nuclear secrets being stolen and shuttled from East to West. But it really doesn't matter. As with most of Chan's films, "First Strike" is really about the outrageous stuntwork and fight scenes, all performed by Chan without the use of a double and choregraphed by Chan and the film's director, Stanley Tung.

Where "Rumble in the Bronx" was rather dark and sordid, "First Strike" is much lighter fare, with a breezy 007 air about it. Just so we know he's in on the joke, Chan has a couple of asides like this one: "I feel almost like James Bond — except no gorgeous girls."

And if there was any doubt that the martial arts superstar had crossed over to American audiences with last year's "Rumble in the Bronx," this picture has his name as part of the title. And aside from certain authors ("Stephen King's Sleepwalkers") and directors ("John Carpenter's Escape From L.A."), how often has that happened?

What's next, "Bruce Willis' Die Hard 4"?

"Jackie Chan's First Strike" is rated PG-13 for violence and a single profanity, as well as a brief nude scene (a very funny moment as Chan is forced to disrobe in a public place).