OllieSuave-007 This is another action-packed movie starring Jackie Chan, where he plays expert mechanic Chan Foh To who runs a small business in Hong Kong with his father and two sisters. He also helps the police weed out cars that were illegally upgraded, including one driven by street racer Warner Krugerman (Thorsten Nickel). After escaping jail, Krugerman seeks revenge on Foh by trashing his business and kidnapping his sisters, betting to race with Foh.The acting was OK and the movie features an all-star cast, including cameo appearances by Coren Yuen, Collin Chau, Fui-On Shing and Kar-Lok Chin. Anita Yuen plays a great leading lady opposite Jackie Chan and Chan himself did some of his wildest and adrenaline-pumping martial arts moves, taking on one bad guy after the other. The most wild, and what I thought overkill, action scene is when Krugerman and his goons literally upends Foh's business while he and his father and sisters are caught in the mayhem. Lots of action follow afterward, including a long and somewhat drawn-out race car scenes.There a little chemistry between Chan and Yuen, but it wasn't elaborated upon much. There are some drama here and there about Chan struggles in trying to overcoming the odds in defeating the villain and getting his sisters back. Despite much of the exciting action sequences, overall, there isn't much of a suspenseful plot in the film and the story is somewhat predictable.Grade C+

AwesomeWolf Version: Cantonese VCD, with English SubtitlesJackie Chan + yakuza + cars + evil white guys... 'Thunderbolt' should equal pure brilliance. It doesn't. Jackie Chan plays (according to the subtitles) Jackie Chan, a mechanic working with the police. Jackie gets on the bad side of the obligatory-evil-white-guy: In this case, he is Cougar, a race-driver and all-round evil dude. Cougar kills a bunch of policemen, and kidnaps Jackie's sisters, threatening to kill them if Jackie doesn't race him.'Thunderbolt' is more serious, and darker than a lot of Jackie's movies. Unfortunately, a lot of Jackie's movies are better than 'Thunderbolt', even the other serious ones. Cougar tends to shout a fair bit - he is played by Thorsten Nickel, and I'd be lying if I said he was the most talented actor ever. I'd even be lying if I called him an actor. At least his acting ability provides some much needed comedic relief. On the other hand, the action scenes range from awesome to boring. The fights are generally pretty good, even though there is some obvious doubling and wirework. The final scene, however, is boring, and the speed-up obvious.6/10.

illeatyourdog First off, this review is based off the version used on TBS and one thing I learned that TV versions of films (other then the obvious editing for content and length times) often zoom up way too close to have the picture fill up the screen. Anyway, thius movie is enjoyable in sections, not really as a whole. One key difference that seperates this film from all other Jackie Chan films (except for maybe the protector and Crime Story to some extent) is that the movie goes for a serious, dark, and gritty tone. Kackie Chan himself is very (or at least does his best to be) hardedged and unmerciful. That in of itself is difficult to watch becuase that is not Jackie Chan and if anything it cuases more giggles becuase hes actually acting tough (not that hes not tough but he is not known for being a tough guy, hes known more for being a nice guy you dont want to p*** off). Even the story is a hugedetour from what his fans are used to mianly due to the fact that the movies focus is on racing: both on the street and on the track. That cuases a problem becuase it is very difficult to incorporate martial arts action scenes into a film into a race film in any sort of concievable or even tolerable fashion. That being said, the way the story incorporates both amazing kung-fu and int4ense racing is done very poorly. You have a villian who is insanely obssessed with racing and getting people to race. Its one thing to always want to prove you're the best, its another thing entirely to nearly kill (along with kidnapping his two sisters) the guy you want to race in order to get him to race. The villian himself is horrible (even for a Jackie Villian. What makes this villian even worse is that he cant even fight so he cant even save some face that way, he is just poor villian). However, this is a Jackie Chan movie, not a Steven Soberdough movie, so its the action thats important. Again, this is a huge mixed bag becuase there really is no way to smoothly transtion to an intense race scene from kung-fu. But the big mixed feeling comes from the most incrediblely choreographed, staged, and performed fight scenes (and race scenes) shot and edited in a bizarre manner. The name Tony SCott came to mind with some of the shot choices since the figh6t and race scenes feature rabid fire editintg and extreme close-ups that confuse rather than contribute. Another downfall for the fight scenes (for Jackie Chan purists especialy) it is all too obvious thjat a double is used for Jackie Chan (ironically enough, if you are a huge Jackie Chan afficionado you should notice right away whena double is used since the double fights in a different manner than Jackie Chan). This could be the cuase for the editing but somne shots still show it clear as day that a double was used. Again, this is real disconcerning for Jackie Chan fans since one the mian reaons to like Jackie Chan is becuase he doesnt use doubles. Nevertheless, the strange editing choices contiue into the race scenes. Now, the first race scene between Jackie Chan adn the villian was actually done rather well, even if shot a bit too close). The final race however (instead of a final fight. Another dissappointment to Jackie Chan fans) is just one huge mixed bag. You have some incredible race footage and crashes, but most of it is undercranked givning it an irregular feel that takes away from the intensity. It really boggles the mind as to why the director made the decesion to undercrank (of course you could say that about the editing and shooting of the fight scenes as well). So, to put it simply, if you just enjoy action scenes (although lacking the jackie chan sense of humor) then its worth a gander and possibly a purchase. If you can get opver the fact that an obvious double was used (and dont minf undercranked racing footage), then its worth a gander and possibly a purchase. If you prefer to beleive that Jackie Chan never uses doubles, dont even watch it once, the pain will be too great.sidenote: for those Jackie Chan nuts out there (me included) I have read that the main reason why a double was used was becuase he was recovering from an earlier injury. Of course, you could always use this defense: since the film involved wires and Jackie chan (at the time which would 1995) did not like using wires, he probably prefered to have a double used for those scenes (of course this defense wont hold up for too long).

gridoon "Thunderbolt" is probably Jackie Chan's worst movie since "The Protector" in 1985. Yes, I know that nobody watches his movies for their stories, but the plotting of this one is unusually lame, even by his standards, and while the fight choreography IS up to his standards, the fight scenes (the whole two of them) are ruined, as others have mentioned, by the frenetic, distracting camerawork. Even the most serious Jackie Chan fans shouldn't really bother with this offensively haphazard, stunt-and-plug-filled garbage. Anita Yuen's cute and perky performance is one of the few redeeming virtues. For a good "serious Jackie" movie, I recommend "Crime Story". (*1/2)