Pre-Tsui Hark Jet Li stars in this curious action picture that takes place entirely in San Francisco. Jet is a visiting martial artist from China who gets stranded in the US when his fellow martial artist (played by Dick "I am in every kung fu film ever made" Wei) defects. Dick hooks up with a mob outfit and soon Jet is framed for a murder that Dick committed. In a strange turn of events, Jet ends up befriending wacky delivery guy Stephen Chow, and the two spend their days acting obnoxious and running into buxom moll Nina Li. Eventually there's some missing cocaine which sends everybody straight to hell. Former friend turns against former friend, family nearly betrays family, and mass violence ensues.

For a Jet Li film, this picture is remarkably "realistic", meaning it feigns a sense of reality due to its real-life locations and relatively plausible plot. However, as you'd expect from any late eighties HK flick shot in the US, the production values, script and overall plot are nothing new. Jet Li didn't have Tsui Hark's guiding hand on the production, so the result is something cheap, predictable and unspectacular. The end fight sequence nearly redeems everything, but moments leading up to that can occasionally be unintentionally funny. It's nice to see Stephen Chow and Jet Li in a movie together, though both were far from superstardom. Chow shows off some promising acting chops as the pitiable friend, and he seems to be able to handle darker characters effectively. It's a shame that the two actors couldn't work together on a better vehicle, as nowadays a team-up of the two would probably be impossible. (Kozo 1996/1999)