First Strike (aka Police Story 4) (1996)

[shaolin drunkard]

Ok,I watched this today.Somehow it has avoided me years or other way around.

Was quite happy with it,lotttttttttt better than I expected there was not single moment I yawned.So it delivered it`s purpose however some complaining comes into fights(or lack of them).There is nice display of Jackie using ladders(but it ends shortly) but that`s all besides some occassional punches and kicks.Movie was like asian James Bond,nowhere enough brawls IMO...if/when armour of god3 is made I really hope jackie has still energy&will to put himself into quality fight scenes....how other kfc members feel about 1st strike?

[Guest ekisha]

I like First Strike,but as you said theare are less fights here,so that downs movie a bit.Taiwan version is better at least it's extended,and the last water fight is longer than standard version.

________

Vapor info

[Asmo]

I like the uncut version a lot better than the American release. More fights would have been nice, but taking it for what it is it's good.

[shaolin drunkard]

I like the sequence jackie is trying to escape Big Guy..

[thehangman]

That big guy is Nathan Jones from Tom yum Goong

[Tigerstyles]

yes some outstanding set pieces.. well deserves a remastered Blu Ray release

[littlefuzzy]

I like the uncut version a lot better than the American release. More fights would have been nice, but taking it for what it is it's good.

I had the American one, and got rid of it long ago. What would be the best uncut to get?

[chen lung]

The Japanese DVD is probably the best, although it has no subtitles. Next best option is the Mei Ah LD, then the VCD.

[littlefuzzy]

The Japanese DVD is probably the best, although it has no subtitles. Next best option is the Mei Ah LD, then the VCD.

Subtitles are important to me...

I do have a Laserdisc player, but I am trying to get most things on DVD now.

For that matter, I don't recal VCDs looking that good on my DVD player, although those were things I burned myself. Is the First Strike VCD the regular resolution, or the Super VCD?

[chen lung]

My recommendation would be to use the Mei Ah LD to have a higher quality view of the subtitles (the VCD could do), and then add them to the Japanese DVD.

I was hoping to do that myself sometime (same process with 'Rumble').

[chen lung]

How far it is better than Taiwanese version?

The only advantage of the Taiwanese DVD is that it has English translation. Other than that, it's Mandarin-dubbed.

The Japanese DVD is an unsubtitled print and would be good to work from when you create new easily-read ones.

[Asmo]

My recommendation would be to use the Mei Ah LD to have a higher quality view of the subtitles (the VCD could do), and then add them to the Japanese DVD.

I was hoping to do that myself sometime (same process with 'Rumble').

If anyone can rip the subtitles of either First Strike and/or Rumble (if anyone has the uncut vcds/LDs of either, that is) and if I can OCR the Japanese subs (I'm fairly competent with the language, but the Kanji will probably throw me off) I'll take a shot at doing it. First Strike would need more dialogue subtitled than Rumble would, though.

[chen lung]

You might find the timing useless .

[Asmo]

From the Japanese dvd?

[chen lung]

From the Japanese dvd?

Yeah, you might find yourself re-synching anyway in order to suit the English ones.

[Asmo]

Ah. I'm willing to give it a go if I can get the vcd's subs. I've thought about just translating the Japanese ones but some of the Kanji would no doubt get me. It's hard enough just to OCR the Japanese subs as it is. It'd take me some time to get on it anyway.

I'm currently trying to sync the subs from the HKL release of My Lucky Stars (with a few corrections) to the Fox R1 release (I know it's in 5.1 but at least it's uncut) and the timing is throwing me off. If I could just get a hold of the Universe ones...

Didn't mean to go off topic there, but I see what you're talking about as it seems I've encountered that with the above situation.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Love this movie, mainly for the ladder and under water fu.

[Iron_Leopard]

First Strike is in my top 10 JC films.

[Cognoscente]

If it had been a movie starring Sammo or Biao, it would probably have been ranked higher. But with Jackie, it was seen as disappointing in comparison to the other Police Story movies. The below image was taken from #310 of Cinemart. I found the other images on a site whose name translates to Confucius Used Book Network.

[Chorake]

Yesterday, I learned that the version of the U.S./international cut New Line prepared for television broadcasts has about 6 minutes of extra footage from the HK/Asian cut added back in. It's a TV-safe 92-minute runtime as opposed to the brisk 83-minute theatrical and video version. Here's one of the reinserted scenes complete with the new looping performance:

 

[HoYuFat]

Someone stitched together the full 107 minute version using the US and Hong Kong version. You can view here https://archive.org/details/first-strike-fw-reconstruction

[PandaPawPaw]

49 minutes ago, HoYuFat said:

Someone stitched together the full 107 minute version using the US and Hong Kong version. You can view here https://archive.org/details/first-strike-fw-reconstruction

If you're on Avistaz then the Uncut HD version is on there but with hardcoded Chinese subs.

Edited March 16 by PandaPawPaw

[DarthKato]

I love this movie. It was one of my first Jackie Chan films.

 

[PandaPawPaw]

Koala pants FTW!