DVD Review: Snake In The Eagle's Shadow
Written by: Kage Alan

Film Rating: B
DVD Special Features: N/A

Snake In The Eagle's Shadow" marked a first for Hong Kong star Jackie Chan. Not only was it the first collaboration with Director Yuen Yoo Ping, the
action choreographer for "The Matrix" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon",
but it was also the first time he combined martial arts with slapstick
comedy.  It's a style that has served Jackie well for many years now and
helped distinguish him as a talented worldwide entertainer.  Not bad, huh?

The film takes place at the end of the China Dynasty and deals with the Grand
Master of Eagle Claw and his quest to completely stomp out of existence any
school teaching the Snake Fist style.  Unfortunately for him, the Snake Fist
Grandmaster Pai Cheng-Cheh won't submit and the two battle it out for the
right to survive.  Snake Fist loses the day to Eagle Claw and goes into
hiding.  Meanwhile, we're introduced to another martial arts school where the
Master is away on business and has left the place in the care of two idiots.  
Their favorite pastime is using the hired hand, Chien Fu (Chan), as a human
punching bag.

When Fu stands up for an old beggar getting beaten up on the street, he
unknowingly befriends the Snake Fist Grand Master, who is in disguise.  
Horrified at how Fu is treated by the teachers and students at the school, he
decides to teach him how to defend himself, but makes him promise three
things, one of which is to never use Kung Fu unless he has to.  Next thing
you know, Fu is using his new skills to foil those who abuse him, which leads
to some pretty comedic situations.  In the meantime, the Eagle Claw Master is
still on the lookout for his nemesis to finish the job.  There can only be
one victor here and a showdown is inevitable.

"Snake In The Eagle's Shadow" starts off a little longwinded, but does
finally unleash its arsenal of comedy, fantastic choreography and decent
fight sequences.  It's really quite something to see how Jackie Chan's style
began here after seeing him in films like "Rush Hour" and "Rumble in the
Bronx" and seeing just how good he's gotten at it.  Of course, the sequences
in those films are sped up a bit whereas here they are a bit slower.  Don't
mistake that for a flaw, though.  It's just more realistic.

The Anamorphic Widescreen transfer Sony has provided here is fairly sharp,
only it suffers from a poor master.  There are huge amount of specs, dirt and
other defects visible throughout, but I'm betting this is the best it has
ever looked, though, since many of these films haven't been as well preserved
as others.  It's still a bit distracting, though.  Audio quality is good,
though typically exaggerated with the fighting effects and bizarre music.  As
for languages, we are given the option between a horribly dubbed English
track and the original Cantonese one with very easy to read English
subtitles.  You can guess my preference.  The only extras here are some
theatrical trailers, but one really couldn't expect more than this, except
maybe for some bios on the director and star.

This it the type of film we used to see either on late night television or on
the weekends where the story just isn't as important as the action.  Well,
there is plenty of action here and the story is just humorous enough to lure
you in and keep your attention, so it's not like some of the other ones we're
used to seeing.  I'd considered trying to collect all of Chan's films until
looking at his list of credits.  There's far too many, so maybe I'll just
stick with the ones that come my way every now and then.  This one was
definitely entertaining.

COMMENTS
Date/Time of Posting:  Sep 04 2002 / 19:02:47
IP Address:  203.168.22.200
name = amethyst
where = quesmer09@yahoo.com
replyemail = Jackie
comments = he is the last action super hero, not arnold. and can u provide me info about the old man in snake in the eagle's shadow? what is h is name?