“This guy moves like a monkey,” grunts a beefy henchman hot on the trail of Jackie Chan, who spends his time leaping over rooftops and kicking butt in the only way he knows how. It’s all in a day’s work for the 007 of the far east, with Chan playing a Hong Kong policeman in shades of Police Story, who is assigned by the CIA to crush an international nuclear weapons racket in Ukraine. A culprit is found and Chan follows them to Australia to lay down some rough justice using poles, stilts, and in the film’s most memorable scene, a collapsible aluminium stepladder. But, for a Jackie Chan flick, the action is surprisingly limited. First Strike is more of an involved action thriller in league with a James Bond film. Even the humour is toned down with an underwater duel being the only silly thing about it.

AKA:  Jackie Chan’s First Strike; Police Story 4; Police Story 4: First Strike; Police Story 4: Piece of Cake; Story of the CIA