My Lucky Stars
January 26, 2004

My Lucky Stars is a story about two Hong Kong cops, Muscles and Ricky (played by Jackie Chan and Biao Yuen), who chase after an ex-cop in Japan who stole a large amount of diamonds. Once the ninja gang that protects him captures Ricky, Muscles calls upon the help of Kidstuff (Sammo Hung) and his friends to come help.

I was a store (rhymes with ‘Smarget’) and I saw a bunch of older Jackie Chan movies for $5.99. Of all the movies I could have chosen as my review for this first week, I had to go with one that’s the second in a trilogy. My Lucky Stars is the sequel to Sinners and Winners, a story about five friends who are released from prison and try their best to avoid trouble.

The movie starts off with a typical Jackie chase scene where him and his partner go after the ex-cop through a subway and an amusement park in Japan. There were a lot of stunt scenes, but not a whole lot of fighting.

Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan in My Lucky Stars

After the first fifteen minutes, Chan’s presence in the movie is absent until the end. He is a minor-major character in the movie, which centers primarily on Kidstuff and his friends from the orphanage they grew up from.

Kidstuff is released from jail early on behalf of Muscles’ request in order to help him. He goes and gathers his four friends, a group of misfits that include a jewelry robber, an extortionist, a guy who tries to learn ESP and a general goofball/little brother type. They are teamed up with Ms. Woo (Sibelle Hu) for the mission and the five of them try to earn her affections. Their attempts are childish, but humorous. One part of the movie, they take turns entering her room while the others rush in with ninja suits and tie them together. It’s stupid and immature, but hilarious to watch.

The fight scenes were pretty good even though they’re few in numbers. Biao Yuen steals the first fight scene with his incredible acrobatic moves, which are used far too few in the movie. Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan give us what’s normally expected out of them with solid action.

Jackie Chan plays a serious role in this movie while leaving the comedy to the group of five. The character of Muscles is a lot more intense than most of the characters that people are used to in the United States. Think Jet Li intensity.

All in all, this was a decent movie that had a lot of silliness to it. I tried watching it through the second time with the English dubbing, but that was horrible. I’m sorry, but hearing those exaggerated voices just don’t help. If you’re looking for a silly, stupid slapstick comedy this would be something to watch.

Joe gives My Lucky Stars...

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