First Strike (1996)
Police Story 4: First Strike (Chinese: 警察故事4之簡單任務), also known as First Strike or Jackie Chan’s First Strike, is a 1996 Hong Kong action comedy film directed and co-written by Stanley Tong, and starring Jackie Chan, Jackson Lou, Annie Wu, Bill Tung, Yuri Petrov, and Nonna Grishayeva. It is the fourth installment of the Police Story series. Chan reprises his role as “Kevin” Chan Ka-Kui (named “Jackie” in international releases), a Hong Kong police officer who works for the CIA to track down and arrest an illegal weapons dealer. Jackie realizes that things are not as simple as they appear and soon finds himself a pawn of an organization posing as Russian intelligence. The film was shot partially in Hong Kong, Crimea (Ukraine), Moscow (Russia) and Brisbane in Queensland (Australia).
Chinatown, Brisbane in Fortitude Valley and Underwater World on the Sunshine Coast were also used. Filming took place from August to November 1995. The film was released in Hong Kong on 10 February 1996. The original Hong Kong version was filmed in four languages: Cantonese, English, Russian, and Ukrainian. To advertise First Strike, Jackie recorded the song 怎麼會 Zenme Hui and also made a music video for it. As is typical with Chan’s pictures, the US version does not feature the theme song. The North American version also dubbed all the non-English dialogue in Cantonese, Russian and Ukrainian into English.
Plot.
Whilst working for the CIA, Jackie is assigned to follow leads of a nuclear smuggling case. One of the tasks the CIA gives him is simple enough: watch a woman named Natasha while on a plane from Hong Kong and record her movements. Luckily for the CIA, Jackie spots Natasha being driven away and he discreetly follows her. During the chase in Yalta, Jackie discovers that Natasha is working with an unknown male partner, who actually called in the Strike Force to prevent Natasha from being followed. Natasha and the unknown male are also romantically involved. Jackie decides to follow the unknown male to a remote lodge in the Crimean mountains, and informs the CIA of his location. The unknown male is apparently meeting with Russian mafia members who are interested in a nuclear bomb that’s in his possession. The criminals are on high alert when they spot JackieRELATED:
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and agents of militsiya and the CIA arriving. A gunfight ensues. During the battle, the unknown male is identified as Jackson Tsui, a Chinese-American nuclear scientist with CIA links, suspected of stealing a nuclear warhead. Jackie finds a briefcase which contained evidence from Tsui, but as he is chased by mafia forces, Jackie loses the briefcase as he falls into frozen waters, and the mafia takes the briefcase.
When he recovers in Russian military hospital, he meets Colonel Gregor Yegorov of the FSB, who explains the situation. Jackie goes with him to Moscow where he discovers he has been assigned to work with Gregor to solve a similar case involving nuclear weapons being smuggled. His task is to track Tsui, who disappeared after their last encounter. He is smuggled into Brisbane, Australia by a Russian submarine.
Box office.
First Strike was an enormous box office success in Hong Kong, grossing HK$57,518,795 during its theatrical run. It remains Jackie Chan’s highest-grossing film in Hong Kong and the third highest-grossing domestic film in Hong Kong film history. In China, it grossed CN¥112 million at the box office. In Taiwan, it grossed NT$47,284,460. In Japan, it earned ¥545 million at the box office. In South Korea, it grossed US$4.22 million. In Europe, the film sold 72,272 tickets in Spain and 922,863 in other EU countries. The film was released on 10 January 1997 in 1,344 North American theatres, grossing US$5,778,933 ($4,299 per screen) in its opening weekend. Its total North American box office gross was $15,318,863. Adjusted for inflation in 2021, the film grossed the equivalent of US$32,401,297 in North America and US$98,816,196 worldwide.