Film

Project A

A gloriously silly, gorgeously dangerous slice of colonial Hong Kong, where Jackie Chan's put-upon coast guard officer squares off against pirates, corrupt bureaucrats, and gravity itself. It's the film with the legendary clock tower fall, three generations of stunt legends sharing the screen, and a tone that swings from Keystone Kops slapstick to genuinely hair-raising physical peril without ever losing its grin.

TMDb rating7.3

If you liked this

Police Story1985

Chan's other masterpiece, and arguably the better film: a modern-day cop thriller with the same reckless commitment to real stunts, capped by a shopping mall finale that still looks impossible.

But Trades period charm for contemporary Hong Kong grit — less swashbuckling whimsy, more concrete and glass shattering.

Police Story poster

Wheels on Meals1984no page yet

Reunites Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao almost immediately after Project A, this time as food-truck operators in Spain, with Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez delivering one of kung fu cinema's best fight scenes.

But The plot is thinner and the Spanish setting oddly disorienting if you want more period Hong Kong flavour.

Drunken Master III1994

Chan at the peak of his powers, playing folk hero Wong Fei-hung with a finale fight through a factory floor of broken glass and molten iron that's pure controlled chaos.

But More straight-up martial arts spectacle, less ensemble comedy — the ratio of gags to fights shifts noticeably.

Drunken Master III poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Painted Faces1988no page yet

This is the origin story hiding underneath Project A's stunt work — the actual school where Chan, Hung, and Yuen Biao learned the falls, flips, and pain tolerance you just watched them deploy.

The true story behind the trio: Chan, Hung, and Yuen Biao were all raised at the brutal China Drama Academy opera school, and this drama, produced by Hung himself, shows the beatings, discipline, and camaraderie that built their bodies for exactly this kind of stunt work.

But It's a sober, sometimes harrowing drama about child abuse dressed as training — nothing like the movie that made you love these three.

More like this (8)

Armour of God1986no page yet

Chan's Indiana Jones riff, packed with globe-trotting set pieces and a genuinely nasty edge — this is the shoot that put him in the hospital, and you can feel the stakes.

But Tonally darker and choppier in structure; it trades Project A's ensemble warmth for something leaner and meaner.

Dragons Forever1988no page yet

The last time this exact trio shared a screen, and they go out with a legal-thriller-meets-brawl plot and a three-way fight finale that's as good as anything they ever filmed together.

But The courtroom-adjacent plotting is a slog compared to Project A's brisk pirate-hunting momentum.

Once Upon a Time in China1991

Jet Li's Wong Fei-hung saga does for colonial-era Guangzhou what Project A does for Hong Kong — gorgeous period detail wrapped around wire-and-fist choreography that changed the genre.

But More earnest and nationalistic in tone, with less of the loose, mischievous comedy Chan specialises in.

Once Upon a Time in China poster

Enter the Dragon1973

The film that put Hong Kong action on the global map, with Bruce Lee's coiled intensity giving you the serious, mythic version of what Chan plays for laughs.

But Slower, more austere, and far less interested in comedy — a different animal wearing the same genre's clothes.

Enter the Dragon poster

Rumble in the Bronx1995no page yet

Chan's American breakthrough, all improvised props and hovercraft chases through a wildly unconvincing Vancouver-as-New-York — dumb fun executed with total physical sincerity.

But The seams show: cheaper-looking, sillier plot, and the culture-clash comedy hasn't aged gracefully.

Ip Man2008

A more polished, prestige-adjacent take on the colonial-era martial artist story, with Donnie Yen bringing icy precision to fights that Project A approaches with clownish glee.

But Considerably more solemn and nationalistic — if you came for jokes and stunt chaos, this plays it straight.

Ip Man poster

Safety Last!1923

Project A's most famous shot, Chan's clock tower fall, is a direct, acknowledged homage to this film — same stunt, same building type, six decades apart, both performers doing it for real.

Harold Lloyd hanging off a clock face decades before Chan ever did — silent-era stunt comedy performed for real, on real buildings, with the same 'no wires, no doubles, no safety net' ethos.

But Silent, black-and-white, and paced for 1923 audiences — you'll need patience for the setup before the vertigo kicks in.

Safety Last! poster

Mad Max: Fury Road2015

Different century, different genre, same stubborn insistence that stunts should be real and dangerous rather than digital — George Miller and Chan are working from the same rulebook.

A modern action film built on the exact philosophy Chan pioneered: practical stunts, real vehicles, real risk, cut together so you always know where everyone's body is in space.

But Post-apocalyptic desert instead of colonial harbour, near-wordless instead of gag-driven — the comedy is gone, replaced by relentless, roaring intensity.

Mad Max: Fury Road poster

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Recommended by

Safety Last!, Police Story, Police Story 3: Super Cop, Drunken Master III