One of the most celebrated martial arts stars in history, it’s no wonder that Jackie Chan‘s impressive filmography includes several notable movie franchises. Getting his start as a child actor landing roles as early as the age of five, Jackie Chan’s performance accolades slowly grew to include acrobatics, stunt work, and dazzling martial arts mastery. His signature style of slapstick Kung-Fu has drawn the attention of many fans over the years, combining action with humor in a way few stars can emulate.
Some of Jackie Chan’s most important films have been within the context of a martial arts franchise, typically starring Chan in a leading role. From Jackie Chan’s dangerous stuntwork and willingness to take on extreme choreography to his trademark comedic timing, it’s no wonder he winds up being the star of the show for several notable film series. Even if a few of these sagas only spanned a couple of films, especially early on in his career, the consistent quality of Chan’s work playing the same character across multiple films can be matched by very few actors.
7 Project A
Two films
The movie that saw the creation of Jackie Chan’s own official stunt team, the original Project A was an ambitious action comedy that saw some of the most dangerous and elaborate stunts of the actor’s career. The beginning of Chan’s long history playing officers of the law, the actor stars as the valiant Sergeant Dragon Ma, a military police officer of the Hong Kong sent on a mission to pacify a band of ferocious pirates. Project A 2 saw Dragon Ma return, this time hoping to quell corruption brewing within the Hong Kong police force from the inside out.
Featuring a younger Jackie Chan, his youthful exuberance is on full display as Dragon Ma in both of the Project A movies. Being the first film to allow Chan to truly design his own stunts, some of the feats of daring he pulls off in this franchise are incredibly impressive, including one of Chan’s most famous action scenes in which he hangs off of a clock tower. However, stacked up against his later work, the duology doesn’t offer much that other films in Chan’s catalog don’t do better, essentially a beta super cop action flick that Police Story would improve upon.
6 Rush Hour
Three films
The original unlikely buddy-cop pairing of Jackie Chan’s career and arguably the first film to perfect the subgenre in Hollywood, Rush Hour was something of a sensation, opening at number 1 at the box office among high-profile competition like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The collision of worlds between Jackie Chan’s adorable Chief Inspector Lee and Chris Tucker’s ineffable Detective James Carter is the stuff of Hollywood legend, the two bouncing off of each other and bickering all the way through their investigation to the sound of a blockbuster sensation.
For all the laughs the film series offers, it’s also surprisingly dark, centering around the tense kidnapping of a young girl with bad guys that don’t play around. That being said, the franchise slowly lost its edge over the course of the second and third films, wringing the premise of the unlikely pairing far past its expiration date. When the charm of the starring duo wears away, the poorly-aged racial humor, recycled jokes from Jackie Chan’s earlier movies, and general lack of effort in the later films slowly makes itself apparent, fading the appeal of the Rush Hour franchise.
5 Shanghai Noon
Two films
The second of Jackie Chan’s franchises to take advantage of the actor’s strength as a co-star paired with an unlikely ally, Shanghai Noon thrust the Chinese martial arts star into the Wild West opposite Owen Wilson’s outlaw gunslinger. The comedic contrast of Owen Wilson’s laid-back grit and Chan’s relentless energy was enough to inspire a sequel, Shanghai Knights, which somewhat sullied the winning formula by turning the buddy-cop action romp into an eyeroll-worthy fish-out-of-water story in London. Still, the franchise overall offered enough laughs and chemistry between Wilson and Chan to not be the weakest of the actor’s many film series.
4 Kung Fu Panda
Four films
Despite its silly premise, the Kung Fu Panda movies have slowly grown to become the most popular animated martial arts films around, with Jackie Chan’s involvement being an obvious selling point. In the first three films, Jacki Chan lends his voice acting skills to Monkey, a member of the Furious Five, the Kung Fu Panda world’s most elite fighting force of martial artists. While admittedly a minor role, Jackie Chan’s Monkey is keen to steal any scene he’s in, quick with a joke and even quicker on his opposable-thumbed feet in a brawl.
Beyond a stellar celebrity cast, the franchise does an incredible job blending Eastern philosophy with spectacular Kung Fu action. Unfortunately, it seems the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 4 will drastically cut the screen time of the Furious Five, meaning Jackie Chan’s Monkey won’t have much of a presence, if he appears at all. A true shame considering that the series, if anything, was already underutilizing Jackie Chan’s abilities as a core character.
3 Armour Of God
Three films
Yet another series to come out of Jackie Chan’s crowded 80s career, the first Armour Of God introduced the actor as Asian Hawk, a treasure hunter that offers a martial arts-infused spin on Indiana Jones, similarly contended with cults and Nazi war criminals over the possession of rare artifacts. The ceaseless momentum of Chan’s stunt work in the first two films is propelled by the creative premises, utilizing the pre-World War II backdrop to great effect. Shockingly, this franchise led to Jackie Chan’s single worst injury after a routine stunt went bad, proving the performer’s death-defying commitment to his work.
Regrettably, the franchise fell off of a cliff with the third film, CZ12, also known as Armour of God 3, which saw Asian Hawk chasing stolen idols of the Chinese Zodiac. With none of the athleticism, dazzling choreography, or brisk pace of the first two films, all that was left for audiences to grapple with the awkward patriotic messaging, nonsensical plot, and unreasonably long runtime. For as influential as the Armour Of God movies were on Jackie Chan’s career, the character of Asian Hawk was forever marred by a disappointing reappearance in the third film, tragically sullying the franchise’s legacy.
2 Police Story
Seven films
Police Story is the most extensive film franchise of Jackie Chan’s career, and it’s easy to see why. Mixing Kung Fu with comedy, crime, drama, and some of the most breathtaking stunts of Chan’s entire filmography, the Police Story movies are astoundingly consistent in quality for how numerous and bloated the series became. Once again placing Jackie Chan as a member of the Royal Hong Kong police force, Police Story strikes an impossible balance of drama, comedy, and mindless action setpieces that all somehow work in tandem despite seeming like they should compromise one another.
The following films actually manage to improve on the formula, with Police Story 2 pushing the boundaries of danger and intrigue even further and Police Story 3 adding in the talents of Michelle Yeoh of Courching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame. The story would be rebooted twice with the later films, with the aptly titled New Police Story in 2004 and Police Story 2013 in, naturally, 2013. While these reboots couldn’t quite retain the same magic of the original continuity, they were still earnest efforts that understood the spirit of the franchise while taking the narrative in a new, more serious direction.
1 Drunken Master
Two films
Jackie Chan’s breakout role and some of the greatest Kung Fu movies ever made, Drunken Master and Drunken Master II stand the test of time as jaw-dropping action spectacles with a ton of heart. Chan’s Wong-Fei hung, better known in the West as “Freddie Wong”, is a hilarious, yet relatable everyman protagonist that’s easier to root for compared to his other heroes, and Chan had a tremendous effect on pop culture as a whole with his enrapturing “Drunken Fist” fighting style. From the first-rate fight choreography to the hilarious jokes and gags, the Drunken Master films are undoubtedly Jackie Chan‘s best.
