Though 'The Fearless Hyena (1979)' has many similarities to 'The Drunken Master (1978)' and, indeed, many other martial arts movies from the era, the piece sets itself apart with some absolutely phenomenal choreography and a flashy focal style that really comes through in an explosive one-on-one finale. The story centres on a revenge plot that doesn't really begin until well over half way into the runtime, yet the plot never feels poorly paced because it's peppered with set-pieces and establishes that its lead character's choices have tangible consequences. It starts to lag ever-so-slightly in its mid-section but it is entertaining throughout, a funny and exciting adventure that constantly surprises with just how good its fight scenes truly are. Seriously, there are a couple in here that easily sit among the best of all time - including a sphincter-tightening, three-on-one sword fight - and they deserve to be recognised as such. It's a testament to the thing's quality that its downright awful dub (subs aren't available on Amazon Prime) doesn't really dampen its effect. The dub is certainly its worst aspect, though, with voice work that sounds like something from a Monty Python sketch and one character in particular who sounds like Richard Ayoade. Despite this, the film is really fun throughout. It's easy to recommend to any fan of martial arts cinema. 7/10

This film from 1979 marked Jackie's first venture behind the camera as director. FEARLESS HYENA is a traditional, period-set kung fu flick that closely resembles other Jackie Chan films made around the same time: the focus is on comedy followed by revenge, and these elements, in combination with the sheer screen presence of the young star, make it well worth watching. It begins with a chase scene in which the ruthless Yen (who half resembles Christopher Lee) murders a number of rivals using his kung fu skills. The story then cuts to more familiar territory as we are introduced to Lung, Jackie's character. Lung is learning kung fu skills from his grandfather (played by the familiar and reliable James Tien).

The first hour of the film follows the comedy-kung-fu mould as we watch Lung train his kung fu as well as interact with various characters in the village. These range from a crazy undertaker (a cameo from Dean Shek) to three gamblers, who eventually persuade Lung to come and work at their kung fu school. Jackie proves his worth by beating a number of rivals. The final half hour of the film concentrates on revenge as Lung discovers a new mentor (a crippled beggar nicknamed 'the Unicorn') and undergoes some gruelling training before taking on the bad guys in a violent showdown.

Essentially FEARLESS HYENA is a film made up of two separate parts, with the first hour concentrating on comedy, and the latter part building up to a vengeance-fuelled showdown. The comedy is of the slapstick variety that Jackie loves, and there are some obvious nods to the likes of THE THREE STOOGES as our hero joins up with a trio of gamblers and engages in some cartoonish battles with them. Love it or hate it, this type of slapstick comedy was beloved by Chinese audiences and always pops up in these types of films.

Better still are the 'comedy fights' in which Jackie battles his opponents in various amusing ways. These fights are centred at the kung fu school, as Jackie dons a variety of disguises to battle a series of hardened kung fu masters. It's easy to dismiss these scenes as childish or time-fillers but in fact they display some highly impressive acrobatic skills from the star, whose split-second timing is impeccable. The scene where he dresses as a cross-eyed janitor and fights an opponent using benches and a table, for instance, is wonderful, expertly choreographed and full of fluid action that only seasoned performers could have pulled off.

This wouldn't be a traditional kung fu film without any training sequences, and these are also some of the best put on camera. Jackie proves himself to be at his physical peak as he performs upside-down sit-ups over and over again and drags weights across a field, every muscle and tendon on his body straining. The opening and closing fight scenes get pretty violent – the blood runs freely – and the finale in particular is edge-of-the-seat stuff. A new type of kung fu is introduced into the film; it focuses on the emotions (happy, sad, angry, etc.) and with it Jackie is able to take down his opponents in various painful ways.

Watching Jackie fight in new, unique ways is always a pleasure and the fights here are no exception; trust Jackie, he's even able to inject some humour into these moments, with his 'sadness' kung fu resembling drunken boxing as he falls over and against his opponent. As the villain, Yen, Yam Sai-kun may not be as skilled as Hwang Jang Lee, but his kung fu skills are pretty spectacular, especially his deadly 'eagle claw' strike. The film ends on a real high with Jackie excelling both in front of, and behind the camera. His fellow cast members all put in good performances and the martial arts is tremendous as usual.

Jackie Chan and his grandfather live alone, while grandpa trains Jackie in kung fu. Eventually the big bad guy, who dresses and has hair like Lucius Malfoy comes along and kills the old man. Jackie wants to run after him and fight him, but a little man with a crutch stops him, then begins to train Jackie in more kung fu so he'll have a chance.

Chan's first movie as director (although he has Richard Lo credited as "Executive Director") is a pretty standard plot, with the young disciple who slipped, seeking vengeance against the chief baddie. It's the handling that is a bit different. The second quarter of the movie has Jackie as the head teacher of a martial arts school, and he has to fight a bunch of people. It's all circus clowning, with Chan whipping people while dressed as a feeble-minded individual, in drag, and so forth. It's positively cartoonish, and the sound choices emphasize this: there's the introduction to "The Pink Panther" and sound stings that sound like they came out of Treg Brown's library. Plus for the big finish, he invents new, ridiculous styles of fighting that are, of course, successful.

in the meantime, it's a fine movie that combines silliness and seriousness, despite a few glitches in He would get better and better, peaking in the middle of the 1990s. However, everyone has to start somewhere, and this is a very good start.