Thunderbolt
Short description
Jackie, a racing mechanic who also works with the police, helps track down illegally modified cars. His skills bring him into conflict with Cougar, a criminal who shares his knowledge of high-performance vehicles and pairs it with a taste for violence. When Cougar escapes and abducts Jackie's sister, Jackie is drawn into a high-speed contest in Japan to get her back.
Gordon Chan directed the film, working from a screenplay he wrote with Philip Kwok and Chan Hing-Kai. Jackie Chan, who also produced, stars as Jackie, alongside Anita Yuen as Amy Yip, Michael Wong as Steve Cannon, Dayo Wong as Mr. Lam, Thorsten Nickel as Cougar, and Ken Lo as Kong. The film followed several Gordon Chan projects from the early 1990s, including Fist of Legend, and came before later titles such as The Medallion and God of War.
Made for about 4 million US dollars, the film took roughly 17 million US dollars worldwide, a return well above its cost. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 11,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.5 out of 10 from over 300 votes, placing both marks in the moderate range for an action thriller of its period.
What's left behind the scenes
- At the beginning of the American version of the film, the credits include the inscription – "A Jackie Chan Film", but Gordon Chan is then mentioned as the director at the end of those credits.
- Due to Jackie Chan seriously injuring his ankle during the filming of "Rumble in the Bronx" (1995) the previous year, stunt doubles were used in practically all of the fight scenes in this film.
- At the start of the race, Tang enters the pit lane. Cougar has already passed the pit entrance. Tang receives a 30-second penalty and must remain in the pit box for 1 minute and 31 seconds. Approximately at 1 minute 15 seconds, Cougar appears, meaning he completed the lap very quickly. Throughout the race footage from his perspective, he (Cougar) overtakes Tang, but Tang is never shown overtaking Cougar. And in the end, Alfred Tang wins the race.
- At the beginning of the race, the team jackets in the pit box say 'Jackie Chan Racing', while the character's name is not Jackie.
- Jackie Chan performs the song in Cantonese at the beginning of the film and again in Mandarin at the end.
- Jackie Chan broke his femur during filming.
- When the plan called for filming car race scenes, the rainy season began in Japan. Therefore, the team moved to Malaysia to film the car races. Another problem arose when the Malaysian government became concerned that many people could be injured during filming. For this reason, the cars on the track drove at normal speed, and the speed was increased during post-production.
- The weather conditions during the race are constantly changing: sometimes cloudy, sometimes sunny, sometimes rainy. The track itself changes several times in the same sequence – in one shot it’s completely wet, and in the next, completely dry.
- In the American version of the film, the character's name "Chan Fu To" was changed to "Alfred Tang".
- Alfred Tang wears dark shoes during the fight scene in the auto shop, but closer to the end of the scene there are shots clearly showing his feet in white shoes.
- The American title of the film translates literally as "Lightning Strike".
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