Police Story 4: First Strike essentially plays like a Jackie Chan version of a James Bond movie. Jackie Chan is an action icon who has performed many jaw-dropping - and life-threatening - stunts for the pleasure of moviegoers over his decades-long career. Despite becoming a star with Hong Kong martial arts epics like Drunken Master, it took a surprisingly long time for Jackie to break into U.S. movies. He made a few attempts in the early 1980s with projects like The Big Brawl and The Protector, but after they both underperformed and Chan was particularly unhappy with the sleaziness of the latter film, he returned to Hong Kong.
Rush Hour from 1998 is a buddy comedy that paired him with Chris Tucker, and their surprisingly great chemistry made the film a huge success. In addition to returning for two sequels, Chan went on to make more American produced action movies like Shanghai Noon and The Tuxedo. In the years that followed, Chan would divide his time between Hong Kong and American projects, with 2010's The Karate Kid remake becoming one of his highest-grossing movies.
Outside of Rush Hour, Jackie Chan's other major franchise is Police Story, which began back in 1985. There have been six entries and two spinoffs in the series to date, with the most recent being 2013's Police Story: Lockdown. Police Story 4: First Strike from 1996 is the most unique of the bunch, which featured Chan's character Jackie recruited by the CIA into investigating a case involving nuclear weapons.
This leads to some globe-hopping for Jackie, with the film being shot in locations like the Ukraine and Australia. Police Story 4: First Strike was shot with international audiences in mind, including being partly shot in English and putting more of a focus on plot. That said, it doesn't skimp on the action including showstoppers like Jackie Chan fighting with a ladder and in a shark tank with multiple opponents.
Police Story 4: First Strike feels decidedly inspired by the James Bond movies in tone and scope, and the focus on practical action and stunts puts it a shade above the setpieces in the latter series too; great as he was, Roger Moore could never dream of pulling off most of Chan's moves. Police Story 4: First Strike doesn't have much to offer outside of the action, however, with the plot being fairly cliche and rote and it' s not as engaging as the first three entries. Still, a Jackie Chan take on the Bond series could never be a bad thing.