The 10 Best Jackie Chan Movies of All Time
Here are the essential Jackie Chan films that built an international legend
The first time I saw Jackie Chan, he was yelling at Chris Tucker. Or maybe Chris Tucker was yelling at him—it’s hard to tell with Rush Hour. I was too young to get the racial politics, too young to care that Hollywood had just imported a Hong Kong legend, but old enough to know that whatever I was watching was dangerous and hilarious in equal measure. Jackie would launch into a fight, break ten bones that weren’t his, and then slip on a banana peel for good measure. Nobody else moved like that. Still doesn’t.
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Chan’s filmography is chaos: alternate titles, sequels that aren’t really sequels, edits that changed depending on whether you bought the VHS in Kowloon or Kansas. But continuity was never the point. You watch Jackie Chan because gravity doesn’t apply to him, because he’ll throw his body off a double-decker bus with only an umbrella for insurance, because he’ll risk his neck for a gag.
Films That Best Define Jackie Chan
Police Story (1985)
If Jackie Chan has a Mount Everest, this is it. Chan stars as a cop framed for murder, and he sets out to clear his name. Police Story is pure Hong Kong chaos: a shantytown chase that looks like it was shot in one take of pure madness and an umbrella-grabbing stunt off a moving bus that makes Tom Cruise look like a Boy Scout.
Armour of God (1986)
This is like Chan’s Indiana Jones. He plays a globe-trotting treasure hunter who fights cultists, dodges deathtraps, and survives a stunt that literally cracked his skull open. No, really—he almost died making this movie. But Chan came back to finish the movie anyway.
Project A (1983)
Pirates, clock towers, and bicycle chases: Project A is where Chan’s creativity ran wild. As Coast Guard cadet Dragon Ma, he faces both corruption and swashbuckling foes, with Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung by his side.
Rush Hour (1998)
The movie that turned Jackie into a global household name. Pairing him with Chris Tucker was either genius or madness, but it worked like lightning in a bottle. Tucker talks a mile a minute, Jackie says maybe six words in English, and somehow the chemistry is undeniable. The martial arts are sharp, the comedy lands without trying too hard, and for a whole generation of American kids, this was the moment they realized Jackie Chan wasn’t just another action guy.
Wheels on Meals (1984)
The “Three Dragons”—Chan, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung—are at their absolute best here. Playing cousins who run a food truck in Barcelona, Chan’s standout moment comes in his duel with kickboxing legend Benny Urquidez, often hailed as the greatest fight in his career.
Dragons Forever (1988)
The trio reunites, this time as mismatched antiheroes taking on a corrupt chemical corporation. Sammo’s a shady gun dealer, and Yuen Biao’s some kind of unhinged inventor. Together, they try to take down a chemical company, but mostly they’re just bouncing off each other like drunk uncles at a wedding. It’s messy, it’s funny, it’s three legends daring each other to top the last punchline or body slam.
Rumble in the Bronx (1995)
The film that introduced Jackie Chan to the American mainstream. Chan plays a tourist who takes on a gang-ridden neighbourhood, turning everything from refrigerators to shopping carts into weapons. It’s scrappy, over-the-top, and capped with a hovercraft sequence that’s deliriously inventive. It’s not perfect, but America fell in love with him after.
Drunken Master (1978) & Drunken Master II (1994)
As Wong Fei-hung, Chan redefined the folk hero—not as stoic or saintly, but as mischievous, stubborn, and hilariously flawed. The first film’s drunken boxing style was a revelation; the sequel doubled down with jaw-dropping set pieces, including the tea-house fight and the alcohol-fueled finale against Ken Lo.
Police Story 3: Supercop (1996)
By the mid-’90s, Jackie had already set the bar high, but Supercop raised it again—this time with Michelle Yeoh riding shotgun (and at one point, a motorcycle onto a moving train). Chan’s Inspector Ka-Kui faces down a drug cartel with stunts that left even Tarantino gushing. The chemistry with Yeoh is electric, the action outrageous. It’s no wonder Time Out dubbed it one of the greatest action movies ever made.
The Young Master (1980)
Playing Dragon Lung, Chan is mistaken for a criminal while searching for his brother. The fan-fighting sequence reportedly took 329 takes to perfect—a glimpse into the obsessive perfectionism that defined his career. The Young Master may not be his best, but it’s where Jackie Chan truly became Jackie Chan.