(China 2017)

Original Title: Ji Qi Zhi Xue 機器之血

 

Directed by Leo Zhang Produced by Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan Action by Max Huang, Jackie Chan Stunt Team Starring: Jackie Chan, Show Lo, Erica Xiao-Hou, Ouyang Nana, Callan Mulvey, Tess Haubruch, Bowie Lam, Elena Cai Reviewing: Kam & Ronson HK Blu-ray Release Genres: Action / Sci-fi / Adventure

 

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Kam & Ronson HK Blu-ray Synopsis:Thirteen years ago, Lindong (Jackie Chan), a UNSS agent, has been involved in an urgent Witness Protection Mission and left his dying daughter Xixi. Thirteen years later, Lindong has gone abroad and has been quietly maintaining the calm life of a girl Nancy (Xixi). But the publication of the new sci-fi novel – Bleeding Steel broke the peace. The secrets of Nancy are eventually noticed which threatens the safety of Nancys. Leeson accidentally got Nancy's information and suddenly appear with the purpose of approaching her life. In the thirteen years ago, a cyborg Andre tried to kidnap Dr. James but failed, thirteen years later he tries again and Nancy is capture after many fights. Lindong has to commit the risk and go to rescue Nancy with the assistant and Leeson. (110 Mins)

 

Splendid Film German Blu-ray Synopsis: The extraordinary sci-fi action film BLEEDING STEEL contains everything you'd expect from a Jackie Chan movie: fast-paced fights, inventive stunts, and well-placed situational comedy. Filmed primarily in Australia, the furiously choreographed fight at the Sydney Opera House is classic Jackie Chan action-movie material! Entertaining popcorn cinema and old-school thrills for fans of the living legend and those who want to become one! One night, police officer Lin receives a critical assignment: His special unit must immediately bring genetic researcher Dr. James to safety. The scientist's work could change the course of the world, which is why he is in mortal danger. No sooner have they arrived than Lin's team is mercilessly decimated by masked mercenaries in futuristic-looking armour; the researcher is killed. Lin survives the massacre only by sheer luck... 13 years later, Dr. James's lost research results suddenly resurface in a book. Reason enough for Lin to get to the bottom of things. During his investigations, he encounters new allies, but also old adversaries who still have a score to settle with Lin! (110 Mins)

 

Lionsgate UK DVD Synopsis: Special Forces agent Lin Dong (Jackie Chan) becomes embroiled in a high-tech conspiracy as he attempts to protect a crucial witness. Just as he gets closer to discovering the truth, Lin Dong is lucky to escape with his life when he is pursued by a mysterious and heavily-armed militia. The secret remains buried until the publication of an epic sci-fi novel, packed with disturbing parallels to the past events, forcing the conspiracy back to the surface. (104 Mins)

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Views: (Spoilers) Forced to chose his job over his dying daughter, Special Agent Lin Dong is sent on a Witness Protection mission to save a Doctor that has bioengineered self healing through a mechanical heart. But when an alien army attack in search of the device, Lin Dong and his team are brutally taken down, barely surviving the onslaught of the invaders. At the same time, Lin Dong's daughter passes – only to be saved at the last minute by the very creation the Doctor had been working on. 13 years later, with Lin Dong now given a new identity, his story continues in Australia where his daughter, Xixi, has grown up in an orphanage. One of the side effects of receiving the bioengineered blood and heart meant that, all her previous memories would disappear. Now named Nancy, Lin Dong spends his years looking over his daughter while working in different everyday roles. But the alien's are soon back on scene having caught up with Nancy after the release of a novel called Bleeding Steel, a book that reveals the secrets of her survival. With their leader, Andre, now a cyborg due to the injuries he suffered in the massive shoot-out, his subordinates are determined to capture the teenage girl no matter what – led by a bloodthirsty and ruthless female killer. Racing across Sydney and Beijing, aided by a comedy sidekick and his old partner, Lin Dong goes to extreme lengths to protect his daughter and fight for their lives, resulting in a brutal and explosive showdown on the alien ship that proves to be a first for the King of Action!

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If there was ever a Jackie Chan movie that separated the fans – his Marmite movie as such – then it has to be Bleeding Steel. While I personally enjoy it, and have done so more on repeated viewings, the majority of viewers and critics slammed it hard for its broken storyline, confusing plot, and dodgy acting from the Westerners; but that's nothing new for a Jackie Chan movie. Let's take a look at Mr. Nice Guy (1997) for example, also shot in Australia, which highlighted some of the worst acting I'd ever seen on-screen courtesy of the Australian supporting cast. So when I heard he was going back down-under with Bleeding Steel, I was worried it could be a case of history repeating itself. Thankfully, its not as bad as before – although there's definitely something theatrical about Aussie B-actors and bit-players! As for the confusing plot and broken storyline, well, it all makes a little sense as the movie goes on. The problem is, these plot-points and twists are just not perfectly executed because of the weak direction. As a film maker, I could absolutely see the scenes and shots that should have been chopped or re-edited to help make more sense of things – and I'm talking 7-10 minutes of the running time. But I'm not the film maker of this one. What's done is done and Bleeding Steel is on the shelf. So lets focus on the positive...

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As Special Agent Din Long, Jackie does a pretty good job and doesn't disappoint. By the looks of things, he had just finished shooting the awesome and very serious action-thriller The Foreigner, and was still sporting his 'older guy' look for the majority of Bleeding Steel. While he has a number of action scenes, his moves are more designed around the dodging, blocking and using of weapons side of things. He obviously throws the odd punch and kick, but most of the flashy moves are left for his opponents. This still makes for a lot of fun action scenes and he doesn't disappoint at all. At 62 (during time of shooting), Chan is still an unbelievable human being with what he does, whether it's fighting or incredible stunt work. But he also delivers another strong dramatic performance that, again, was possibly encouraged by his time acting in The Foreigner. Oddly enough, that film also had him play an emotional and troubled father who loses a daughter – but these haven't been the only two of his films to do so. It seems that in the last decade, Jackie has played more and more roles as a troubled father-to-a-daughter as seen in this and The Foreigner, as mentioned, but also in films like Ride On (2023) and The Shadow's Edge (2025). Of course, this all began with Police Story: Lockdown (2013) that saw him play a mainland Chinese officer that must rescue his estranged daughter from a hostage situation. But I often wonder are these roles chosen out of guilt in reference to his own estranged daughter, Etta Ng, who was the result of an affair Jackie had with former beauty-queen Elaine Ng back in the late 90s. It's been no secret to the world of her existence, nor the lack of love between Etta and her biological father, but I'd be interested to learn if these film roles a decision by Jackie to make him feel better about those lost years.

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Co-starring with him is handsome Taiwanese actor, singer and entertainer, Show Lo Chih Hsiang – of whom I share a birthday with – playing one of the most unconnected and pointless characters of the piece as Leeson. He just happens to 'get' involved in everything, has the ability to travel between Australia and China at the drop of a hat, moves like a secret agent, and gets in on the action. There's no real explanation why, but he eventually finds his place. Having started his film career in Jacky Wu's Cop (1999), Lo went onto star in Bringing Happiness Home (2012) and it's sequels, as well as Stephen Chow Sing Chi's Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (2013) and The Mermaid (2016) among others, but Bleeding Steel would be his last (to date) with his career pretty much collapsing in 2020 after he got exposed for cheating in a very publicised scandal. New actress Nana Ou Yang, does a fine job as Jackie's teenage daughter Nancy, while the lovely Erica Xia Hou co-stars as his Special Agent partner Susan, while doubling duties as one of the writers of the film also. Although she has appeared in a few other films throughout her career, Erica starred for director Leo Zhang in both his Chrysanthemum to the Beast (2012) and Fox Hunt (2021) on either side of this. In the bad corner, we have two of Australia's leading actors – Callan Mulvey and Tess Haubrich. Like most Aussie actors, they both got their big starts in popular soaps like Home & Away as regular players, as well as TV movies and such. Prior to starring in Bleeding Steel, Mulvey quickly got his break in Hollywood with roles in films like Zero Dark Thirty (2012), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Batman v Superman (2016), Warcraft (2016) and more. Here, he stars as psychotic Alien-cyborg Andre and, well, I guess he's just okay. It's not that he puts in a bad performance, per se, its just that Aussie human-like aliens that fly around in the Millennium Falcon aren't really that convincing as other-wordly villains. Proving to be a lot more effective (Aussie accent aside) is Tess Haubrich, whose deadly look and sharp jawline could cut glass. With credits such as The Wolverine (2013), Alien: Covenant (2017) and the Wolf Creek (2017) television series, she takes her space-opera role to the max and gives it her all in terms of action and performance.

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And talking about action – well, as expected, this is where the film excels! Choreographed by Max Huang, the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, and no doubt Jackie himself, Bleeding Steel is rammed with plenty of fun action scenes; some of which is surprisingly violent and bloody! Born in Germany, Wushu wonder-boy Huang started his career as a member of the legendary JCST lending his services to films like Chinese Zodiac (2012), Police Story: Lockdown (2013), Dragon Blade (2015), Skiptrace (2016), and The Foreigner (2017), going onto work with Jackie on Vanguard (2020), Hidden Strike (2023) and A Legend (2024). But he's probably more known to the Western audience by playing the role of the awesome Kung Lao in the hugely entertaining Mortal Kombat (2021) and it's sequel. Credited as the main action director of the piece, Huang and team deliver some very exciting action pieces that get better and better with every viewing...

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For me, the opening scene of the film is perhaps the best part of the movie – or at least, one of them. Very dark in tone, it lures the viewer into a false sense of what to expect for the rest of the film. A tear-filled Jackie is ordered to immediately go on a mission, causing him to bypass the hospital where his daughter lies on her deathbed. This leads to a rescue mission in the darkness of night, where Jackie and his team have to protect the bioengineer. As the rain pours down over the city, the psychotic humanoid alien arrives on the scene, backed by a team of soldiers armed with hi-tec laser weapons, who come across like a mix between Robocop and Stormtroopers. Within seconds, an intense and massive shoot-out takes place which results in some brutal deaths, big explosions, and impressive stunt-work that challenges the finest closing action-scene from any big budgeted Hollywood movie! With the bloody violence and darkness of a Ringo Lam or John Woo classic, it really does get the blood pumping, and had the rest of the film stuck to this tone, I reckon it would have been one of the best Hong Kong films in a while, but it doesn't. And this is where it throws fans and viewers! Not long after, we jump a number of years ahead and things have lightened up somewhat. It's a tad distracting and almost makes it look like the opening 10 minutes was cut-and-pasted from another film altogether. I mean, this literally could have been the end scene from a sequel to New Police Story (2004) or even a flashback of Jackie's character from The Shadow's Edge (2025) – minus the alien connection, of course. Ironically, the film was retitled Police Story Reborn in Japan, and the film does close with Jackie singing a Mandarin version of his popular Police Story theme song!

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His follow-up fight is also his first with Tess Haubrich. Set in a very luxurious hotel room, where Show Lo has been trying to trick the Bleeding Steel author into selling his secrets while dressed as a call-girl, Jackie shows up just on-time to stop Tess and her soldiers getting their hands on it. Although not as brutal as the opening action scene, this is closer to the Jackie Chan we all know and love – utilising props, opponents moves, and having a bit of fun while trying to stay alive. While there's a couple of scuffles in between, the next big highlight of action is set in, on and around the Sydney Opera House. As Jackie has his first rematch with Tess to allow his daughter and Show Lo to escape, the fight begins in the dressing rooms and back corridors of the building before Jackie and Tess make their way onto the rooftop – 67 metres high. With sharp angles, slippery sides, and minimal walking space, the pair fight it out before falling down the roof where they both grab some cables to continuing fighting. But soon after, Tess cuts Jackie's lifeline and sends him sliding down the roof, where he falls off onto a large parasol and gets to the bottom safely. Wires or not, I don't think I would have the balls to give that a shot and it proves to be just as exciting as Jackie's similar stunt from Who Am I? (1998) when he went down the Willemswerf Building in Rotterdam! While another explosive shoot-out happens at Jackie's Australian home, a well executed car chase takes place courtesy of the great Bruce Law, and other moments of action follow, fans should be excited for the lengthy and hugely exciting finale. Taking place on the alien airship – that looks like it came right out of Return of the Jedi (1983) or Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and actually makes no sense whatsoever – Jackie and team infiltrate the enemy's base to take on Callan, Tess and their minions in a fantastic showdown that brings back the brutality and bloody violence of the opening action scene. It's a well constructed and beautifully shot fight scene that doesn't disappoint, yet stands as one of Jackie's most forgotten and underrated in years.

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Genuinely, had Bleeding Steel dropped the pointless alien villain approach – I mean, honestly, it does nothing for the plot whatsoever – and kept a grounded sci-fi approach, then this film may just have been loved that wee bit more. But if I wanted to flip all that's wrong with this production into a positive, I'd have to say that it was as close to a 1980's Hong Kong action flick that any Chinese/Hong Kong film as any has been in while (at the time of release), delivering a cocktail of ideas that may not make much sense, but plays like any number of genre-blending hits from the glory days. We've gotten so used to the polished feel of Hollywood cinema, not to mention the fact that most Hong Kong movies today are as straight-forward and predictable as their Western counterparts, that a film such as this now seems messed up and unacceptable! Go back to your Hong Kong collection and have a look at some of the more bizarre B-movies from the past – The Legend of Wisely (1987), Scared Stiff (1987), The Iceman Cometh (1989), Gambling Ghost (1991), The Cat (1992), Super Lady Cop (1992) and so many more. If Bleeding Steel was made in the late 80's or early 90's it would be looked at very differently today. I think, once you have had your first viewing of it and know what to expect, the next will be a pleasure. In the end, its all about entertaining the audience and it does that perfectly fine regardless. I must also point out that I recently got the Hong Kong Blu-ray in my collection, and actually found a new love for the film. The mix of Mandarin and English languages worked much better than then complete English dub, and actually made more sense overall. The film's also very well shot, beautifully captured by cinematographer Tony Cheung who also shot Jackie's Drunken master 2 (1994) and Dragon Blade (2015), but also many other Hong Kong greats like What Price Survival (1994), Black Mask (1996), Beast Cops (1998), 14 Blades (2010) and others, which is highlighted well in HD. Unfortunately the Lionsgate UK and US release removed all original Mandarin language (as well as the bloopers and closing Police Story theme song by Jackie) and only put out a dubbed version. So, in my opinion, if you can get your hands on the HK release, you'll definitely enjoy it even more. But for me, Bleeding Steel doesn't deserve to be ignored and is absolutely worth checking out!

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Overall: A tad messy yes, but Bleeding Steel offers an original role for Chan who still entertains in this fun ride!

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Kam & Ronson Blu-ray Extras: Music Video, Trailer

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German Steelbook Blu-ray Extras: Music Video, Trailer

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Lionsgate DVD Extras: None! Remember when distributors used to respect Jackie Chan releases?