Wheels on Meals (1984)

Wheels on Meals (1984)

6/10

Starring

Jackie Chan

Sammo Hung

Yuen Biao

Directed by Sammo Hung

The combined efforts of the men who made Project A a masterpiece—Jackie Chan (as Thomas), Sammo Hung (as Moby), and Yuen Biao (as David)—are also present in this film. The three, who went to school together when they were young, are favorites among critics. They can also be found in starring roles in three out of the seven Lucky Stars franchise films by Sammo Hung.

This movie showcases good martial arts at the highest level, and the story flows food sellers to heroic buddies who want to save a girl they’ve fallen for.

The movie follows two men (Thomas and David) who run a fast-food van in Barcelona (where the movie was shot). David does the food prep, and Thomas handles the delivery. A little rivalry brews between the two friends when a lady named Sylvia comes between them. However, Sylvia isn’t who she appears to be.

After a series of events lead to Sylvia getting into trouble, they run into Moby, a private detective, and the three work together to get Sylvia out of harm’s way.

The movie features some really impressive fight scenes, look out for the one between professional kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez and Jackie Chan.

The movie production has an interesting superstition. Golden Harvest didn’t want the title to be Meals on Wheels. That would have made more sense since Chan’s character delivers meals on skates. They also didn’t want the title to start with "M," fearing it would lead to a box office flop. Maybe it was their superstition working in their favor that made this movie a success. Or Sammo Hung’s direction, the acting, and Chan’s action directing that made the movie a success. We’ll never know. The point is, the movie was a success both critically and commercially.

The movie spawned successful comic books and video games, becoming a lucrative franchise. Like some foreign movies, it had a different release name in other countries. The franchise became known as Spartan X.

As much as I liked this movie, and believe you should see it, I have to say that, it has its drawbacks. Starting with, it has a pretty weak plot, mostly serving as an excuse for action and comedy rather than a solid story. The humor, though playful, sometimes feels forced and doesn’t always match the tone of the film. The fight choreography isn’t as tight as in some of Jackie Chan’s other movies.

One thing about this movie is, not many of my friends when I was younger knew about its existence, but once we did, we realized it was not worth seeing it, not one of Jackie Chan’s best.