Synopsis

Hong Kong police officer Chan Ka-kui is recruited to help the CIA track down a missing nuclear warhead. His investigation takes him from Ukraine and Russia to Australia, where a seemingly routine assignment becomes an international conspiracy. Pursued by arms dealers and betrayed by shifting alliances, Chan must rely on improvisation, athleticism, and his trademark physical courage to prevent the weapon from falling into dangerous hands.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is also known as Police Story 4: First Strike, making it the fourth main entry in the Police Story series.

• Unlike the earlier films, the story moves beyond Hong Kong and mainland China. Production used locations in Ukraine, Russia, and Australia, including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Falls Creek in Victoria.

• The snow chase was inspired by the style of a James Bond sequence, with skiing, snowmobiles, and a downhill pursuit replacing the series' more familiar urban action.

• The production filmed an underwater fight at Underwater World on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. The sequence helped give the film one of its most unusual action settings.

• The original version uses Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Russian, and Ukrainian. The North American release dubbed much of the non-English dialogue and used a different musical score.

• To promote the film, Jackie Chan recorded the song "Zenme Hui" and appeared in a related music video. The song is not part of the American theatrical version.

• The film was released in North America on January 10, 1997, after Chan's growing American popularity from Rumble in the Bronx and Supercop.

• First Strike was a major commercial success in Hong Kong and became the highest-grossing film in the territory during Chan's career at that time.

• It was the final Police Story film to retain the original series timeline before the franchise was reworked with New Police Story in 2004.