Who Am I? (Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits) - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Who Am I? (Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits)



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Coming in as the last film (date-wise) in the Arrow collection, we have a film that I have been waiting to hit HD (or UHD in this case) for literally YEARS. Who Am I? Was that classic Jackie Chan film that I watched over and over again as a teen to the point where I actually had my mom hiding my VHS copy. And as many of his 90s films were released here in the USA, I never realized just HOW badly we chopped that film up for the American cut. Kind of like Rumble in the Bronx or Police Story 4: First Strike, Who Am I? was one of the films that not only got re-edited, but had about 14 minutes' worth of footage cut from the film. Combined with changing the score, it turned Who Am I? from a well-paced action thriller to a hyper-frenetic action/comedy that would appeal to Western audiences. And like usual, the unedited Hong Kong edit is drastically superior to the American cut from a film critic's point of view. Sure, the American cut is faster-paced and has a more appealing score (to our Western sensibilities), but it took out the entire African village scene, and sliced and diced the villain’s machinations as well.

Once more, Jackie Chan is playing…..Jackie Chan. A soldier of fortune who engages in a black ops mission to steal a meteorite fragment from a convoy, only to wake up with amnesia after the fact. Rescued by a village in Africa, he awakens only to realize that he has no idea who he is. Now he’s got CIA agents after him to cover up the fact that the original mission was done off the books, and you have the basis for your average Jackie Chan movie. Basically, he has to figure out who he is, and kick some butt along the way.

The story (for a Jackie Chan movie) is stronger than most, as the first half of the film features very little action at all. In fact, it’s played for comedic laughs along with some dark introspection over his amnesia. But those added bits with the African village and the CIA villain, Morgan (Ron Smerczak), actually give us the semblance of a plot. But hey, this is a Jackie Chan movie, and you’re not here for a dark and serious Jason Bourne adventure. You’re here to watch Jackie Chan punch and roundhouse kick bad guys into oblivion. And the second half of the movie does that in spades.

Now for the real reason any of us actually watch the film. The infamous roof fight with Ron Smoorenburg and Yung Kwan. If you’re a fan of action fight scenes at all, you’ve likely already seen this particular fight. It’s basically been a staple of every “best Jackie Chan fight scenes!” on YouTube for the last 20+ years, and for good reason. That fight is probably one of the best fight sequences of Jackie’s career, rivaling even his early 80s works with Benny “the Jet” Urquidez. It’s one of those fights that is so good that if the entire runtime of the film up until that point was just Jackie Chan trying to sell you Sham Wow products, it would still be worth the watch. Ron Smoorenburg’s incredible leg work, combined with Yung Kwan’s comedic timing, make this one of the best fights of Jackie’s career, and easily the highlight of the entire film. It’s THAT good




Rated PG-13 for martial arts action violence (International Cut) / Not Rated by the MPAA (Hong Kong Cut)




Video: Video:

Since there’s never been a North American Blu-ray release for me to compare it against, I have no frame of reference. BUT, when comparing against the rest of the films in this collection, Who Am I? Looks amazing. It’s got that late 90s visual look, complete with a push towards amber browns and some pale-looking facial tones. And of course a few shots that look out of focus on the edges (something that was weirdly prevalent in a lot of 90s Hong Kong films). But other than that, this new remaster looks amazing. The opening scene offers some great colors with the green foliage, while the African village is incredibly ruddy and showcases intense reds and browns really well. Fine detailing looks great, and overall I can’t see any major problems with the disc at all. In fact, it looks near perfect.

One thing to bring up is that the same Dolby Vision quirk that we had on the Rumble in the Bronx Hong Kong Cut is found here as well, just in the International Cut. Basically, there’s a minor quirk where when you put the disc in a Panasonic UB9000 or UB820 4k UHD player, it will output a black screen, or everything is green-tinged. This is ONLY an issue with those two Panny players, and nonexistent in every other brand of player out there. Arrow has already put out a statement about the issue, and I’m copying that statement in for informational purposes

"We have learned of a compatibility issue between our 4K UHD edition on Disc 1 of Rumble In The Bronx and & Disc 2 of Who Am I, in our Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits! release and certain Panasonic UHD players: when attempting to play the film with Dolby Vision activated, the film plays with audio but no picture. Two workarounds exist in order to play the film on these players: one, if you de-activate Dolby Vision, the film will play correctly in HDR10; two, if you put in another disc with Dolby Vision, play the Dolby Vision content for a few seconds, eject the disc without turning off the player, then put in the respective disc, the Dolby Vision issue should be resolved. (You will, however, need to repeat these steps in order to watch the film again.)

Prior to manufacture, we quality check every disc in a range of players, including models by LG, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung as well as the X-Box X/S and PS5. We have purchased an additional Panasonic model to add to our checks going forward, and have reached out to them about the possibility of a firmware update to address these issues; we would recommend all customers affected also reach out to them, as we are confident the disc has been authored to the correct specifications.

We appreciate having to go through these steps in order to play the disc is frustrating, but because the disc has been authored correctly and to industry specifications, and works correctly on all other players, we will not be re-authoring the disc or implementing a replacement program. If unsatisfied, we would recommend returning the product to the retailer you purchased from for a refund."






Audio:

As has been the case for all of the films, the International cut gets an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, and a trimmed-down 2.0 LPCM track, while the Hong Kong cut gets several varying mixes. The first being a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track in English, with some Cantonese and Xhosa (the African dialect) thrown in, or a 5.1 mix without the Cantonese (but still includes the Xhosa), as well as a 2.0 LPCM track of the English/Cantonese/Xhosa mix. All sound quite nice, with strong surround support in the 5.1 mixes, and some punchy bass for car crashes, fisticuffs, and even a few explosions near the opening of the film. Personally, I found that the English/Xhosa/Cantonese track on the Hong Kong Cut sounds sharper and cleaner than the other mixes, but not by a whole ton.









Extras:

Disc One: Hong Kong Cut

• Commentary by James Mudge
• Breakout! Part 6: Who Am I?
• From Drunk to Slam Dunk!: Jackie Chan in the New Millennium
• The Making of Who Am I? i
-- Part 1: Jackie's On Set Diary
-- Part 2: A Leap of Faith and Sweat
-- Part 3: Heroes Revealed
• Alternate English Credits
• Textless Outtakes
• HK Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

Disc Two: International Cut

• Who, When and Where with Ray Wong
• Jostling with Jackie and Glory Simon
• US Video Trailer

Final Score: ​

Who Am I? Is weirdly one of Jackie’s strongest plot efforts in years, yet strangely one of the most forgettable plot-wise. That being said, it also features some of the greatest fights of his career, and probably THE best fight sequence of his Hollywood 90s films. Played nearly 100% for laughs compared to the darker spy tone that the film starts out with, it’s a bit inconsistent, but still one of the more fun films in his filmography. And let's face it, the Hong Kong cut is a drastic improvement over the international “USA” cut, and this is the very first time we’ve had access to that cut in anything over 480p to date. So add in Arrow’s exceptional extras, and both cuts of the film, and this is one heckuva buy.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto, Ron Smerczak, Ron Smoorenburg, Yung Kwan
Directed by: Benny Chan, Jackie Chan
Written by: Jackie Chan, Susan Chan, Lee Reynolds
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English LPCM 2.0 (International Cut), English/Xhosa/Cantonese 5.1 DTS-HD MA 5.1, English/Xhosa DTS-HD MA 5.1, Cantonese LPCM 2.0 (Hong Kong Cut)
Subtitles: English SDH, English
Studio: Arrow
Rated: NR/PG-13
Runtime: 120 minutes (Hong Kong Cut) / 107 Minutes (International Cut)
Blu-ray Release Date: June 30th, 2026

Recommendation: Fun Watch