Judged by any rational standards, Rumble is absolute bollocks, but it at least has some pretty darned amazing Chan fight scenes.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
This is a good introduction to the affable Chan persona. The comedy is broad, the inner-city Americana hilariously off-base, and the English dubbing may prove disconcerting to U.S. audiences. But the cheesiness is part of the fun.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Although Rumble in the Bronx isn't Chan's best work it's still ninety minutes of solid, campy entertainment. Most of the running time is devoted to the slickly choreographed action scenes, leaving virtually no room for plot or character development.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
A mainly routine Hong Kong action film from fleet and floppy-haired action hero Jackie Chan. It's light on plot and character, but the stunts are well staged.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
An awkward hybrid of Asian and American film techniques. It's also an uninvolving story that casts Chan in the role of a fish out of water and gives him little opportunity to show his exuberant personality.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Rumble in the Bronx never quite achieves the smack-you-around zest of Chan's Hong Kong pictures. Still, it's hard to dislike a movie with such a friendly sense of the preposterous.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Any attempt to defend this movie on rational grounds is futile. The whole point is Jackie Chan, he does what he does better than anybody. He's having fun. If we allow ourselves to get in the right frame of mind, so are we.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
The movie is a giddy triple somersault of a film that makes no sense whatsoever, although in its best moments it is as much fun to watch as a death-defying circus act.