Jackie Chan is Asia's most popular movie star and in Project A II it's easy to see why. Producer, co-writer, director and star of this exhilarating action-comedy, Chan plays Dragon Ma, an eager cop in turn-of-the-century Hong Kong, assigned to a district overrun with corrupt cops, mobsters, revolutionaries, mainland spies and grounded pirates. Chan has created a comic tour-de-force, an electrifying blend of slapstick humor and staggering acrobatic action, where each dazzling set-piece tops the one before, culminating in an astonishing chase through Hong Kong's warehouse district. (This includes a wonderful homage to Buster Keaton, to whom Chan is often compared.) Chan's sparkling presence as a performer and deft touch as a director make the film as amiable as it is hair-raising, as light-footed as it is shockingly physical. Sure, it's the sequel to Project A, but don't worry-Part II flies perfectly well on its own. It's stuffed with movie-mad joy; pure, unpretentious, giddy fun-something decidedly missing from Hollywood's factory-made "product". Tod Booth