Mad Mission, the first of the series, is the brainchild of singer/actor Samuel Hui (who, with his brother Michael, did a bunch of successful series in the late 70's and early 80's, like Private Eyes and Security Unlimited), producer/director Karl Maka and helmer Eric Tsang. Technically, the original MM it's a quasi-remake of 1972's Get Charlie Tully (a.k.a. Ooh, You Are Awful, with Dick Emery), to the point of recycling some gags scene by scene. The story shows how super-thief Sam "King" Kong (Sam Hui) managed to steal some diamonds in Hong Kong, only to become the target of the Italian Mafia, the Royal Hong Kong Police (personified by Sylvia Chang's character, the no-nonsense tough cop Nancy "Hot Tongue" Ho), and the AMERICAN detective Albert "Kodyjack" Au (Maka) (sadly, the joke that Kodyjack is REALLY supposed to be an American was lost in the dubbing).

Well, so far, so good... except for the fact that the movie never takes itself seriously for a single moment! From the unlikely friendship that develops between the burglar Sam and Kodyjack ("Hot Tongue" is almost always kept on the sides, unfortunately) comes one of the wackiest comedic duos since, uh, Tom & Jerry - and they are fully responsible to carry on the paper-thin plots of the series with their charm and comic timing. Of course, the outrageous set pieces and actions scenes help a lot, specially the last chase with remote-controlled cars rigged with bombs (something that Andy Sidaris later borrowed for his L.E.T.H.A.L. Force series). I don't want to give away the best gags (let the trailer do that), but keep an eye out for cameos from co-producer Dean Shek (who appears in lots of early Jackie Chan movies like Drunken Master and Snake In the Eagle's Shadow), the diminutive comedian/choreographer Hon Gwok Choi (Tiger. Vs. Dragon, Fearless Hyena II) as the snitch "Big Wang", and a young Tsui Hark as the director of a ballet that, with the "help" of Sam and Kodyjack, becomes a stage version of Dino DeLaurentiis' Flash Gordon (don't ask, just watch and try to catch the references!).

Mad Mission II, made with an even bigger budget, abandons the Charlie Tully connection and becomes an even wackier animal. How wackier? Well... the story starts with Henry Kissinger (!!!), still pissed off about the diamond heist from the first movie, hiring a Clint Eastwood look alike, Filthy Harry, to nail Sam and the traitor Kodyjack. How he does that? Well, Filthy Harry is a mercenary cowboy, so what a cowboy would do to get rid of an enemy?

Send a big giant transformer robot to his house, of course! But that's only part of the plot. The other main plot is about a mystery woman, Juliette, who's always tricking the easily seduced Sam to unknowingly rob banks and jewelries - and he ends up having to evade the cops AND arrive in time for the marriage of Kodyjack and Hot Tongue! Apart from the two Robotech-styled fights, you also get a bike chase, Sam riding a jetpack (c'mon, EVERYBODY loves jetpacks!) and Tsui Hark reappearing in the role of mental convict who fancies himself as an FBI agent - and, later, as an anti-bomb squad specialist.

But wait. You STILL haven't seen nothing yet! Mad Mission III, directed by Hark, is bigger, more ambitious and even more over-the-top than anything you may have seen in terms of comedy-adventure! The skinny: a James Bond look alike (played by a guy billed as Neil Connery, but NOT related to Sean) and a fake Queen Elizabeth (who's ORIENTAL!) con Sam into "stealing back" the crown's jewels - but they forget to mention that the jewels were never stolen in the first place! What this fake Bond wants is to sell the crown to a rich Arab who likes to collect expensive souvenirs, like the Statue of Liberty.

Sounds simple? Not so fast, cowboy. Hark, probably inspired by the big budget, throws even the kitchen sink in the story. We have cameos by Richard Kiel (a.k.a. Jaws from the James Bond series), Peter Graves on full Mission: Impossible mode (complete with self-destructing messages), an Odd job look alike and much, MUCH more. How much more? Well... all I can say is that an army of acrobatic Santa Clauses on jetpacks is just the BEGINNING of a long sequence that just gets crazier and crazier! Apart from that, you have pop culture jokes from anything to Jaws and Grand Slam to Max Max and Star Wars (the fake Bond's private army is as closer as they get to a Stormtrooper look without risking a lawsuit from Lucasfilm), and keep a sharp eye on the screen during the crime-solving computer scene. Unfortunately, this third installment lacks a lot of the heart that makes the series so lovable, and is usually viewed as the weakest of all (not counting the abysmal fifth installment, Mad Mission 5: The Terracota Hit).

And finally we have Mad Mission 4, the darkest installment of the series thanks to the direction of Ringo Lam. This one tells the story of a crystal that can be used to turn normal people into super-soldiers, and is sought after by a mischievous guy played by Ronald Lacey - better known as the bespectacled melting Nazi from the original Raiders of the Lost Ark.

If Michael Jackson dangling babies from the window outrages you, then be prepared for a heart attack: one of the very first stunts shows a REAL 4-year old kid hanging from a six-floor building. In fact, for the first time on the series we have a real sense of danger. So far, all the deaths and violence were pretty much cartooney. THIS time, we see Sammy really pissed, mowing villains with a machine gun - AND shooting to kill. But even with a higher body count (even innocent bystanders are shot dead), there's also place for the trademark humor of the series - mainly on a hockey game where the coach is none other than the legendary Wong Fei Hong (you even hear WFH's theme song!). Some people may be really pissed off with some humorous no-no's (that 4 y/o kid I mentioned also appears playing with real guns and live ammo!), but IMHO, this one still holds as the most exciting of the entire MM series.

Anchor Bay gave us really cool, anamorphic transfers for the four titles but, apart from long trailers that give away all the best stunts (avoid watching them before seeing the movies!), the amount of extras is exactly... zero! Another thing that kinda pissed me off is the English-dubbed only soundtrack, where lots of jokes were lost in the translation. If you want to hear the original track, you have to get the Universe editions (with a remixed 5.1 Mandarin/Cantonese track, and English subtitles). But, caveat emptor, Peter Graves is dubbed in the Universe DVDs, while his real voice can be heard only in the the Anchor Bay DVDs.