STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: FILM “Wheels on Meals”

What do you do if you see a girl being chased by scary looking men? Well, if you’ve seen any martial arts film, you use your fighting skills to protect her.

Directed by Sammo Hung (credited as Samo Hung), and written by Edward Tang and Johnny Lee, Wheels on Meals is the story of two cousins who operate their own food truck in Spain. They come across a pickpocket who is being hunted by scary looking tough guys, so they have to use their martial arts skills to protect her.

Meanwhile, a bumbling private investigator is hired to find the pickpocket for unknown reasons, other than he should do it for a lot of money.

On the surface, the film seems to have a simple rescue story with some great comedy bits… you’re not wrong, it is. There’s some random story elements that involves an evil count who appears late in the game, and a comedic scene in a mental ward, since one of the cousin’s father is a patient in. It’s very clear that the film is very much centered on the actors and the action, both excel and, in my opinion, are at the top of their game in this film.

While my personal favorite fight scene from Jackie Chan is in the film Who Am I?, this film had a more visceral fight scene and a lot of good comedy within the situation and the fight scenes.

Chan may have the standout finale fight scene, but his allies, played by Yuen Biao and Hung, deserve to have a shout-out too. They have their own fight scenes, but it’s Chan who had the extended fight. However, they all have hilarious gags within every one of their fight scenes.

Sylvia, the pickpocket, is a slyly written character, but she doesn’t exactly have depth to her. In fact, none of the characters are, since the film isn’t a character driven film.

It’s also (unintentionally) funny to see how “technologically advanced” the food truck that the cousins have is. Just push some buttons, and it opens up its little food bench and trunk. There’s even a 3-D model on a screen that shows what the buttons will do.

I found out about the film when I discovered YouTube back when it first launched in 2005, if not 2006. I was in a huge Jackie Chan phase of my life, and I lucked into finding fight scenes from his films on YouTube. Wheels on Meals is listed as one of Chan’s best fight scenes in the film, and it was one I never heard of, since his Hong Kong films I was the least familiar with at that time. When I finally got a chance to see it, it instantly became my favorite of the “Three Dragons” (Chan, Hung, and Biao) films.

Wheels on Meals has the action and the humor that Jackie Chan is famous for, and it transcends all language barriers. Amazing stunt work and car chases/stunts just makes the film one of the standouts in everyone’s careers.