Wham! Bam! Thank you, Chan! In Jackie Chan’s latest one-two punch of a movie, “First Strike,” he literally takes on the role of a Yankee James Bond — almost to plagiarizing proportions.

He plays Jackie, a CIA agent charged with tracking down Tsui (played by Jackson Lou), a Russian double agent who filched a nuclear weapon from the American government.

In addition to the Cold War-esque plot, “First Strike” has all of the elements of a 007 flick, including the obligatory scene on a Ukrainian ski slope where Jackie is chased by dudes decked out in white from head to ski.

To be honest, if I’d wanted to see a James Bond movie, I certainly could’ve rented one. “First Strike” swings and misses in the entire plot department, simply because it’s all been done before — and much, much better.

Another annoying aspect of the movie is the horrible over-dubbing, which also occurs in Chan’s first film aimed at American audiences, “Rumble in the Bronx.” At first, the mismatch of voices and mouth movement is almost comical, but after 15 minutes, the entire movie was cheapened.

I could overlook it in “Rumble,” simply because the humor of the over-dubbing seemed to match the lighthearted tone of the movie, but with the supposed seriousness of “First Strike,” I could have done without the stereotyped kung-fu movie voices.

To complain just a tad more, I must also wonder about the sexism that creeps into this movie. Jackie is desperately trying to protect Annie (played by Chen Chun Wu), the sister of Tsui, from the “new and improved KGB.”

While Jackie’s working his heiny off to whisk her to safety, all Annie can do is scream and whine. It’s times like these when Chan could have really innovated and allowed Annie (or any other female character) to be as strong and fearless as he is. Sadly, he falls short in this capacity and imitates every other action movie when “burly man saves weak woman.”

The only possible thing that could overcome all of these blockbuster bombshells is Jackie Chan himself, who brings humanity and regular-guy humor to the role of superhero. Not to mention his magnificent, that’s-gotta-hurt stunts.

It is in the action department that Chan actually out-Van Dammes Van Damme. The aforementioned ski scene is one huge conglomeration of intricately choreographed fights and non-stop death defiance, with the delightful addition of Chan’s sense of humor.

Unlike Schwartzenegger or Stallone, for instance, Chan actually gets hurt when fighting the bad guys. We actually — gasp! — see emotion on his face.

But the real gem comes further into the movie when Jackie single-handedly reduces a band of thugs to putty, using — of all things — a broom, a table, sheet rock and (gulp) a ladder (!).

There’s also a massive underwater chase and fight, complete with man-eating sharks and our hero swimming around without an oxygen tank. So while Jackie was holding his breath, so was the audience.

So yes, I’d say that the fight scenes make the rest of the movie halfway palatable, but ideally, I’d go out and rent “Rumble in the Bronx” instead of heading to the theater.

“Rumble” embodies Jackie Chan’s true talents much better than “First Strike,” namely, his humor, humanity and how-the-hell-did-he-do-that stunts.

Sarah Wolf is a senior in English and a Lifestyles veteran from Lenexa, Kansas. Look for upcoming reviews of Evita and The People Vs. Larry Flint in Lifestyles’ new Girl on Film column.