Jackie Chan goes all mystical and mythic on our collective arseholes in this engagingly silly fantasy.
The plot: Our man Chan plays renowned archaeologist Jack (yeah, I know, I know. Just roll with it) who seems to be experiencing two lives at once. The first, his normal if pretty exciting life digging up relics and unearthing ancient artifacts, his second, a world of dreams in which he is an ancient Chinese warrior, set around the time the Great Wall of China was first constructed, approximately 200 years BC.
Inevitably, the two worlds collide, and the heroic Jack must do battle against foes both mythic and mortal to uncover the location of an ancient mausoleum that could yet provide the secret of immortality.
Wilfully silly, this is pure flight of fancy stuff, unusual for Chan, but he takes it all in his impressively athletic stride. Jackie's knocking on a bit by now, already into his 50's, but that doesn't stop him leaping around the set like a thing possessed, the trademark fast paced, close contact martial arts on show, along with his uncanny ability to use whatever is in the vicinity. One scene of genuine Jackie Chan gold involves a fight on a conveyor belt that is coated in super strong adhesive, forcing Chan to improvise, removing articles of clothing from both himself and those around him to navigate his way to safety.
Funny and impressive all at the same time.
Whilst not up there with his earlier movies - Project A, Police Story et al - this is nevertheless something of a return to form after the unwatchable diabolicus that was the Rush Hour franchise.
3 out of 5
Showing posts with label Jackie Chan movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jackie Chan movie. Show all posts
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Jackie Chan's First Strike (1996) Dir: Stanley Tong
Also known as Police Story 4, this sees Chan's Supercop on the trail of a missing nuclear warhead, a trail that sees him globe-trotting quite impressively taking in, amongst other places, Australia and The Ukraine.
Not much else to say about the plot as, clearly, in movies such as this, the plot is ultimately playing a massive second fiddle to the action in much the same way as a Bond movie; the plot is merely a device used as an excuse to stage ludicrously over the top action set pieces. It's interesting to note that, when planning the reboot of the Bond franchise with Casino Royale a couple of years ago, the Bond team consulted extensively with those responsible for choreographing the action and fight sequences in Chan's movies.
Impressive.
Most impressive.
Chan is his usual, high energy bundle of litheness, springing around the set like a simian half his age, making use of everything in his vicinity to fend off the bad guys including, in one dizzying sequence, a full size stepladder.
The Bond homages are plentiful, the snowbound chase on snowcats through an alpine forest being the one that springs immediately to mind, along with the anthemic, chest thumping incidental music that accompanies it which could have been lifted direct from the Roger Moore era.
Only one small gripe here, which is the principle female lead. In most Jackie Chan movies, the women, whilst poorly scripted, are nonetheless kick ass when it comes to the fighting, more than able to hold their own in the kung fu stakes, and even get to take part in some of the more dangerous stunts. Here, the main female, Annie Tsui, played by Annie Wu, is nothing short of an irritant, constantly weeping and screaming and coming across as a bit of a wet fish, which is a shame.
I am a little puzzled, too, as to the version I watched, which seemed to end bizarrely. I have seen this movie before, though many moons ago, and I seem to recall a rather cool denouement involving a hovercraft, though that was completely absent, the movie ending abruptly after roughly one hour fifteen minutes. Now, I did watch this on Channel 5 (UK) and they can hardly be considered a broadcaster of excellence, though even for them, truncating a movie before the final showdown would be a new low. If anyone can shed any light on this, perhaps reassuring me that I am not entirely deluded, I'd appreciate it.
Certainly not Jackie's best movie, but a diverting enough way to spend an afternoon nonetheless.
Not much else to say about the plot as, clearly, in movies such as this, the plot is ultimately playing a massive second fiddle to the action in much the same way as a Bond movie; the plot is merely a device used as an excuse to stage ludicrously over the top action set pieces. It's interesting to note that, when planning the reboot of the Bond franchise with Casino Royale a couple of years ago, the Bond team consulted extensively with those responsible for choreographing the action and fight sequences in Chan's movies.
Impressive.
Most impressive.
Chan is his usual, high energy bundle of litheness, springing around the set like a simian half his age, making use of everything in his vicinity to fend off the bad guys including, in one dizzying sequence, a full size stepladder.
The Bond homages are plentiful, the snowbound chase on snowcats through an alpine forest being the one that springs immediately to mind, along with the anthemic, chest thumping incidental music that accompanies it which could have been lifted direct from the Roger Moore era.
Only one small gripe here, which is the principle female lead. In most Jackie Chan movies, the women, whilst poorly scripted, are nonetheless kick ass when it comes to the fighting, more than able to hold their own in the kung fu stakes, and even get to take part in some of the more dangerous stunts. Here, the main female, Annie Tsui, played by Annie Wu, is nothing short of an irritant, constantly weeping and screaming and coming across as a bit of a wet fish, which is a shame.
I am a little puzzled, too, as to the version I watched, which seemed to end bizarrely. I have seen this movie before, though many moons ago, and I seem to recall a rather cool denouement involving a hovercraft, though that was completely absent, the movie ending abruptly after roughly one hour fifteen minutes. Now, I did watch this on Channel 5 (UK) and they can hardly be considered a broadcaster of excellence, though even for them, truncating a movie before the final showdown would be a new low. If anyone can shed any light on this, perhaps reassuring me that I am not entirely deluded, I'd appreciate it.
Certainly not Jackie's best movie, but a diverting enough way to spend an afternoon nonetheless.
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