Goldberg74

Okay, in a moment of weakness and sheer boredom, my buddy and I went and saw the new Jackie Chan flick.

My opinion: Simply put, stay away... far away!!!!

It was bad, just plain bad. The movie couldn't decide if it was a Hong Kong film, a comedy, an action film or pure camp.

The acting was horrible (read: Claire Forlani), the dubbing was aweful (yes, they dubbed the Asian actors - even Jackie), and the comedy was far worse (read: Lee Evans).

The wire-fu was slow and painful. The ending sequence seemed like a low budget melding of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Mortal Kombat. Sammo Hung is credited for the choreography.

I laughed only because I actually paid for the movie (we went to the 10:00 PM show, but its only $6 with college ID).

My buddy lived in Hong Kong for few years, so he thought it was a normal Hong Kong import, but still stated it was the worst Chan film he had seen.

Hands down the worst film I've seen this summer... I will [jericho] never ever ever ever ever ever [/jericho] see this film again.

jhansla

my thoughts are why would anyone want to see this film. The trailers were so bad is just looked like The Tuxedo but with a Medallion this time around.

Hokeyboy

Claire Forlani = Kiss of Death

effigy

Ebert gave it 2 thumbs up.

RyoHazuki

Wasnt this movie originally supposed to co-star Rowan Atkinson?

Goldberg74

From Greg's Previews (www.upcomingmovies.com):

RocShemp

I liked it. This is the first time I've found Lee Evans funny. Was it great? No. Terrible? No. It was just good. But I found the bloopers disturbing since they were taken from deleted scenes. It also bothered me that the Hong Kong scenes were unnecesarrily dubbed. If we're in Honk Kong I think it's okay for people to be speaking in Chinese. And why was Anthony Wong dubbed when he can clearly speak English (only in the Honk Kong scenes was he speaking in Chinese)?

Though I will buy this film on DVD, I want Jackie Chan to do a non-wire work film without the restraints of Hollywood. After all, even though Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights are the closest his Hollywood movies have come to their Hong Kong counterparts, they still show restraint and some bad decisions. By that last comment I'm refering to Shanghai Knights. The Jackie Chan vs. Donnie Yen fight was way too brief especially when you consider that this is their first on-screen encounter ever in their careers. Instead the big fight is between Jackie and the English guy's stunt double. Lame choice.

Let's hope the promised Jackie Chan/Jet Li project features a huge battle between them because the Jet Li vs. Mark Dacascos fight at the end of Cradle 2 Grave was a total letdown.

Patman

Going in I knew pretty much nothing about the film, beside it featured a medallion, Jackie Chan, and a little boy (most likely, the chosene one). I had some time to kill while waiting for my car to be repair (I hate unexpected large repair bills!), so I walked on over to catch a movie at the nearby theater, and "The Medallion" was the only one that would end before closing time at the repair shop.

The film is pretty much a standard Jackie Chan vehicle in terms of very little characterization (though there are some bits of background that try to flesh out how the main characters relate to one another, it's all pretty superficial) and some good stunt work, with bits of comedy sprinkled dryly throughout the film. So know that it's your standard Jackie Chan flick, with some supernatural bits tossed in so Jackie gets to do some special effects within the framework of the film (a la wire-work, etc), but he still does some of his amazing stuntwork when he's still normal in the 1st act of the film. There are 2 pretty big laughs in the film that had the audience rolling.

It was a treat to see Claire Forlani in a film where she seems pretty happy to be in the film because she seemed to have a good time shooting it. It was getting a little morose seeing her in overly dramatic parts in the last 5 years. Also, she gets to kick some butt, but for some reason they used a stunt double for Claire in some of the more athletic scenes, and her stunt double appears to be an Asian woman with purplish highlights in her hair.

Lee Evans, probably a name you won't recognize, but has a face you will (was the psycho guy in "Something About Mary" who deliverered pizzas, I think, among other disguises). He's annoying at first, but once he settles down into his groove, he gets off a few funny lines based on who his character is.

Julian Sands didn't have much material to work with as the villain in the film. It could have been anyone in that role, for the most part.

The child playing the Chosen One was okay, he didn't have a lot to do, but had a winning smile.

So if you have 90 minutes to kill, it's a decent enough flick, but don't have high expectations.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

Oh, don't forget to stay for the outtakes, there are some funny ones and painful ones (that remind you that Jackie still does many of his stunts and they don't always go right on the first take).

Der Krieger1979

I hate all of Chan's movies so I wasn't planning on seeing it anyway :P

Trigger

I thought it was pretty bad as well - and I thought it looked good from the trailer. The first half was the worst... the movie picked up in the third act. They left alot of loose ends and didn't really flesh out any of the characters, but it was about as cohesive as any hollywood flick... not typical of a HK flick. The film's biggest problem was the white actors. Lee Evans mugged his way through the entire film (as usual) and was generally sucky and overacting. I don't have a problem with Claire - she's not the worst actress ever and at least she's pretty. The biggest problem was just that there wasn't enough good action. The wirework wasn't very good... usually it doesn't bother me at all. It was much better than Tuxedo, but not as good as I had hoped. I got a kick out of seeing all the cameos from the HK A-list... alot of really famous waiters.

badger1997

I got the feeling this was more for his younger fans anyways. I didn't think it was that bad, but my daughter loved it. She actually recognized the trailer for the movie before I knew what it was when we went to see Spy Kids 3-D and it turned out Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon (can't remember which and it might have actually been both I guess) were promoting the hell out of it. It surprised me, but my daughter loves Jackie Chan and come to find out she's been watching his cartoon show. So I didn't see too much harm in this movie. Not great by any stretch of the imagination but I think most of those who complain about aren't really the intended audience anyways.

RyoHazuki

Promised? Where did you hear this?

RocShemp

Old news, actually. Jackie Chan has talked about it a lot in recent years and pretty much hinted that he'd like to retire after their on-screen pairing. It was also listed as a future project in Jet Li's official site. The only detail (storywise) that's known so far is that if/when it happens Jackie Chan will be the villain (he's wanted to get his ass handed to him since Police Story III and wanted to lose at the end of the remach with Allan at the end of Gorgeous but the producers wouldn't allow it).

This wouldn't be the first time Jackie has played the villain BTW.

mdc3000

this was EASILY Chan's worst... besides being a tired, muddled mess of a story with some pretty atrocious acting... it has some of the worst cinematography and editing I've seen in a long time... it's like even the filmmakers had no idea what was supposed to be happening in any given scene...the editor sure as **** didn't know.... This movie was PAINFUL to watch, and I usually enjoy Chan flicks... give me the Tuxedo any day of the week over this piece of ****...

MATT

PixyJunket

Wow.. the trailer actually sold me 100% not to see this one, espically with that really cool MTV song they had playing. That means it's extreme!!

mmconhea

I thought it was terrible (coming from a long time Chan fan). Though the wire-fu was still 10 times better than that seen in the "great" Crouching Tiger movie. At least the stunt men in this movie can make it look thike they know what they are doing, not just waving their arms and kicking their feet wildly. I saw it for the stusts and I got my 5.50 worth.

RoboDad

I didn't think the story was as bad as the cinematography and editing (editing? what editing??) made it seem. There were some storylines that simply went nowhere, but I suspect that there must have been footage shot for them.

And that is the crux of what went wrong here. Jackie has been making movies for a long time. He may not be an oscar-caliber actor, but I believe he is smart enough that he would have avoided this project like the plague if the script had sounded as confused as the final product ended up appearing.

No, I am convinced that the director, cinematographer (what was the deal with all of those shots with the camera clear down at the ground, looking almost straight up during outdoor conversation scenes?), and the slightly slow-witted hamster who masqueraded as an editor (apologies to hamster-lovers everywhere!) are to blame for the destruction of what might have been a reasonably good Chan movie.

But that isn't the worst part. You know what the worst part is? Being the obsessive, compulsive Chan completist that I am, I'll probably be buying the stinking DVD when it comes out!