Here's a review of another new JACKIE CHAN film... WHO AM I, this one sent in by Eric The Viking.
That rare thing, a long Jackie Chan movie. Two hours...and I didn't notice. It was consistently entertaining, no dead stops for something really boring to happen, or lame attempts at humor -- the humor is actually funny, and not the usually pleasantly silly Jackie humor, but belly laugh funny. Hell, this film survived an extended sequence early on that, in the copy I saw, had no subtitles (most of the film is in English, but there's a lengthy sequence with an African tribe in their language) without losing my interest. Partly because Jackie keeps pausing to run up trees, and have flashbacks to well filmed, exciting military maneuvers. The film has an incredibly high budget, that extends to some actual CGI work, and lots of crane shots, and helicopter shots of a sort you simply don't see in HK movies. The cinematographer is the great Poon Hang-Sang (The Heroic Trio, A Chinese Ghost Story), and so we actually have a Jackie Chan movie that looks professional. Jackie wrote the screenplay, which isn't usually a good sign, but, to my surprise, it's very good. It has a good, comprehensible plot, that follows a satisfying progression of events -- the best stuff is saved for last, (without forgetting to put good stuff throughout the film), and the film has a great ending. It allows Jackie to do some acting, and is written well enough that those dramatic scenes don't seem trivial and boring. It has, flat out, the best, most inventive, car chase I've ever seen, as well as some simply astounding scenes involving lions, clogs, sloping roofs, and a flat out genius final fight, that goes on for a very long time. It's the equal of the climax to Drunken Master II -- though, ultimately, Who Am I is no DMII -- not in lack of creativity, but because Who Am I is only escapist thrills. As escapist thrills go, it kicks the shit out of anything released here yet, and it'll be a crying shame if Columbia goes through with their plans to release it direct to video.
