Jackie Chan

Gong fu yu jia [Kung Fu Yoga] (2017)

Gong fu yu jia [Kung Fu Yoga] (2017)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On TV, October 2019) I chose to watch Kung Fu Yoga based on its rather silly title, but an equally effective way to get me to watch would have been to describe it as Jackie Chan meets Bollywood, because this is as close to a fusion of two beloved genres as I’ve seen so far. The premise isn’t that complicated, with a Chinese archeologist (Jackie Chan, older but still as willing to get into action scenes) teaming up with an Indian heiress (Disha Patani, superb) to find a thousand-year-old treasure. This is an excuse for a lighthearted globetrotting action/adventure film, taking us from glaciers to ancient temples as various treasures are pursued. As an excuse to string actions sequences along a plot threat it’s not bad, but not all segments are equal: There is a lot of CGI here and it’s rarely invisible. While this allows the filmmakers to go as wild as they can (the best sequence is a car chase through Dubai with a mixture of supercars and oversized SUVs, with Jackie Chan hijacking one of the later to find that it has a lion in the back seat), it also gives an unrealistic feel to much of Kung Fu Yoga. (Even as standard-definition broadcast on regular TV, it often looked like a blurry mess.)  The script itself isn’t quite as polished as it could be: While the ending features a classic-style Chan fight sequence followed by nothing else than a classic Bollywood dance number featuring the main cast, what’s in-between is a disappointing anticlimax in which the fighters simply agree to stop as a colourful religious group walks in. Some segments are duller than others when measured against the highlights (such as the Indian Festival sequence featuring Indian rope trick, cobras, and a levitating fakir). The direction feels limited, while the inclusion of subplots featuring younger assistants distracts from Chan’s own character arc—a bit of focus would have helped, even in a film barely more than an hour and a half. Then there’s the quasi-mystical nature of Yoga in this film’s universe, which I’m not going to get into. But even Kung Fu Yoga’s imperfections can’t quite erase the sheer fascinating nature of a Chinese/Indian collaboration with its own geopolitical overtones. (This may be the first silly adventure film to explicitly mention the Chinese government’s grandiose “One Way One Road” policy.) As for me, I’ve always been a Jackie Chan fan and I have an interest in Indian cinema, so Kung Fu Yoga hits two right spots at once.

Zui quan [Drunken Master] (1978)

Zui quan [Drunken Master] (1978)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On TV, July 2019) I watched a lot of Jackie Chan movies in the mid-to-late nineties, but still missed a few—which mean that I can now enjoy them for the first time. Drunken Master is an early Chan leading effort, after he had become big enough to headline movies (this was his fourth starring role), but before he had perfected his affable comic action persona. Unusually enough for Chan, his character here undergoes a modest amount of development, going from an atypical arrogant young man to the kind of more humble comic performance he became famous for. Clearly a product of the 1970s Honk Kong movie industry, Drunken Master has its rough edges: the image is soft, the editing can be rough and the fights don’t have the polish or inventiveness of later productions. Then there’s the language issue—despite the ridiculous sound effects, I’m pretty happy with the French-dubbed version, which does not pretend to be naturalistic at all and is thus immediately understandable without some of the stilted awkwardness of some English subtitled martial arts movies. (The Anglosphere is awesome, but it’s really not as skilled as the Francosphere at dubbing or even translating movies.)  But here is the wonder of Jackie Chan and martial-arts movies in general: Depending so clearly on physical performances from skilled artists, they have a value that transcends time and space to remain enjoyable even now. I’m hardly the first to make the point, but there’s a wonder to the physical performance that feels a lot like classic Hollywood dance numbers. You can say that they’re not making them like that any more, and that’s true: the training regimen and specialized filmmaking units required to make such movies are gone now, and what remains are the movies made during their heyday. This one may not be all that good in terms of plotting (although it does have a cleaner arc than most martial arts movies), but it has an edge in terms of humour and the fight sequence remain spectacular. Drunken Master doesn’t quite match its sequel (which ranks among one of the best martial arts movies of all time), but it’s a lot of fun to watch even now, and a welcome discovery for those Chan fans who missed it until now.

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In French, On TV, November 2018) You’d think that a “remake” taking on not only a classic Jules Verne novel but also the legacy of an Oscar-award-winning 1950s epic movie would struggle to distinguish itself, but that’s not really the case with the 2004 version of Around the World in 80 Days, for reasons both good and abysmal. Let’s not pretend that this is a good movie: By taking the guts of the Verne novel as overlay on an unusually dumb kids’ movie featuring the “comedy” of Steve Coogan, it quickly and firmly establishes itself as a waste of potential from the very first few minutes. The accumulation of steampunk anachronisms and low comedy means that it’s hard to take the result seriously, and the various hijinks that follow only confirm this experience. The result is pretty much what we’d expect, the only flashes of wit being either upstream (Verne’s source material) or downstream (acting, special effects, set design) from the script. And yet, there is something to see here, mostly because Around the World in 80 Days is an exemplary representative of the big-budget bomb subgenre: so much money has been thrown on-screen that it’s hard to look away. Since the film co-stars Jackie Chan and features a bit of his classic blend of action and comedy, a few sequences still stand out as watered-down but still effective examples of what Chan could do in his prime. Then there’s the casting, which brings together western comedy and eastern action in combinations never seen anywhere else: Jim Broadbent, Kathy Bates (as Queen Victoria!), Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cleese, Rob Schneider, Luke and Owen Wilson, but also Maggie Q, Karen Mok and none other than Sammo Hung as Won Fei Hung. That’s … amazing. The mixture is far less involving than the individual parts that form it, but the film is definitely worth a look if you want to see those actors and ideas thrown together. The result certainly underperforms, but it’s a ride.

The Foreigner (2017)

The Foreigner (2017)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Netflix Streaming, August 2018) It’s rare enough to see one actor challenging his established persona, how about two in the same movie? Granted, it’s a bit of a stretch to say that both Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan play against type in The Foreigner: Chan has taken on increasingly diverse roles as he’s grown older and unable to sustain the same kind of punishment as he did as a young man. Meanwhile, Pierce Brosnan has played a number of villains in the past, notably and recently in Survivor. Still, it’s a bit off-putting to see Chan as a vengeful father in the middle of a dour realistic thriller—his stock-in-trade has always been comedy, and he looks much, much older here in the context of a world-weary suspense movie. Meanwhile, Brosnan is usually depicted as an action-capable strong figure, and it’s a bit of a change to see him become a hypocritical politician, violent enough to kill a subordinate but not meant to sustain action feats. Helmed by veteran director Martin Campbell, The Foreigner does have a few remarkable sequences: The double-decker bus bombing on London Bridge is viscerally effective, while Chan does get at least one good bone-crushing fight late in the film. Still, for all of its qualities, The Foreigner can’t quite escape a certain blandness as another bleak revived-IRA thriller that seems to go through the motions in washed-out cold colours and doesn’t feature anyone to cheer for. Thanks to its two stars playing atypical roles, it may be a bit more memorable than its many similar movies, but not by much.

The Cannonball Run (1981)

The Cannonball Run (1981)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(Second viewing, On DVD, September 2017) It’s funny what we remember from our childhood. Watching The Cannonball Run, which I last saw as a young boy in the early eighties, I had regular flashes of recognition or anticipation as I suspected what was about to happen. Of course, I’m not an eight-year-old boy any more, and my current liking of the film’s stunts and cultural references is somewhat tempered by its juvenile tone and wildly uneven script. Legendary action director Hal Needham knew how to direct stunts (there’s a pointed reference to his Smokey and the Bandit that reminds me that I should re-watch that one soon), and so the best moments of the film are the chases, fights and other action hijinks. A young-looking Jackie Chan brings a bit of his patented style to a desert brawl, and the film also features such legends as Burt Reynolds, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Roger Moore (hilariously riffing on his James Bond turn), Peter Fonda, Farrah Fawcett and Adrienne Barbeau (I did remember their outfits) in various roles. I can still recognize some of those references by dint of having been born in the 1970s, but I wonder what younger viewers will make of them. Some of the comedy still works—I’m specifically thinking about the monologue explaining the rules of the transcontinental Cannonball Run, delivered with practised confidence by Brock Yates, the creator of the real-life Cannonball Run. Alas, this action/comedy charge is seriously hampered by the puerile humour (much of it sexist or racist) and uneven scripting. I strongly disliked Dom Deluise’s character(s), for instance, and gritted my teeth at the stereotypes passing off as jokes: seeing notorious Hong Kong native Jackie Chan cast as a Japanese makes no sense, and let’s really not talk about the middle-eastern Sheikh character. That’s not even getting close to the heavily sexist tone of the film—this is a film by boys for boys, and while I’d argue that there’s a place for cleavage-revealing spandex outfits in racing movies, much of the rest of the film (which plays off drug-facilitated kidnapping for laughs and sexiness, among many other things) is more off-putting than anything else. Add to that some primitive anti-government sentiments (as party-poopers) and you get the picture. For all that I like about the stunts in the film, The Cannonball Run is one of those intriguing but flawed movies that should be prime candidates for a polished remake. I promise I won’t complain too much as long as the worst issues with the original are corrected.

The Karate Kid (2010)

The Karate Kid (2010)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On TV, May 2017) The 1984 version of The Karate Kid is such a cultural fixture that any attempt to remake it was doomed to irrelevancy. This being said, this 2010 remake does try its best, most notably but relocating the action in China where our hero involuntarily immigrates when his mom gets a new job. The change of scenery does much to renew a movie that largely recycles the original film’s structure: The look inside modern China can be interesting at times, as well as highlighting the fish-out-of-water nature of the protagonist. Unfortunately, that same basic decision does have its drawbacks: it removes the quasi-universal nature of the backdrop for American audiences (although, and this is significant, it does open it up to Chinese audiences), making it much harder to empathize with the high-school trials of the (significantly younger) protagonist. It also weakens the impact of Mister Miyagi’s teachings and makes a mush out of the protagonist’s attempts to fit in. Essentially, it transforms the universality of the first film into a very specific situation, and sabotages itself along the way. It doesn’t help that at eleven or twelve, lead actor Jaden Smith looks far too young for an archetypically teenage role. While it’s nice to see Jackie Chan in a decent American movie role, he doesn’t have much to do—far more judicious is seeing Taraji P. Henson in the “mom” role, greatly expanding the original character. To be fair, this Karate Kid remake is decently executed: anyone who hasn’t seen the 1984 film is likely to be moderately satisfied by the result. But for those pesky viewers with fresh memories of the original, this remake has too many small issues to enjoy.

The Spy Next Door (2010)

The Spy Next Door (2010)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, February 2012) Ever since Schwarzenegger’s Kindergarden Cop, the family-friendly comedy pitting muscleman against kids seems to be a mandatory step in the career of aging action actors.  From Dwayne Johnson’s The Tooth Fairy to Vin Diesel’s The Pacifier, the results usually aren’t very good, falling short of delivering bone-crunching action while not bringing anything new to the family film genre.  Jackie Chan’s The Spy Next Door is much of the same.  While Chan fans will occasionally get a reminder about his considerable physical skills (starting from the opening archive footage taken from other movies), the film itself isn’t particularly interesting.  The unthreatening kid-spy plot beats are all obvious, the jokes are weak, the action sequences are tepid and the script is more dumb than compelling.  Chan himself is far too old to play the pseudo-nebbish man courting an attractive mother-of-three, and parts of the villain’s dastardly plot could be flipped over to become a force for good without too much trouble.  Still, The Spy Next Door isn’t a complete loss: Chan remains a charming presence and some of the action sequences show some of his usual flair.  Still, there isn’t much to miss here…

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Enter the Dragon (1973)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On cable TV, July 2011) Given Enter the Dragon’s importance within the martial arts film genre, it’s a bit surprising that I hadn’t seen the film until now.  Well, that’s now done, and checking this film off my to-watch-some-day list wasn’t much of a chore.  Bruce Lee’s performance is compelling, but the film has, in aging, become a brief period look at early-seventies Hong Kong, followed by a deliciously unconscious take on the James-Bondian “Megalomaniac Island” plot device.  (Better yet is the period-inspired Black-Power character played by Jim Kelly, who definitely doesn’t get enough screen time.)  Even though scripting isn’t high on the priorities of martial arts films, Enter the Dragon has a few interesting refinements: The introduction of the main character is handled through flashbacks, the final fight has thematic visual ambitions, and there are a few well-done moments in-between.  It’s surprisingly coherent, but best of all it leads to a few well-shot fighting sequences that don’t chop the action in excessive cutting.  It’s pleasant to watch, and doesn’t necessarily ask viewers to forgive its flaws.  Lee is fantastic, both charismatic as an actor, and intense as a martial artist (there’s a sequence with nunchucks that will leave most viewers going “wow!”); too bad this ended up being his last film.  This is still well-worth a look; keep your eyes open for a few surprises.  If you think you spot a young Jackie Chan somewhere in the movie, well… you just may be right.

I am Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan & Jeff Yang

ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

Ballantine, 1998, 398 pages, C$9.99 mmpb, ISBN 0-345-42913-3

As I write this, it looks as if Jackie Chan’s reputation in Hollywood has been wrung out: Despite a pair of successes with the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon series and the promise of a third Rush Hour, Chan’s other western films have not impressed anyone: The leaden and faintly creepy The Tuxedo was followed by the pointless The Medallion, which was trashed by critics and went unseen by audiences. Seeing this almost-criminal waste of talent, one can’t really fault Chan for heading back to Hong-Kong and more favourable projects.

And yet, if you ask around, you will see that Jackie Chan remains, if not a household name, at least a well-known action cinema icon. There’s a good reason for that: From 1985 (POLICE STORY) to 1994 (DRUNKEN MASTER II), Chan starred in a handful of films that can justifiably be called action classics. What’s more, Chan mastered a unique screen personae based on a mixture of goofy charm and jaw-dropping stunt prowesses. Chan reliably became his own brand, uncopyable by anyone else.

But this success was a long time in the making. Born in 1954 Hong Kong, Chan was enrolled at a very young age in a small academy with rough living conditions, an apprenticeship that taught him the skills and will to succeed in latter projects. Many years of further struggles within the Hong-Kong film industry eventually led to a number of lucky breaks, and then to the global super-stardom that we know even today.

It’s no surprise if most of his autobiography I am Jackie Chan (as told to Jeff Yang), is spent describing those early hungry years: While Chan’s latter success-story is known to most, his apprenticeship is more mysterious, and here well-described in evocative anecdotes. As Chan acknowledges, his tutelage would easily be classified as child-abuse in the West, but he’s visibly proud of his training and the skills he developed during this period. As a reader, it makes for fascinating and cringe-inducing reading. On one hand, the atmosphere of Hong Kong during the sixties and seventies is well-pictured; on the other, his memories don’t seem fun at all. (Neither do most of his American adventures, but that story isn’t new.)

Anyone who has heard Chan in interviews know that his English is hardly perfect (late in the book, he even allows himself a crack at how, with the upcoming rise of China, everyone will have to learn Chinese; whether he means Cantonese or Mandarin is not specified); in this context Jeff Yang’s work in translating not just the words and stories, but feel and context of Chan’s life becomes even more admirable. The book reads breezily as if it was a monologue by Chang, enlivened by reconstructed conversations. It flows well, and provides just enough background information to tie everything together, from Chan’s family story (an incredible adventure in its own right) to the particular context of Hong-Kong movie-making.

As this is an autobiography, what’s missing is Chan’s darker side, even though he does acknowledge a number of mistakes and youthful indiscretions. One supposes that Chan’s rumoured womanizing and early-year excesses will be more evenly described in unauthorized biographies. At least Chan clears up the various organized-crime rumours concerning his departure to Golden Harvest. (Hmm… also missing is an index for the book.) A complete list of his injuries and films (those he can remember, anyway: Hong-Kong produced films by the truckload in his early years) completes the book.

Obviously, this book is for Jackie Chan fans, especially those who already have a rough idea of his career and movies. There is often a sense that Chan is working himself up to the story that fans really want to hear, and the looser focus on his successful years makes it a bit difficult for non-fans to figure out why Chan is such a legend. Reading the book alongside a DVD player and a stack of his greatest hits is not a bad idea.

As for Chan himself, I’m willing to bet that his eclipse is temporary: In addition to the long-rumoured RUSH HOUR 3 project, you can bet that despite his advancing years, Chan will not be refused much in Hong Kong studios. If Americans don’t know what to do with him, let’s just enjoy what he does on his home court.

Chao ji ji hua [Supercop 2] (1993)

Chao ji ji hua [Supercop 2] (1993)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On VHS, September 2000) Standard action film saved by two Hong Kong tricks. The first is a good car chase filmed as if the stunts were actually dangerous. The second is an impressive martial arts sequence between the petite Michelle Yeoh and a bulked-up American stereotype, filmed with an appreciable lack of quick cuts, which allows the actors to shine in their acrobatics. The rest of the film is fine, but ultimately forgettable. The Jackie-Chan-as-a-matron shtick cameo not only isn’t very funny, but feels totally out of place in this somewhat humorless film.

Ging chaat goo si III: Chiu kup ging chaat [Police Story 3: Supercop] (1992)

Ging chaat goo si III: Chiu kup ging chaat [Police Story 3: Supercop] (1992)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On VHS, November 1997) Jackie Chan paired with Michelle Yeoh? Wowsa! This Hong Kong-produced comedic action movie takes more than a while to rock, but the final half-hour’s remarkable. Once again, Chan proves he’s got the right stuff, and Yeoh assumes a presence far beyond even the most capable Hollywood heroine. Among the movie’s biggest assets (apart from the two leads) is that it doesn’t takes itself seriously at all.

(Second viewing, On TV, June 1999) Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh in the same movie? Don’t look for me anywhere else but in front of my T.V. Screen! Upon a second viewing, Supercop is actually more enjoyable. For one thing, you get to expect the very slow pace of the first hour, and to expect the Really Good Scenes. Plus, you do get to appreciate the totally incredible Chan/Yeoh dynamic duo: Will there ever be a better onscreen action couple? The U.S. Re-release includes a quirky hip-hop soundtrack, in addition to the required bad dubbing.

Fei ying gai wak [Armour of God 2: Operation Condor] (1991)

Fei ying gai wak [Armour of God 2: Operation Condor] (1991)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theaters, July 1997) The first Jackie Chan movie I’ve seen… and I’m impressed. It’s not as polished as Hollywood productions, but it’s got tons more of energy: I saw it in a near-deserted theatre (about 40 patrons) and yet, there was a lot more crowd reactions than when I saw The Fifth Element in a packed theatre. Jackie Chan is Erroll Flynn, Charlie Chaplin and Steven Seagal all rolled in one: His goofy good-boy manners make him one of the most charismatic screen personas in recent memory. Forget the sometime incoherent plot: Operation Condor is frequently funny when it counts, and the action is so impressive that it shines and amazes. Not great stuff, but definitely worth the video rental.