Chan plays the cleverly named character ‘Jackie Chan’ who is part of a military unit in South Africa. We have seen a meteorite being mined and its explosive power. Chan and his team carry out a mission to retrieve some fragments of the meteorite but are double crossed by some shits in suits who crash the helicopter they are travelling in, off camera, to save some money and to deny us a small thrill. Chan falls out before the explosion and is saved by a forest canopy and some natives who nurse him back to health - but oh no! Jackie has lost his memory.
After having difficulty in making himself understood to both the natives and the viewing audience, Jackie soon speaks the language and wears the garb and make up of the tribe. He finds the rest of his dead crew and the body of one of the bad guys who was tossed from the helicopter. Their multiple passports suggest there is more going on, and a matchbook with some writing on it may hold the answers - new one that!
Jackie then encounters a rally car where the driver has been bitten by a snake. He uses his new found tribal abilities to cure the bite and his kick ass driving talent to win the stage and deliver the man to the medics. This heroism gets press attention and soon the evil shits in suits are after our man who calls himself ‘Whoami’ due to his amnesia. A trip to Rotterdam ensues, where there are innumerable fights and chases before we learn who he is (Jackie Chan) and what becomes of the meteorite which has the potential to unleash untold energy.
Like a Van Damme film, it’s hard to criticise a Jackie Chan movie for bad acting or too much fighting. It was really dull however and I couldn’t see the end quick enough. Jackie seems a lovely bloke, but he lacks leading man charisma and seemed badly dubbed throughout. Indeed, everyone was, with the scientists especially, sounding like someone had phoned in some random voices for them.
There were a couple of decent set pieces but they went on too long with the big finale rooftop fight taking at least ten minutes during which one blow may have landed. The plot was atom thick with there no sense of danger as the disc with the meteor data changed hands every five minutes and the double crosses piled up.
Jackie’s lack of identity didn’t really matter to the plot and the whole thing seemed facile especially as his name is over the title. The film does need your buy in to the fact that no one gets killed by our man, and that all the bad guys queue up to get their faces nearly kicked. You also have to love Jackie with lots of small amusements thrown in so you can say ‘Ooh that Jackie!’. fair enough for his fan base but him getting it in the nuts once with a gear stick is fine - the other several events of this I could have done without.
It was obvious that this was a multi country co-production that was not shot in English. The dubbing was risible as was a lot of the stunt work, which saw the older characters turn into stuntmen when they were getting hit before turning back into themselves as they recovered from the fall.
I enjoyed no laughs or thrills throughout this film and despite some decent locations and stunts it was a complete waste of time. Who am I? Don’t care mate.
Best Bit : Streets Get Clogged ‘W’ rating 8/23
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