Not many Jackie
Chan films have done the impossible of casting Chan out of character. This
movie not only cast Chan out of character, but it also has him supported by
special effects.
Here’s a movie that made little use of Chan’s martial arts skills to deliver a
stunning performance, but instead tried to overplay their hand by adding
special effects and laughs.
Regardless, I
enjoyed the movie.
The storyline of
this movie is not one of the best. It was flaky and muddled up. I feel the
writer got carried away with the idea of scripting a spy movie with an actual
martial arts expert. And so did the producers, who wanted to push the limit by
adding unneeded special effects to Chan’s ability.
What I did enjoy
in the movie was the comedy. The comedy comes at you when you least expect it,
and the action wasn’t bad when you consider that Chan, not the suit, was doing
all the stunts.
The movie plot introduces us to a taxi driver, Jimmy (Chan), who has made a name for himself with his stunt driving and speed. He’s hired to be the driver for an international spy named Clark. Clark has been on a case for some time, and he’s about to crack it when he and Jimmy are attacked.
Clark is
seriously injured, and Jimmy is not. Jimmy takes Clark to the hospital and
makes his way back to Clark’s home. It’s at the home, while Jimmy is going
through Clark’s things, that he sees the tuxedo, which is controlled by a
watch. The tuxedo gives the wearer extraordinary abilities to do practically
anything. Jimmy unknowingly tries on the tuxedo and watch, dressing as Clark
just to see how it feels, as he has come to admire Clark’s fashion sense, and
discovers what the tuxedo does.
Blaine (Jennifer
Love Hewitt) is a scientist who hopes one day to be a field agent. She is
assigned to work with Clark, but having never met him before, mistakes Jimmy
for Clark. This happens when Jimmy shows up for a meeting with her, a meeting
Clark was supposed to attend.
From here, the
two—the wannabe field agent and the taxi driver—begin to work on Clark’s case
and must stop the bad guys before they poison the world.
The onscreen
chemistry between Hewitt and Chan wasn’t as enjoyable as I would have expected,
but it was good enough for the laughs.
The movie is
centered around the idea that the suit makes the man do magnificent things, not
the man himself. Imagine James Bond, stepped up two notches, with the ability
to do martial arts like Bruce Lee.
Like I said,
don’t expect much when it comes to the story of this movie. That said, it is
enjoyable.
0 comments:
Post a Comment