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Who Am I (1998)

Who Am I (1998)


7/10


Starring
Jackie Chan
Michelle Ferre
Mirai Yamamoto
Ron Smerczak


Directed by Benny Chan and Jackie Chan


Who Am I has car stunts, amazing fighting, and Jackie Chan just shouting, "Who am I?" at some very weird instances. Chan, playing a man who has just lost his memory, delivers one of the worst acting performances I've ever seen from him. If you remove the memory loss aspect from this film, Chan did his best to put together a spy film that's all action-oriented.

The movie has a plot that tries to twist you here and there. The bad guy, as usual, has the stereotypical persona, but his two supporting ladies, who have his back throughout the movie, fill in the gaps. The ladies made up for Jackie’s lack of convincing acting as someone with amnesia, and the bad guy was just too stiff.

The stunts and fight scenes are what you would expect from a Chan movie, and the comedy Chan is known for shows up in the fight scenes, which were done with some amazing choreography. Chan is as fluid as you would expect him to be.

It starts somewhere in South Africa, where a multinational military unit kidnaps several scientists working on a newly discovered material from a meteorite. Among the military unit is a Hong Kong national (Jackie Chan).


Things don’t go as planned, and a helicopter accident leads to the death of every man in the team except one: Chan. He falls off the helicopter and lands, injured, in a tribal village in South Africa.

After probably weeks of recovery from his wounds, he spots a team of rally cars racing through the desert. He sees that as an opportunity to get back to the city.

He runs to the aid of one of the crashed cars and gets a ride back to the city, where he begins his journey to find out who he is. Things start to get complicated when, wherever he shows up, some men start to chase him, trying their best to kill him. Even when he gets to the police station, it also seems the authorities want to catch him, too.

He has by his side two ladies—one whom he aided in the African desert during the rally, and a journalist who seems to always be at the right place at the right time.

With the two of them, Chan is trying to get away from everyone after him and also discover who he is.

By the end of the movie, you’ll be so impressed with the writing that you’ll forgive the bad acting. This is Chan's second film to be scripted and shot in English, the first one being Mr. Nice Guy (1997). But unlike Mr. Nice Guy, I can safely recommend this film as both enjoyable and fun.




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