Vanguard (2020)

Vanguard (2020)

5/10

Starring

Jackie Chan

Ai Lun

Yang Yang

Miya Muqi

Directed by Stanley Tong

Fair warning before you watch this movie: the plot is flawed, and it’s no surprise it received poor ratings from critics. One of the most frustrating things about this film is the dialogue. Think “cheesy,” then multiply that by ten—that’s what you’re dealing with here. Also, don’t expect to see much of Jackie Chan’s signature fighting in this movie. He’s mostly relegated to overseeing things and leaves most of the action to the new generation of actors.

Honestly, I’d say don’t go out of your way to see this one; just wait for it to come to you. The movie feels like an attempt to create a Chinese version of Kingsman, given the excessive use of gadgets. The CGI, however, is atrocious. There’s nothing worse than bad CGI trying to fool you, and this movie is full of it. The lion scenes are poorly executed, and there’s a magic-like sequence near a waterfall involving Jackie Chan that also suffers from terrible CGI.

The movie starts off fast, leaving no room to breathe. Right from the beginning, we’re introduced to a group called the Arctic Wolves, hired to capture a wealthy man named Qin. After their initial attempt to kidnap Qin and his wife is thwarted by his security team, the bad guys shift their focus to Qin’s daughter.

The security team, known as Vanguard, is led by none other than Jackie Chan. Anticipating the move on Qin’s daughter, the team goes to rescue her, which leads to some bad acting from the actress playing Qin’s daughter. In the end, the villains manage to capture both her and one of Jackie’s men. This sets up the classic trade-off scenario: Qin for the captives, with Jackie determined to save everyone.

For a Jackie Chan movie, the body count is unusually high, and it’s jarring to see him using guns frequently to take down bad guys.

There is one standout scene within the first 25 minutes: Jackie performs an incredible stunt, jumping onto the hood of a moving car and sliding into the passenger seat. It’s a "wow" moment, but the excitement quickly fades as the plot goes flat again.

The movie is relentless with its fast pace and intense shooting scenes, refusing to slow down even when the team is planning their rescue mission. While I laughed at some of the cheesy lines, I can’t in good conscience recommend this film. It’s not the worst watch, but it’s definitely not one of Jackie Chan’s finest works.