Ride On (2023)

Ride On (2023)

 6/10

 

Starring

Jackie Chan

 

Directed by Larry Yang

 

What is important to note is what Ride On is not, it is not a semi-autobiography of Jackie Chan’s life as a stuntman. He fits the role well, because he is a stunt actor and a major actor known for doing his own stunts. Those characteristics fit the movie character, and it seems the movie was written with him in mind, set to be cast for the lead. Ride On is a comedy drama about Lao Luo (Jackie Chan) whose life is falling apart and is in a lot of debt.

It was fun seeing Jackie fight, but this movie does not have the normal intense comedic fights that you will expect from Jackie Chan movies. The comedic fights here were dialled down.

Lao’s world is also facing a major blow as he is being sued by a studio for the repossession of his stunt horse Red, whom he has had since its birth, trained, and raised. His world is not perfect around him – he is a divorcee whose only child (a daughter now grown) wants to have nothing to do with him. Because he allowed the world of being a stuntman take over his life, and left her when she was just eight.

Now faced with all these challenges, debt, lawsuit, and no work he begged his daughter to come to his rescue to at least face one of the issues, the lawsuit as she is studying law.

The movie runs on the charm of Jackie Chan, the actor we know and love, and not the character he is playing. It was hard to separate both while watching this movie, and found myself supporting Lao not because of the decisions he was making, but because he was Jackie Chan. I love Jackie Chan and want everything to work well for him in the movie, and could not separate him and Lao.

Ride On is fun to see how Jackie navigates his life as Lao, and how all his favours and niceness towards others came back to turn his life around. He was able to get aid thanks to one of his students and with Red whom he uses for street performances, he was able to raise money to care better for himself.

It is almost impossible for a daughter and father relationship to be repaired the way this movie painted it, using just memories and string pulling on the daughter to make her give her father a chance again in her life. If there is one flaw the movie has, that will be it. The movie made levity of many things that should be deeper. The reunion of father and daughter was unrealistic, and the amount of influence the movie allowed him to have in her life was also unrealistic.