Although the incomparable Asian martial arts actor Jackie Chan has been a star throughout most of the world for decades, it wasn't until the success of "Rush Hour," that Chan became big stateside. Obviously hoping to capitalize on that, Dimension films unearthed one of his older films -- from 1992 to be precise -- and has given it the once-over polish to deliver to unsuspecting audiences who will believe it to be a new picture.
While the rerelease of his older films often means for some fun on the big screen -- considering that he's younger and more agile in them and hadn't had the cumulative effect of so many bumps, bruises and broken bones from doing his own stunts -- those who first set eyes on Chan in the highly polished, big budget "Rush Hour" will surely be disappointed not only in this film's technical quality, but also in the movie overall.
Like most of Chan's other older films, this one's filled with plenty of amazing fight scenes, but also laughably bad English dubbing, mediocre acting at best, and a throwaway script designed only as a sparse skeleton upon which to hang the elaborate fights and stunts. It's that latter element, however, that really kills this film.
Playing off the ages-old notion of twin-related mistaken identity that stems back to the days of Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni's comedy, "The Venetian Twins," and continues up to modern film's such as "The Man in the Iron Mask," "The Parent Trap," and 1991's "Double Impact" with John-Claude Van Damme (that more than closely resembles the plot here), the film has potential, and the thought of Chan appearing as two characters should presumably mean twice the fun, right?
Unfortunately, we only really get one truly standard Jackie Chan character (of the butt-kicking variety). In addition, and despite the proven comedic mistaken identity formula, its execution here is as poorly done as the dubbed English. Instead of feeling natural, clever or inventive, most of the related material feels artificial and forced and consequently is anything but funny.
For instance, in what could have been a hilarious scene where the twins feel and react to the other's movements as one tries to conduct an orchestra for the first time while the other experiences driving through a gun battle also for the first time, the end result is maddeningly inane instead of gut-wrenching funny. The same holds true for a boat chase/dinner in a restaurant scene and another where Chan's twin characters flip and flop their way through trying to cover for the other in a filled bubble bath sequence.
While the potential is there and the results could have been great, especially if they'd been coupled with Chan's amazing dexterity and gymnastic abilities, it just doesn't happen. Worse yet, the film's dual directors (Tsui Hark & Ringo Lam) and four screenwriters (Barry Wong, Tsui Hark, Cheung Tung Jo & Wong Yik) spend so much time trying to make the mistaken identity plot work, that the film is shortchanged of the reason everyone will come to see it, and that's to watch and behold the wondrous Chan do his stuff.
By that we mean his climbing up walls, leaping great distances and doing things with his body that just don't seem humanly possible. While this film finally gets around to just a hint of that in the climactic fight scene, most of the material is simply standard-issue hand to hand (and foot to foot) combat material.
Although that's still fun to watch, it's not of that jaw-dropping variety found in Chan's other films. What's really missing, however, is Chan's unique use of ordinary props to do his fighting (such as the incredibly fluid use of a step ladder to ward off attackers in "First Strike") that have become his signature trademark.
The film is also hurt by its low-budget feel and look (especially when compared to "Rush Hour"). Beyond the obligatory bad dubbing, guide wires used to move people or objects (which are supposed to be invisible and are removed nowadays with the aide of computers) are more than readily visible.
The effect of having Chan's two characters in the same scene is also quite bad, with the one that occurs in a restroom being rather distracting. Although the film is many years old, the effect should have been more seamless (although a skimpy budget probably curtailed that), but instead looks incredibly bad with one character all too obviously being superimposed into another shot (with flickering, jagged edging around him).
There's also the standard one-dimensional villains and their goal that doesn't ever really make sense (it usually doesn't need to since we're distracted by all of the wild stunts), a sidekick who's far more annoying than funny, and more than enough inane material (such as nearly everyone stupidly fainting upon the sight of the twins together or having Boomer continually snort so that we can more easily identify him from his brother) to make you want to get up and leave before the end credits.
That's usually a bad move when watching one of Chan's films, since they're often filled with a bevy of out-takes at the end that are occasionally more fun to watch than the film itself (since they show the near calamitous accidents and flubs that occurred during the production). Unfortunately, and to add insult to injury, this film is missing such fun and awe-inspiring footage.
I'm a big fan of Chan's films and despite their inherent goofiness, weak acting and threadbare plots, I've always found them to be a blast to watch. That's not so with this one that is easily the least enjoyable of all his films that I've seen.
With a comedy plot that simply doesn't work and two many gaps between the physical material that when present easily pales in comparison to what's appeared in Chan's other films, this one comes off as nothing less than lackluster -- an adjective you probably never imagined you'd hear describing Chan or one of his films.
While looking and sounding quite good, this isn’t much more than a glorified version of what’s available on VHS since no supplemental materials are included.
![[Logo]](/images/screenit_logo2.jpg){kind=logo}
