Whenever a new film from Jackie Chan -- the Hong Kong martial arts star -- arrives on the North American shores, I'm usually one of the first to rush out and tell people that they should go and see his latest release -- especially if they've never seen one of his films before. What makes them so much fun is that they feature a hero who'd rather flee than fight, but then ends up having to fight the villains anyway, usually in wildly choreographed sequences inspired not only by Bruce Lee, but also Buster Keaton. Filled with spectacular human stunts, hordes of martial arts action, and a matching amount of self-deprecating humor, the films couldn't possibly ever win any awards for their artistic merits, but they're a heck of a lot of fun, and are always amazing to watch.
It's sad to report, therefore, that I can't recommend his latest film, "Mr. Nice Guy," especially to those who've never attended or rented one of his films. Fans of the legendary Hong Kong star, while happy to see him on the big screen again, will also probably be disappointed by this offering. While there's the requisite martial arts fighting and perilous close calls, few of those scenes are as much fun as what Chan has delivered in the past.
Perhaps it's that he's afflicted with the "James Bond movie" curse -- where he's done just about every imaginable stunt and it's hard to continually come up with new and betters ones -- but none of the staged elements seem fresh or original. Although there are a few interesting stunts to behold in this release -- a fun, hand over hand encounter against a passing bus while leaning off a horse drawn carriage headed in the opposite direction, for instance -- most lack the pizzaz of things we've already seen him do.
Then again, maybe the problem is due to his unavoidable growing older every year -- he's now forty-four-years-old -- and perhaps he just can't do as much as in years past. That was especially evident in last year's release of "Operation Condor" that was actually made in 1990. Comparing that film to say, 1995's "Rumble in the Bronx" or this film, one can easily see that the years -- and the umpteen filming injuries -- may have taken their toll on his abilities.
While still more nimble and agile than nearly every other human on Earth, Chan's beginning to show signs of slowing down. Consequently, director Sammo Hung has seemingly responded by using lots of slow-motion footage or quick cuts to cover that fact. At least let's hope that's what he's doing, because otherwise those moments look pretty cheesy, if not downright bad.
Speaking of bad, that adequately describes the rest of the performances as well as the overall script. Although Chan's previous films haven't been anything that would make members of the Writers Guild nervous, at least the semblances of their plots were usually filled with goofy fun and adequately padded events that would appease audiences until the next stunt/fight sequence began. Not so with this film. Richard Norton (a regular in many "B" action movies) plays the stereotypical drug lord who's just a stereotypical bad guy surrounded by similarly and poorly drawn yes-men thugs. Even Chan's sidekicks are not interesting as they're relegated to little more than damsels in distress -- and make one desperately long for Michelle Khan (his female high- kicking counterpart in 1996's release of "Supercop" and recently seen in "Tomorrow Never Dies" using the name Michelle Yeoh).
While the film has its moments (a fun, multiple opening and closing doors sequence in an under construction building comes to mind) and starts off promisingly enough -- the site and thought of Chan as a TV chef is outrageous -- it eventually weakens and withers away into a typical, horribly done "B" movie. Midway through, the film spends inordinate amounts of time focusing on the lackluster, dual groups of villains. And the ending -- where Chan drives through the bad guy's mansion in the monster truck of all monster trucks (actually a gargantuan construction "earth mover") -- is particularly bad. It's so much worse because none of it involves Chan's amazing skills, and that's further accentuated by the complete evaporation of Chan's self- deprecating humor that was present earlier in the film(instead he's worried about rescuing his girlfriend and is mad at the police for not being helping matters).
Much like a weak punch to one's midsection that has no effect, we know what the film is trying to do, but it just doesn't have the same powerfully fun impact Chan's previous efforts have had in the past. Although it's nice to see Chan finally do one of his films entirely in English, that also somewhat lessens the "fun," but cheap effect one got from watching and listening to the (often poorly) dubbed dialogue in his other films. I hope this doesn't signal the beginning of Chan's inevitable decline. While others tout the Cary Grant quality of Asia's up and coming superstar Chow Yun-Fat (recently seen in "The Replacement Killers"), I'll take Jackie's amazing skills and great sense of humor any day. But not in this film. We give "Mr. Nice Guy" a 3.5 out of 10.
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