Usually, I try not to judge a film solely on its failures, but unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like this movie, The Medallion has more flaws than you can count. There are some films of Jackie Chan that I like, Rush Hour especially. However, this is not one of them, and I will say right now that Chan is the only redeeming quality to this clunky mess: it certainly didn't help that the film looked as though it had been edited on a bacon slicer. The stunts are usually the best thing in a Jackie Chan movie, but the execution here is very confused, lacking drive and energy. The fact that the film is also devoid of a convincing enough plot is yet another disadvantage, and the script is uninvolving, was forced at times and lacked bite. The chemistry between Chan and his girlfriend (played by Clare Forlani) was unconvincing. Now I liked Julian Sands in The Scoundrel's Wife, and as an actor he is generally watchable, but his villain Snakehead was poorly written, and not at all threatening, and the child did literally nothing but stare which was rather unpleasant at times. The film also wasted the talents of John Rhys Davies, a very good actor, when he has some decent enough material, not the case here. I suppose the worst thing about this movie, is the truly irritating performance of comedian Lee Evans as Chan's partner. Honestly everything he said and did made me cringe, it was strongly reminiscent of Marlon Wayans in Dungeons & Dragons, proving that anyone who's going to try to bring some humour into an overall hopeless film, is going to fail miserably. Overall, a film that is a bit of a mess to put it kindly. If you like Chan, you may like it, otherwise avoid. Not the absolute worst movie I have ever seen, but it certainly lingers at that end of the film spectrum. 1/10 Bethany Cox.
Review of The Medallion
