I went into this film with low expectations. Jackie Chan is one of my favourite Asian film stars and I've loved his films from the late 1970's until early 90's, after that his work became patchy and didn't really appeal to me.
This film plays like a last gasp and career review in many ways. It even includes many highlights from his films, and that is part of the joy in this, but also a major problem.
Jackie is a down on his luck stuntman,estranged from his daughter and living with his stunt horse. He's being harassed over a loan from local gangsters. While his horse is in the process of repossession from an ex-employer.
It starts off so well I thought for a moment this could be a real classic, and great return to form, even if its effectively his swan-song. The fights even have a reprisal of his classic moves with the twist old age thrown in, and it works. To begin with.
The story unfortunately degenerates into mawkish melodrama rather quickly, and that then dominates the tale for most of the remaining running time.
By the end of the film I had learnt to actually hate the sight of Jackie's gurning , (now) creepy smiling face, as he mopes, strops and goes into hysterics over his daughter and horse.
He's just subjected his 'fans' to over 1 and a half hours of tedious misery.. with about 15 minutes of re-hashed action. This is not entertaining, and his acting sucks, despite some others views that he should get an Oscar or the like. His range is limited and far too melodramatic to be taken seriously- he's basically Norman Wisdom, Jerry Lewis and Harold Lloyd playing the same farcically inept & inane character- with some decent stunts thrown in. Its possibly more painful for the audience to watch this that it was for Jackie doing the stunts.
Anyways, the big problem with the actual story is that Jackie is a stuntman, but he isn't Jackie Chan , just a stuntman who was great, then had an accident , went into a coma for 8 months and then tried to get back into the industry.. but the film clips of his past glories are ALL Jackie Chan !!!! The character he plays is Jackie Chan playing Jackie Chan from his films , and the films shown are Jackie Chan films . So the entire down on his luck, living with a horse, the estranged daughter is all pure SYMPATHY rinsing, creating drama,trauma and misery where none existed in reality.....why ? So Jackie can be an annoying prat, and whimper uncontrollably for 10 minutes at a time?
The fights quickly get passe. He battles a local gang for 5 minutes and no one is really hurt, there is no blood or scratches, and Jackie keeps hitting them without much effect- as if he has no power in his punches or kicks. After the fight he is all chummy with them and offers to train the gang leader.
Some other points- We are meant to believe he makes his money from getting children to pose with his horse in the middle of the city ... what about kung fu training ?
At the start of the film is a tuff girl with attitude who calls him SIFU (master) , we see her chasing her useless boyfriend (?) with a meat cleaver. She doesn't appear in the film again.
All the way through the film we hear the stuntman's quote of 'never saying no to a job' as if that utter stupidity should be considered 'righteous or noble' . What he never says is that he is actually a masochist who thrives off the pain & danger of it all. Masochist Movie about a masochist.
This film plays like a last gasp and career review in many ways. It even includes many highlights from his films, and that is part of the joy in this, but also a major problem.
Jackie is a down on his luck stuntman,estranged from his daughter and living with his stunt horse. He's being harassed over a loan from local gangsters. While his horse is in the process of repossession from an ex-employer.
It starts off so well I thought for a moment this could be a real classic, and great return to form, even if its effectively his swan-song. The fights even have a reprisal of his classic moves with the twist old age thrown in, and it works. To begin with.
The story unfortunately degenerates into mawkish melodrama rather quickly, and that then dominates the tale for most of the remaining running time.
By the end of the film I had learnt to actually hate the sight of Jackie's gurning , (now) creepy smiling face, as he mopes, strops and goes into hysterics over his daughter and horse.
He's just subjected his 'fans' to over 1 and a half hours of tedious misery.. with about 15 minutes of re-hashed action. This is not entertaining, and his acting sucks, despite some others views that he should get an Oscar or the like. His range is limited and far too melodramatic to be taken seriously- he's basically Norman Wisdom, Jerry Lewis and Harold Lloyd playing the same farcically inept & inane character- with some decent stunts thrown in. Its possibly more painful for the audience to watch this that it was for Jackie doing the stunts.
Anyways, the big problem with the actual story is that Jackie is a stuntman, but he isn't Jackie Chan , just a stuntman who was great, then had an accident , went into a coma for 8 months and then tried to get back into the industry.. but the film clips of his past glories are ALL Jackie Chan !!!! The character he plays is Jackie Chan playing Jackie Chan from his films , and the films shown are Jackie Chan films . So the entire down on his luck, living with a horse, the estranged daughter is all pure SYMPATHY rinsing, creating drama,trauma and misery where none existed in reality.....why ? So Jackie can be an annoying prat, and whimper uncontrollably for 10 minutes at a time?
The fights quickly get passe. He battles a local gang for 5 minutes and no one is really hurt, there is no blood or scratches, and Jackie keeps hitting them without much effect- as if he has no power in his punches or kicks. After the fight he is all chummy with them and offers to train the gang leader.
Some other points- We are meant to believe he makes his money from getting children to pose with his horse in the middle of the city ... what about kung fu training ?
At the start of the film is a tuff girl with attitude who calls him SIFU (master) , we see her chasing her useless boyfriend (?) with a meat cleaver. She doesn't appear in the film again.
All the way through the film we hear the stuntman's quote of 'never saying no to a job' as if that utter stupidity should be considered 'righteous or noble' . What he never says is that he is actually a masochist who thrives off the pain & danger of it all. Masochist Movie about a masochist.