Let me take you back to 1988.
I'm 6 years old and my dad is taking me to the video shop, as it's Friday night and he wants to go to the pub with his mates. He's dropping me off at my Granddad's house, where there is little entertainment for a young man with too much energy.
Before we even get there, I know what I'm going to get. It's either going to be one of the Police Story films, Project A or Armor of God. Of course, I've seen all these already - and their sequels, multiple times in fact -- but these are the movies I would (and still can) watch over and over and never tire of them. I truly love Jackie Chan movies. Always have, always will.
So I heard about Chinese Zodiac 12 or CZ12 as it's more commonly known, last year when I was looking for Martial Arts films being released that year.
I almost jumped out of my seat. Jackie Chan returning to his Asian Hawk character, a sort of Chinese Indiana Jones (And sorry Indy, as much as I love you too, Asian Hawk would end your week like a Sunday.)
I waited and waited, each day more excited than the next, my childhood hero (2nd only to Bruce Lee) back in one of my favorite movie franchises.
Then, the day finally came, when the movie Gods smiled down on me and said "Lee, here is a piece of your childhood. Sorry it's a bit late."
And that's the thing. The 6 year old me would have loved this, but as a 30 year old man, I see too many faults. Perhaps I expected too much. Jackie is the same age as my father, so it's amazing to see him doing what he does at that age. He is a true athlete and runs circles round all other action stars of his generation.
That said, like my father, Jackie seems to be getting a bit preachy in his old age. I'm not particularly interested in his views on world history and Chinese heritage. I respect that he wants to make a film close to his heart, but slowing a film down to give me a 6 minute "history lesson" through dialogue is not the way to do it. If you're going to do that, at least make it interesting to watch.
Be warned, there's an awful lot of exposition in this film, to the point you lose interest. The characters, of which there are many, are poorly written and terribly developed (not at all in most cases) and are totally forgettable.
The non-Chinese in the film for the most part are made out to be bumbling idiots, which I didn't take too kindly to, but I suspect that's Jackie making this film purely for his Chinese audiences. Cheap, thought I.
In terms of continuity, there seems to be very little connection to both Armor of God & Operation Condor. For example, his name has gone from Asian Hawk, to JC. This may be a translation issue, I'm not entirely sure.
I was pleased to see a few character quirks remain though: His fondness for gadgets and his awesome-as-hell chewing gum trick.
It really seems to have been inspired by several Hollywood blockbusters of recent years, most noticeably, Pirates Of The Caribbean, in which a totally unneccessary action sequence takes place, most of which, Jackie is largely absent.
Thats another gripe about this film: The movie is... Let's say "fight light." Of all the action sequences, you know how many fights Jackie Chan has? 2, although they are in the same scene, so you could say 1, broken up.
The other performers in the film do an excellent job of the fight choreography, particularly Zhang Lanxin (thank goodness I can write that and not have to say it!) who has a great one-on-one bout with another martial artist.
Let me move on to the good stuff, because I feel I've talked a lot of trash about this film and it's not that bad at all, those things removed.
First of all, it's a gorgeous looking film. The locations, the action sequences, the cinematography. All the money that has been spent, has been spent well.
In certain scenes, it's also very funny. I particularly enjoyed a scene in which Jackie Chan gets chased around a maze by several Dobermen (dobermans?)
There is a counterfeiting scene which I found quite interesting and would've liked to have seen more in-depth.
Finally, the action sequences with Jackie are awesome as hell. Sure, you can tell there's wire work & CGI involved here and there, but come on. He's old. We're all just going to have to accept that. He still moves faster than you and I!!
All in all, this is a decent effort. The plot tends to drift off and lose itself quite a bit, but if you can stick with it for the action scenes and the light humor, you might just have yourself a fun time. You have to give props to Jackie for trying to make a film that speaks, rather than just the shit he did in Hollywood. For the record, the Rush Hours, the Jacket, the Spy Next Door... They're not Jackie Chan films. They just have Jackie Chan in them.
THREE FUCKS
