If I go back a few years, I would in the midst of the grip of my mania for Jackie Chan films. For the life of me I cannot recall where it started but I can recall where it began to wane. You would think a movie starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson would be a recipe for laughs and thrills. That's if you hadn't read this review first.
Chan plays a proud Oriental guardsman sent to bring a kidnapped Princess home to China. As he and his uncle plus some other guards bring the ransom money across America, they get waylaid by some bandits who shoot the uncle. Chan swears revenge and that's pretty much that. Along the way he hooks up with blond, louche and wisecracking Owen Wilson who basically plays....Owen Wilson.
The plot here, such as it is, is formulaic at best. You can almost predict what is happening before it actually occurs. The acting grates, the villains are one dimensional and the scenery is cookie cutter in it's stereotypical portrayal of the Wild West and the only good things in it are the action/fight sequences starring Chan, but then again, once you've seen one Jackie Chan comedy fight, you've seen them all. That brings me onto another bugbear of mine. Jackie Chan basically cannot act when talking English. It's almost painful to listen to him mangle his words.
This isn't an awful film, it's certainly not the worst film I have ever seen (hello 6th Day) but is certainly in the bottom 10. You wont need to know much more about this movie, aside from maybe either switching your brain off or perhaps pretending your a 15 year old boy. It wont ruin your life by stretch but at the same time, don't expect a satisfying experience. Watching this film is a little like shopping at Kwik Save whilst everyone else shops at Waitrose.
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