This looks downright embarrassing. Between this and the inexplicable Karate Kid remake, I think we can more or less declare that Jackie Chan's career as an action star is over. Now he's stooped to following the footsteps of Vin Diesel, for goodness sake. He may have one or two more Asian classics left in him, but his US career has permanently stalled. His last truly great film was Shanghai Knights, way back in early 2003. Since then he's had some stinkers (The Medallion, Rush Hour 3), and some noble failures (New Police Story, The Forbidden Kingdom). But this thing makes The Tuxedo look like Rumble in the Bronx. Alas, I'll likely have to watch this a couple times for work-related reasons. I'll try not to cry. The Spy Next Door comes out January 15th, 2010, just four months shy of Chan's 56th birthday.
Scott Mendelson
Scott Mendelson
2 comments:
Im gonna have to disagree with you on this one and it comes from a pretty big Jackie fan (I've seen all his films except for one o two of the really early hong kong stuff). The Tuxedo, the Medallion were both terrible films, and this one might be just like it, but I don't see how it is embarassing for him. He doesn't need this films, he seems to like making them. He's got dramas in the pipe, a return to Hong Kong action coming up, so I don't see why he can't throw a family friendly toned down film in there. The guy likes working, and there really isn't anything he can do that would make his earlier stuff lose their greatness.
BTW, I think its perfectly legit to think its embarassing. I guess I'm just ok with this phase in Chan's career, I understand that others might not be.
I sincerely hope you're right. Of course, if he's just doing this stuff for his own amusement, than I suppose there's no harm in that. And you're right that his legacy is already pretty darn secure at this point. But this project just feels so... beneath him.
Scott
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