Skiptrace

This film tells the story of a Hong Kong policeman who has to catch an American con man, chasing him from Macau to Russia. Along the way, they encounter trouble with Russian gangs and Mongolian tribes. They have to do everything to survive.

"Skiptrace" is in English but it is clear that it is aimed at the Chinese market. The film itself is adequately entertaining, with a lot of action scenes done in a funny way that makes you chuckle. However, it just looks like every other recent Jackie Chan film, even the action sequences are beginning to feel strangely familiar. It is an adequate choice to kill an evening, but don't expect too much because Hollywood action films have moved on but this hasn't.

I have to say, I was shocked to see Renny Harlin's name pop up in the credits, who's best film was, in my opinion, Cliffhanger but is also know for Die Hard 2, Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea. He didn't quit after those, but slowly slipped off the big name notice board in recent years, hence my shock seeing him directing Chan the Man.

I can't help but think Harlin received a lot of creative input from Chan and co, having a strong, distinct Hong Kong cinema feel. However the opening credits is something Guy Ritchie would do, thinking it's more of a show-off instead of suiting the film. I found that a lot with Harlin's films.

I grew up watching Jackie Chan films and I absolutely idolise the man, but, I hate to say it, Jackie appears to lose some of his magic in Rush Hour 3 back in 2007, though Forbidden Kingdom and the rebooted Karate Kid restored my faith, and I have yet to see Police Story 2013. He's not as fast as he once was, he's 62 now, but even though a lot of the action sequences here are copies from a lot of his previous movies, he's still Jackie Chan and delivers the goods.

It's a clichéd storyline of struck-off cop Chan hooking up with gambler low-life, Knoxville in order to catch the bad guy. Johnny Knoxville another man who's not afraid to perform his own stunts. He's come a long way since performing daring pranks in Jackass to now sharing the screen with greats like Dwayne Johnson, Schwarzenegger and now Jackie. I wonder if he looks back thinking "wow" there I was drinking Preston's sweat and boom!

The action isn't always consistent going from being quite impressive to being mediocre and poor, again, a trait I associate with Harlin. The fight sequences mimic a lot of Jackie's slapstick fighting style. But the acting overall is quite terrible, Knoxville being the only believable character here. His wit is actually quite funny and refreshing.

There's some nice touches and funny scenes like the bowling alley and Jackie singing Adele! But a lot of it is silly and totally out of sync, rushing around faster than Jackie's stunt team. however looked like a lot of fun. It even includes Jackie's trademark outtakes at the end credits.

Unfortunately, Harlin doesn't let me down and does what is expected, a film with some great ideas and potential that fails to impress. Not even Jackie Chan's masterful Kung Fu and Knoxville's quick-fire sarcasm can save this film. Still, it's entertaining, brainless fun but certainly not one of Jackie's best, ever.

Running Time: 6 The Cast: 6 Performance: 4 Direction: 5 Story: 5 Script: 5 Creativity: 6 Soundtrack: 5 Job Description: 4 The Extra Bonus Points: 0

46% 5/10

Skiptrace finds Jackie Chan trying that odd Chinese-American combination yet again, but unfortunately he fails miserably this time. Johnny Knoxville fails to fire up that natural flair of comedy that Owen Wilson had so effortlessly aced in the Shanghai franchise. Unfortunately the movie falls like dominoes owing to a bland plot and an unvarying disconnect that rips apart whatever Skiptrace was trying to walk upon.

DIRECTION OF SKIPTRACE

The direction of Skiptrace is absolutely pathetic. Renny Harlin isn't really sure what he wishes to show. You can see that confusion in his frames. Or maybe that element of clarity is missing from his head that clouds his judgment. Editing will compel you to shake your head. It is that bad.

Humour is quite confined, always acting contrary to our expectations. With Johnny Knoxville in the vanguard to stay as the primary entertainer of Skiptrace, expectations naturally shot up high. But Johnny made it all mediocre. You keep waiting for something funny, but then the wait becomes punishing.

The plot is forced upon to entertain a deliberate road trip. You feel the emptiness of it all when you see nothing substantial emanate from any corner. We are always heading towards something, so that's kind of good.

Chan and Knoxville create an okay chemistry though it is hard to compare their pairing up with the likes of what you have seen over the years.

NOSTALGIC OLD TIMES

Gone are those days when Jackie used to be young, and his fight scenes used to be the ogling kind. It always sends me back in time, when I try to remember all of his arresting fight sequences from the likes of Project A series, Who Am I, City Hunter, Armour of God and Police Story franchise. He still manages to entertain us nevertheless, but the quantum of combat bits in his movies has seen a gradual decline over the years. Maybe old age is doing that to him. It is in a way sad, because even when his movies didn't bank on a good storyline, he used to still uplift them with his jaw-dropping brawls. We miss that profusely.

Now that I think of it every Jackie Chan movie is ending up like that. Maybe for a change he should use a stunt double so that he doesn't hurt himself delivering those parkour like stunts, as is quite evident from his end credit scenes.

THE FINAL VERDICT

Skiptrace makes for a passable watch, preferable when you are fine with your brain taking a holiday for a change. You cannot help but think, it is time Jackie Chan amp up his entertaining quotient, by partnering up with either Owen Wilson or Tucker again. At least that magic was working for him.

Okay bear with me on this one, this is one of those films that I enjoyed yet I fully understand an argument against me doing so.

You see Netflix decided to make another buddy duo with Jackie Chan, he's done great work with Chris Tucker, Owen Wilson and even Lee Evans before so it made sense. There is just something about him that screams buddy movie, so here they pair him with Johnny Knoxville which has been met with a very mixed reception. Do they have chemistry? I personally thought so.

It tells a rather generic action movie story (As they tend to do) with lashings of comedy to keep it interesting and in my view both of these leads excel in that department. They both have great natural comedic timing despite not really coming from that background, Chan from martial arts and Knoxville from.......stunts?

An old school buddy movie with over the top sequences, the odd couple dynamic and Chan's trademark comedy stunts/fight scenes I was enthralled but the films flaws are overwhelming.

Many jokes miss their mark, some moments seem awkward, the fights are considerably tamer than we're used to (Chan's age no doubt a factor), and the whole thing has a really PG vibe to it. Truth be told the movie has a lot more flaws than I'm letting on but it's qualities outweigh them and I found it an enjoyable, fun, throwback movie.

I understand the criticism, but I really enjoyed it and would love a sequel.

The Good:

Leads do a great job

Eve Torres is ageing like a fine wine

Some funny moments

Awesome buddy movie dynamic

The Bad:

Littered with flaws in pretty much every area of the film

PG cuteness hurts the film

Okay, the plot is a little bit all over the place at times but it still had some pretty neat fights (Jackie Chan always delivers some good stunts for his films) and some fun humor (often within said fight scenes).

There was some dubbed scenes in the first 20 minutes where they clearly weren't speaking English as they would have had no reason to being just Chinese present but luckily that didn't last too long.

I'm guessing the studio thought that Johnny Knoxville fans couldn't handle reading too many subtitles so they dubbed every other scene that was Mandarin sometimes more obvious than others (in the first dubbed scene they avoid the obviousness by simply picking shots that avoid the lips of the cast when they speak).

But I guess that makes it feel a bit like the classic early 90's Jackie Chan movies where they did similar things for the international versions.

Anyway all in all I was mostly entertained and that's why we watch these kind of movies after all and it's worth watching it to see Jackie Chan sing Adelé alone.

6.5/10 for me.