How the Jackie Chan film Skiptrace, a 2016 American-Chinese co-production by Hollywood director Renny Harlin, addressed the cultural conflict

Born in Finland Renny Harlin made Hollywood blockbusters like “Die Hard 2” (1990) and “Cliffhanger” (1992) until the mega-flop “The Ruff” (1996) relegated him to the lower leagues.

While looking for Asian locations for a biopic about Genghis Khan, he realized: “China left a mark on me,” he told Forbes.

When 9/11 forced him to cancel his next project – “Nosebleed,” a Jackie Chan film set in the World Trade Center – the director decided to head east. “I put all my chips on red and spun the wheel,” he said.

Although Harlin would be breaking new ground with Skiptrace, at least the plot would seem familiar – it's exactly the kind of fun action film he made in the 1990s.

While Hong Kong detective Benny Chan (Chan) is chasing a gangster named “Matador,” his partner Yung (Eric Tsang Chi-wai) is murdered.

Chan vows to take care of Yung's daughter Samantha (Fan Bingbing) and clashes with American gambler Connor Watts (Knoxville), who has defrauded corrupt casino owner Victor Wong (Winston Chao), also Samantha's boss.

When Wong kidnaps Samantha, Chan is forced to bring Watts to him – the only problem is that he has been captured by Russian gangsters.

Fan Bingbing as Samantha (left), the daughter of Jackie Chan's partner, and Johnny Knoxville as American gambler Connor Watts (right) in a still from “Skiptrace.”

What follows is a journey from Russia to Hong Kong, during which the unlikely pair slowly develop a bond with each other – similar to “Midnight Run” (1988), which was set in Mongolia.

The title refers to a tracking device that allows Wong's henchmen to catch up with them at inopportune moments.

After nearly 40 years in the business, Harlin knows what he's doing. Compared to many Chinese films, Skiptrace is quite well directed; Chan and Knoxville have charisma in abundance; and there are some entertaining scenes, such as a raid in the stilt village of Tai O in Hong Kong that sends the houses falling into the sea like dominoes.

But the culture shock that gives the film its appeal also threatens to ruin it. The script by Jay Longino and BenDavid Grabinski often seems as if it had been translated by bots.

Film director Renny Harlin in Hong Kong in 2019. Photo: Edmond So

“You want justice for your partner – I understand that – but your obsession with this case has taken a personal toll on you,” warns the angry police chief Captain Tang (Michael Wong Man-tak).

The striking locations could have been chosen by the Chinese tourism bureau, as the pair stumbled upon a Kongming Lantern Festival and a Monihei mud carnival. “Are you on Wikipedia all the time?” Watts asks Chan as they interrupt another narratively convenient gathering.

The awkward cultural cross-pollination culminates in the deeply strange moment when, after a drinking spree in a Mongolian village, Chan breaks into a version of Adele's “Rolling in the Deep,” accompanied by traditional instruments.

Jackie Chan as Hong Kong detective Benny Chan in a still from “Skiptrace”.

“I never thought you were an Adele fan,” says Watts, looking admirably serious. “'Rolling in the Deep' is a classic,” says Chan, as if to say the case is closed.

“I thought it would be a great scene where East meets West, Mongolia meets the rest of the world,” Harlin told Slash Film. When Watts returns the favor by singing Chan's 1991 hit “Please Understand My Heart,” the stakes are high.

Fittingly, its theatrical release was as one-sided as the film itself. In China, it grossed $62.2 million in its first weekend, making it Chan's highest-grossing theatrical release. In America, however, it made $1,792 in a limited release and then disappeared into streaming.

Fan Bingbing in a still from “Skiptrace”.

While the film may have been a double-edged sword for the producers, for Harlin it was the start of a lucrative second career directing Chinese-language films in China, such as Legend of the Ancient Sword (2018).

“In China you can do anything,” he said. “In China nothing is impossible.”

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