Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville in Skiptrace
DIRECTOR: Renny Harlin
Cast: Jackie Chan, Johnny Knoxville, Bingbing Fan, Eric Tsang, Eve Torres, Winston Chao
Skiptrace lead actor Bennie Chan (Jackie Chan; Rush Hour trilogy), a Hong Kong detective, investigates the murder of his friend Yung (Eric Tsang; The Legend of Drunken Master) nine years ago, which led to the elusive crime boss known as The Matador leads. Enter the American criminal Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville; Jackass trilogy), who was given some information about the matador after witnessing a murder. Bennie has to arrest Connor and get him to testify while the matador and his men are on their trail. He tracked the duo through Mongolia and the Chinese countryside.
The Good: Lots of physical comedy and a safe storyline for the whole family. The blooper in the end credits is fun. Bingbing Fan portrays an adorable damsel in distress but still able to hold her own. There's a scene with WWE's Eve Torres about her generous breasts that gets a laugh. Renny Harlin says in the commentary that this is a love letter from Jackie Chan to China, and the beautiful landscape shots certainly convey that image.
The Bad: The jokes, story and characters are so cliche and boring. It's as if the filmmakers thought that hiring a physically comedic white American and a well-known Chinese martial arts comedian actor would magically formulate the film, but that's not the case. There are a lot of random scenes that seem to have been made up on the spot just to get a desperate laugh. The two get on a train, eat fried goat balls and then jump off. What? Why?
The duo are captured by Inner Mongolia tribesmen, forced to fight a big slacker, and eventually make friends by getting drunk and singing Adele's “Rolling in the Deep.” It was sweet, but it felt like showing off. The only scene where I actually laughed out loud was when they made a horse poop in front of Johnny Knoxville, which according to the outtakes in the credits was completely accidental. The CG fire effects were obvious, and I've never seen a CG fire without it looking like a video game or a crappy digital version. If there's a green screen shot, you know it's a green screen.
I love the “Jackass” movies because they’re just long bloopers movies. Jackie Chan movies regularly have bloopers during the end credits, and that's usually my favorite part. If Renny Harlin had decided to just throw the story away and turn Skiptrace into a long series of outtakes, I might have found it more palatable.
ACTOR: C
STORY: D
TECHNICAL: B
OVERALL RATING: C
REVIEWED BY: JM Willis
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JM Willis
Exam date
March 26, 2017
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