Skip trace is an old Jackie Chan movie, but in many ways it feels like an old Jackie Chan movie. Specifically, it's a Hollywood Jackie Chan film from the late 90s or early 2000s in which he teams up with an American and travels around the world to fight crime. This retro quality is the film's greatest strength, but the lack of improvement in the formula is an equally big drawback.
Jackie Chan IS Benny Chan, a Hong Kong police officer who becomes obsessed with tracking down organized crime boss Victor Wong after the death of his partner. When his dead partner's daughter (Fan Bingbing) gets into trouble with the mafia, he is forced to team up with the only man who can help him: professional gambler and petty idiot Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville). Together they experience a crazy adventure through a variety of crazy, action-packed situations and develop an unlikely bond along the way. You know the drill by now.
Fast-paced and eager to please audiences (it's Chan's biggest opening ever in China), Skip trace reminds his audience of the good-natured fun that Jackie Chan brought to Hong Kong in his commercial heyday. Even though it lacks any real depth and doesn't really make sense, the relationship between the police officer Benny and the player Connor is characterized by plenty of frothy buddy-movie rivalry. Director Renny Harlin keeps the action moving at a fast pace, taking Chan and Knoxville through cities, rivers and deserts. They drive a tuk-tuk, ride horses, and even float on an inflated pigskin raft – a sequence that results in DOP Chan Kwok-Hung drowning. Producing action films can still be dangerous.
At 62, Chan himself may be a little slower and more cautious – in the obligatory post-credits breakdown sequence, the icon suffers a little more than usual from his injuries – but he hasn't lost his comic oomph. Chan nails a comical script that, while nonsensical and inconsistent at times, still generally works – especially when punctuated by a quick slap in the face. The best action sequence comes in the first half of the film, where Chan fights and evades thugs in a mechanized Russian nesting doll factory, while Knoxville is trapped on a conveyor belt, tied up like a Looney Tunes character. Chan's traditional “Three Stooges” comic choreography kicks into high gear in this perfectly timed sequence.
Other action sequences are less successful, relying too heavily on stunt doubles and lacking the whimsical, Keatonesque brilliance that made audiences fall in love with Chan in the first place. Surprisingly, one of the best sequences isn't about action at all, but instead involves Chan leading a rousing chorus of Adele's “Rolling In The Deep” with a Mongolian tribe. Coming out of nowhere, it's a spirited oddity that temporarily catapults the film into the stratosphere.
For all the comfort that nostalgia could bring Skip tracethe movie is a pretty good reminder of that too rush hour The era brought with it a whole lot of disgusting shit. Not all of it is pathetic in a bad sense – there's a laughably hilarious scene of computer-aided detective work that would have looked stupid in a '90s crime show – but a lot of it is. Johnny Knoxville, despite his goofy charisma, isn't an actor, and he's pretty damn wooden Skip trace. It's telling that Chan, who speaks English as his second language, still sounds more natural when delivering his lines than he did during Knoxville. The reasons for his involvement in the story are a complete mystery, glossed over by quick editing and action, and he spends most of the film annoying Benny and the audience alike. He also has a much larger presence in the film than all of the film's female characters combined, who are invariably either love interests, damsels in distress, or over-the-top sexy badasses. That's how it was in the 90s; that's how it is now.
Maybe the worst problem with Skip trace – what draws attention to all the other problems – is that it tries to make big bets towards the end. Things inevitably get dramatic, but they're lost on an audience that doesn't really care about the characters. The big final twist – because there has to be a big twist in these films – got a big laugh from the Fantasia crowd, and perhaps it was intended as a tongue-in-cheek joke. If so, it's a great joke. If not, it's still kind of funny.
Skip trace left me with a strange worry in the pit of my stomach. On the one hand, I never want Jackie Chan to stop making films. On the other hand, he is definitely making some progress. I would love for Chan to continue directing or choreographing – his ability to direct action set pieces is still unmatched. But it's a little distracting when you're choosing stunt doubles or fearing for the safety of an aging man.
I love you, Jackie Chan. Find a way to keep your magic – and yourself – alive.
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