By Subhash K. Jha
Movie: “Skip Race”
Cast: Jackie Chan, Johnny Knoxville, Fan Bingbing; Director: Renny Harlin
Rating: *1/2
At 62 years old and with 40 years of superstardom under his black belt, shouldn't Jackie Chan be thinking about ending the youth cinema he did ten, five and two years ago? Chan insists on playing versions of the action hero The Boy Who Won't Be a Man.
In “Skiptrace,” Chan repeatedly refuses to beat up women because it goes against his principles. Lest you think Chan thinks women are for procreation rather than exsanguination, be warned that he shows no interest in sex. He never did that.
The principle of ahimsa towards woman is tossed (and hurled) when a highly militant Siberian assassin attacks Chan headfirst. What can a poor man do when a woman overwhelms him?
As expected, it's over for the Siberian girl, who happens to be the most interesting character in “Skiptrace”. What's worrying is that there isn't much left of her beauty and her fist to enjoy. Chan likes to keep his action sex-free.
The film opens with a spectacular shootout somewhere in China, with our hero jumping from one wooden house to another as the buildings collapse one by one – almost like this film's breathless but pointless narrative edifice, going from stunt to stunt without doing much achieve the path to a satisfactory conclusion.
Skiptrace is a series of action sequences awkwardly strung together, the plot seemingly written in a sauna on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Of course, Chan gets the lead role in almost every scene. American actor Johnny Knoxville accompanies Chan in the tireless silliness that takes her through a turbulent terrain teeming with hackneyed spaghetti western episodes.
It mixes the traditional kung fu genre of Bruce Lee (where Chan began his career) with spaghetti westerns from Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. There are constant allusions to love, loyalty, kindness and compassion – in short, oriental values packaged as exotica for Western audiences – but there is very little discipline or self-control evident in the narrative.
Interestingly, Chan has no love interest as his character shows no interest in love except for his foster daughter Samantha (Fan Bingbing), who embodies the spirit of Damsel In Distress when she gets into trouble with the Chinese mafia. Chan must protect his foster daughter, whose father he carries as a good luck charm.
Renny Harlin – never known as a celluloid intellectual thinker – allows the narrative to meander through a series of clear tropes associated with Chan's witty fist-of-fury films. Sure, the 62-year-old superstar is still kicking his groin with procreative enthusiasm. But is this what he wants to do for the rest of his career?
Think, Mr. Chan, think.
Like this:
Load…
Comments are closed.