A high point of Jackie Chan's career as an American movie star was “Shanghai Noon,” a likable buddy action comedy that relied on the chemistry between the no-nonsense Chinese émigré hero and Owen Wilson's laconic, affably slick Wild West outlaw. The pairing was successful enough to provoke a sequel (“Shanghai Knights” in 2003) and now a loose reboot of sorts in “Skiptrace.” But 16 years after “Noon,” the 62-year-old star's boyish frenzy has finally given way to an understandable weariness; it falls to new co-star Johnny Knoxville to take most of the stumbles and provide the main comedy.
But there's energy in abundance, if not much grey matter, in this lovable buddy action comedy in which Chan's honest Hong Kong cop is first kidnapper and then comrade to the affably slick American conman from Knoxville. Directed by Renny Harlin, this HK-US-China co-production is a perpetual motion machine of formulaic ideas that, like James Bond, relies on showing one exotic international locale after another, albeit in the service of an adventure that's far more slapstick than martinis. Glossy, colorful and forgettable, Skiptrace is the kind of movie that gives you your money's worth in pure, pleasing entertainment even if you roll your eyes at the umpteenth kick in the crotch. The whopping $62 million it reportedly made when it opened in China last weekend is unlikely to be matched anywhere else, but nonetheless the film should go down globally as Chan's biggest live-action film in some time. The film will be released in the US on September 2nd (several weeks after the DirecTV launch on July 28th), with other territories following by early 2017.
Things start off unpromisingly with a “gotta avenge my partner” theme when Bennie Chan (Chan) fails to rescue fellow cop Yung (Eric Tsang) from an obvious trap set by the elusive crime boss Matador. While Yung nobly falls to what is likely a watery grave, he makes Bennie promise to look after his motherless daughter. Nine years later, Bennie is still obsessed with uncovering the true identity of the Matador, who he believes to be business tycoon Victor Wong (Winston Chao). But this leads him and his younger colleagues (Shi Shi, Kuo Pin Chao) into a botched raid on a dockside drug deal that causes maximum property damage but turns up no hard evidence.
Meanwhile, Yung's now-grown daughter Samantha (Bingbing Fan) works semi-undercover at a luxury gambling palace in Macau, also hoping to find a connection between its owner Wong and her father's death. She is eventually drawn into the turmoil when rhinestone-cowboy-clad Yank Connor Watts (Knoxville), on the run from Russian gangsters who have been looting the casino's coffers, witnesses a local murder. This leads to Connor being transported to Siberia, Samantha being kidnapped, and Bennie being forced to pursue Connor to rescue Samantha and solve the mystery of the Matador once and for all.
Most of Skiptrace is a road comedy, with Chan dragging the oft-handcuffed but endlessly tricky Knoxville back south toward Hong Kong. Along the way, they traverse eastern Russia, the Mongolian steppes, the Gobi Desert, and more, by train, car, horseback, foot, and an inflatable pigskin raft—and find some sort of cultural festival or other spectacle everywhere they go. This eye-candy of a travelogue is as redundant as it is undeniably entertaining, matched by the busy randomness of the incidents experienced along the way, which range from countless stunt action scenes to a nomadic yurt village population spontaneously breaking into Adele's “Rolling in the Deep.” The script, by Jay Longino and BenDavid Grabinski, throws in references to everything from earlier Chan films to “Titanic” and (inevitably) “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
Chan's devotion to mass audience tastes has resulted in more than a few generic, committee-produced works, particularly those aimed primarily at Western audiences. The long-in-the-making Skiptrace, originally slated to be directed by Sam Fell (“ParaNorman”) and starring Seann William Scott in the role Knoxville had taken, initially gives the unimaginative impression of trying to check off too many boxes with too many hackneyed genre cliches.
But what seems strained at first becomes somewhat relaxed and likable after a while as the two stars find their comedic chemistry (not unlike that of Chan and Chris Tucker in his other big Hollywood hit, the “Rush Hour” films). There are some good throwaway gags, and the loud, big scenes are given a silly charm by their sheer volume, like the hippo in the tutu in “Fantasia.” There are some amusingly offbeat supporting villains, like WWE “Diva” Eve Torres as an Amazonian Russian thug. And if Chan's own wit has waned a little of late – it's a wonder he's not permanently in a full-body cast after more than 50 years of on-screen martial violence – Knoxville picks up the slack with impressive zeal. His Jackass roots are evident in a twist in which he experiences, among other things, the everyday humiliations of being stuffed into an out-of-control rolling trash can and having to open a factory door with his mouth.
A few high-profile flops have made Harlin a superficial punchline for “the world's worst director,” alongside Uwe Boll and Michael Bay. And while he hasn't skimped on disposable films, he's arguably never made a boring one. “Skiptrace” remains lively, entertaining and essentially good-natured even when it's gleefully stupid, using its diverse locations for every last drop of local color. Stunts and special effects aren't always entirely convincing, but any action scene that gets a little dull as a result (like the early domino effect of the port houses collapsing, or a too-obviously green-screened ride across a ravine on a hanging rope) is quickly forgotten in the film's fast-paced momentum.
The general silliness is underlined by some pretty funny soundtrack choices, typical of an overall package that is inventive and professionally snappy, if not always stylish. In addition to the usual blooper clips, the end credits include a dedication to Chan Kwok-hung, a cinematographer and longtime Chan collaborator who died in a drowning accident during the film's production.
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