What did Bennie (Jackie Chan) and Connor (Johnny Knoxville) do in “Skiptrace”? (Shaw Organisation)
Secret ending? No, but there is a cutscene with bloopers in the credits.
Running time: 107 minutes (~1.75 hours)
Skiptrace is an action comedy about a disgraced Hong Kong cop and a seemingly charming American con man who must team up against a diabolical threat while crossing Mongolia. The film stars Jackie Chan (Bennie Chan), Fan Bingbing (Samantha) and Johnny Knoxville (Connor Watts). The film is rated PG.
It's amazing how unbearably annoying Johnny Knoxville can be, especially when he's forced to be smarmy and charming. Skiptrace digs up every East-West stereotype in the book and throws it at the audience in the form of presumptive jokes that fall flat at every turn. It's a gritty Jackie Chan buddy movie that offers nothing but another Western face.
Drives you crazy in Skiptrace. (Shaw Organisation)
Highlights
Surprisingly touching twist at the end
For a film that is so predictable, Skiptrace throws us a decent surprise in the third act, and then another surprise comes along. Although the twist doesn't really make sense when you think about it, the way it is handled provides closure to the film and is one of the few positive aspects of the film.
The duo in “Skiptrace”. (Shaw Organization)
Disappointments
Everyone speaks English
The Hong Kongers, the Russians, every nationality seems to speak English comfortably, however thick the accent. This wouldn't be a problem if Bennie (Jackie Chan) and Samantha (Fan Bingbing) didn't converse in Mandarin when they're alone. It's a strange inconsistency, explicitly aimed at an English-speaking audience, although subtitles would have worked just as well.
Slapstick antics
Would you find Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville in traditional Mongolian costume singing Adele in the Gobi Desert particularly funny? The writers certainly seem to think so, and go to great lengths to put them in increasingly absurd situations, like throwing Johnny Knoxville down an industrial slide or splashing him with mud. The main characters' cheesy antics remain stuck in perpetual immaturity, as if we were watching two children stuck in adult bodies.
Disappointing action
The scenes feel more like an excuse to explode as much as possible rather than wowing you with well-choreographed fights. Jackie Chan's skills are pushed aside in favor of yet another collapsing structure, so if you're watching Skiptrace hoping to see him perform fluid martial arts moves, you'll be sorely disappointed by the film's fights.
A flimsy excuse for a conspiracy
There's no plot. It's just a series of pathetic reasons to get the two main characters out of Hong Kong and Macau so they can make their way back – on foot. And that's so they can wander through scenic locations and showcase all the wonderfully diverse cultures the world has to offer, all speaking comfortably in English. It's such a transparent ploy to get them to wander into Mongolia that you wonder if this shouldn't have just been a travelogue rather than an action comedy.
Samantha (Fan Bingbing) and Bennie in “Skiptrace”. (Shaw Organisation)
“Skiptrace” is one of Jackie Chan’s most banal films.
Should you watch this if it's free? OK.
Should you see this movie at weekday ticket prices? No.
Rating: 2.0/5
“Skiptrace” will be released in theaters on July 22, 2016 (Friday).
Marcus Goh is a television scriptwriter in Singapore. He is also a Transformers fan and a pop culture enthusiast. He tweets/posts on Instagram at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
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