A Hong Kong police officer, played by Jackie Chan, and a fast-talking American reluctantly team up to take down a major criminal enterprise while bickering and trying to get along. That's the outline of the plot of the new action comedy “Skiptrace,” and…yes, it sounds a lot like Chan's big international breakthrough from 1998, “Rush Hour,” in which Johnny Knoxville takes on the role of Chris Tucker. Unfortunately, within this familiar setup, director Renny Harlin and screenwriters Jay Longino and BenDavid Grabinski seem largely content to color the formula with the most clichéd plot elements: an obsessive quest for revenge, a loose-living American trying to break it An Asian out of his tough shell, a conflict between amorality and a code of honor. There's not much in Skiptrace that you haven't seen before, and Harlin seems to recognize this, giving the film a generally carefree attitude towards even the most dramatic and/or emotional situations.
About two-thirds of the way through, however—as Bennie Chan (Chan) and Connor Watts (Knoxville) walk across a pasture in China and briefly discuss Bennie's future plans—Watts tells Bennie, “You know, you're not a spring chicken anymore.” Suddenly, Skiptrace takes on a touch of autumnal melancholy with a single line. Jackie Chan is now 62, and although age has clearly retreated him from the dizzying heights of physicality he displayed in his Hong Kong films in the 1980s and 1990s, Skiptrace shows that he at least still retains the understated quality has what made him special. His screen presence was as likeable as he was an amazing performer.
Although the action choreography in the film – which was designed by Wu Gang, a frequent stunt performer for Chan in recent years – doesn't demand quite as much from its star as he often does in the “Police Story” films demanded of himself, he throws himself into it all with entertaining abandon. Even a potentially awkward non-action scene in which a drunken Bennie suddenly plays Adele's “Rolling in the Deep,” encouraging the rest of a Mongol tribe to sing along, is at least partially offset by the actor's charm. He doesn't take himself too seriously.
But perhaps Chan, who is credited as a producer on Skiptrace, is also thinking about his future through this role in his own light-hearted way. Not that he shows any signs of slowing down; A look at his upcoming filmography on IMDB will certainly refute one of these thoughts. In Skiptrace, however, Bennie tells Connor that he can imagine retiring to the country at some point and breeding alpacas. As Harlin closes the film with an aerial shot of Chan lying unconscious on the ground in the countryside, accompanied by his usual credits reel of failed stunts, the feeling of a performer contemplating his own mortality is inescapable.
Then consider Skiptrace, Chan's own Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Indiana Jones of Steven Spielberg's much-maligned fourth franchise entry may have been involved in a similar adventure to the ones he experienced when he was younger, but a look beyond the film's edges was a tacit admission of Indy's part in the passage of time. about the desire to finally settle down with a family he had once avoided in order to indulge his passion for discovery. This older Indy was no longer a spring chicken either, which lent a certain poignancy to his decision to finally marry Marion Ravenwood.
Bennie in Skiptrace yearns for a similar retreat from his lifelong police work, and by the end of the film the character finds himself in a similarly tranquil place. But just as Indy wasn't quite ready to give up his iconic status entirely – he'll keep that famous fedora, thank you very much – Bennie refuses to acknowledge to Watts that his partner has actually mastered both: finger knock-out moves , which Bennie wanted to teach him earlier. Jackie Chan may be thinking about settling down, but he'll be damned if he's giving up all his star power just yet.
Director: Renny Harlin
Authors: Jay Longino, BenDavid Grabinski
Cast: Jackie Chan, Johnny Knoxville, Fan Bingbing, Eric Tsang, Eve Torres, Winston Chao
Release date: September 2, 2016
Kenji Fujishima is a freelance film critic who writes for Slant Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, The Playlist, and The Village Voice. He is also the associate editor of Movie Mezzanine. When he's not watching films and writing and editing film criticism, he tries to absorb as much music, art and literature as possible. For this reason he is often referred to as a “culture freak”.
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