Skiptrace review: Midnight Rush Hour
When I discovered Jackie Chan on the US release of Rumble in the Bronx in 1996, Chan started saying he wanted to do less action. I didn't want that to happen. Even though I had his entire catalog of Hong Kong films, I didn't want him to stop making new films. I support Chan in whatever he wants to explore. I have his album. I will see him in a drama. He's a good actor, but being a good actor doesn't make him unique. If I want to watch good dramas, I can also watch Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron or many other good actors. If I want to see a Jackie Chan movie, he's the only one making them.
20 years later, Chan didn't stop making Jackie Chan films. Although he tried romantic comedies or straight dramas or more serious and understated plot twists, in between he continued to make real Jackie Chan films like Rob-B-Hood, The Myth and Chinese Zodiac. Now I feel guilty. He already felt exhausted 20 years ago, but since then we've gotten about 18 additional Jackie Chan films, not even counting misfires like The Tuxedo or The Medallion or dramas like Shinjuku Incident and 1911.
Skiptrace is number 18 on the list of films that I now consider personal gifts from Jackie Chan. Like his best films, the plot doesn't matter, but it has one nonetheless. Chan plays Benny Chan, a rare example of a Hong Kong film where he isn't just called Jackie. To avenge his partner, Benny collects American gambler Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville) in Russia and attempts to bring him back to Hong Kong.
I feel like an idiot for noticing that Jackie Chan is a little slower than he used to be, but I'm being purely objective. If anyone came on the scene and moved the way Jackie Chan moves now, that would be great, and you would only notice it if you've watched Jackie for 40 years. He was already 40 when he made Drunken Master II, and then he kept making more! To this day, no one moves as well as him. He's still graceful and endearingly goofy, but I feel like we're starting to see him relax, which is bittersweet. I mean, I'll never be able to get myself up like he can, so I'll watch until he can't get up anymore, but when I think about it, how he said he wanted to be there for 20 years stop fighting, then that's it. I realize how much extra fighting this is.
The combination of Jackie Chan fights and Renny Harlin action seems to open up a new world for both filmmakers. Chan has a graceful warehouse fight and then tears down the entire dock, Renny Harlin style. Knoxville becomes the prop of a car chase in which Rube Goldberg-style disasters pile up. When Knoxville fights, you can tell Chan choreographed the action because he used his own clothes as props and learned to kick. Speed ramping seems to be something distinctly Hollywood, as does rock and roll music. Like I said, I have his album, so I like Jackie Chan's cover of “Rolling in the Deep.” There are more exotic locations than a James Bond film, and Harlin unleashes hell there.
Somehow we know the trick after 40 years of film history. Jackie gets hurt during his fights and muggings, and at this point she may be acting more hurt than ever before. But if he attacks the bad guys with boxes, show me someone else who has that grace in the end. You also know the formula for the buddy road caper. They run out of money and transportation and Connor escapes and Benny catches him. It's tried and true.
Another highlight is Eve Torres. She's great as a villain and just as a movie star, as WWE performers tend to be consummate entertainers. She controls her fights. There's also a joke about her Double Ds that works much better than the painfully uncomfortable “nice rack” jokes in “The Tuxedo.” There is also a great presentation for Fan Bingbing. Chan always knows how to make his co-stars look good.
If anyone deserves a break it's Jackie Chan, but if he can keep putting together comedic fight scenes like the ones in Skiptrace, I still love them. The long-term solution might be for him to choreograph scenes for other actors he discovers, but I bet he'll be frustrated that no one else can actually pull off the moves he's set out to do, and he will end up doing it Everyone wants to do it themselves. It's also a joy to see Harlin find a film industry that seems to value his sensibilities and give him the forum to explore them.
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