Another Action packed Chan adventure
 Oct 19th, 2007
(Oct 18th, 2007)
Advantages:
Plenty of action, more of Chans signature comedic martial arts fight scenes
Disadvantages:
Plot is somewhat unoriginal, supporting cast are alright but not brilliant
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
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  IzzyS
About me:
The Ciao gremlins are at work again - shoo; shoo! sorry if I dont re-rate you, let me know, I cant s...
Member since:27.07.2006
Reviews:234
Members who trust:87
Review rated by 22 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
This is another film I was lucky enough to spot being shown on TV, this time on a Freeview channel and having read that its another Jackie Chan movie that I hadn't seen already, I knew I had to tape this to watch later, which I did and once again, I wasn't disappointed! This movie dates from 1998 and, similarly to the slightly earlier movie Mr Nice Guy (which I've also reviewed here on Ciao), the character Jackie plays has his same name too.
The plot is very similar to The Bourne Identity, with Jackie (the character) a government agent who knows about a secret corrupt deal that could endanger us all and, along with other agents, are left to die on what becomes an unmanned helicopter. However, he manages to escape and survives but suffers from amnesia (hence the name of the movie) and doesn't remember anything about who he is or was. He spends most of the movie trying to remember what happened. To start with, as he lands in South Africa, he's taken in by locals, who, having asked him who he was (to which he responded by asking the same question back 'who am I?'), call him who am I? (just to confuse!) and make him one of 'theirs' by painting his face with tribal paints and so on. Jackie starts to notice debris from the helicopter crash and wonders if this is a clue and soon decides to travel away,
to try and see if he can get his memory back, so he bids goodbye to the people in the village that had taken him in. Its when he gets back to 'normal civilisation' that things get exciting really... and this is yet another good proper action packed movie!
What can I say? the usual elements are here, as he teams up with a couple of ladies (who should be fairly pleasing to the eye of any male viewers I would have thought) to help him on his journey of re-discovery I suppose you could say. As it happens, it doesn't take long until he starts being tracked down by both people from the CIA and of course the obligatory bad guys, who want rid of him because of course he knows too much! The story itself is never the most important part of these movies, I tend to feel. Its the usual combination of Jackies action comedy and the choreography and visual effects of the martial arts and fight scenes with all the other action elements (explosions and so on) that make it as entertaining a movie as it is. This one has quite alot of action in it, its not too boring put it that way! it may not be overly stimulating, plotline wise, but its always entertaining to watch how he manages to use mundane items to defend himself. There's a good long drawn out fight sequence/scene in Rotterdam (in the Netherlands) at one point in the movie where he uses a pile of clogs to his advantage, thats one and that was quite amusing! anyone who's seen his other movies will have a rough idea of the sort of thing... he's very good at moving quickly and not being caught by the baddies lol and frustrating them with some very quick and clever moves!
Also like the Bourne movies, this movie features a pretty cool long car chase scene, which has to be seen to be believed really! this is very entertaining, though I read that its not very realistic but its not like I imagine his movies to be very realistic anyway, I wouldn't want to try and copy what he does really! the car ends up on its side and somehow its able to spin round many times and eventually flip itself back upright, very cool! I like cars lol... well watching that kind of thing anyway though I'd hope nothing like that happens to mine of course! There's plenty of the usual Chan comedy fight scenes that work well and plenty of action scenes to keep you interested and this again I feel makes up for the somewhat predictable storyline. Again, like I say about his other movies for the most part, I wouldn't bother paying too much attention to the plot, its a film to be enjoyed for the visual effects, again there aren't lots of special effects in terms of CGI but the action stunts and fight scenes in terms of choreography and the comedic sides of these are again well played out. The supporting actresses are ok, probably could be worse but not the best actresses ever, another thing that seems to be typical of his movies. That doesn't bother me much though.
I put this movie on expecting what I got - a decent entertaining action movie with lots of good, well choreographed and sometimes quite funny comedy fight scenes, as well as a good car scene and a pretty exciting ending! it wouldn't be half as good without Chan, he obviously works hard in these movies and has pulled off another decent performance here, I wouldn't fault Chan for his acting or action stunts on this movie at all. I think comparing this movie to the other earlier one I've seen (Mr. Nice Guy), that one was a bit more comedy oriented but this one is more action oriented, though its similar this one I feel was perhaps a bit faster and featured a bit more of a faster paced story with more action.
I won't entirely let this movie off the hook because I do feel like the story was perhaps one thats been done a bit too often, having said that it does date from 1998 which I acknowledge is before the Bourne movies were made, however it still feels like the basic story is one thats been used and re-used alot and that perhaps more could have been covered, it was a bit predictable and the supporting cast could have been better too probably, so I'm giving this a good and not an excellent rating, though I'd still recommend it as a good entertaining action movie with plenty of Chan's trademark comedy martial arts performances. In conclusion I think this is worth a watch, particularly if your a fan of Chan's movies. I've only seen the movie (which liek I say I recorded when it was shown on Five US) and I haven't got it on DVD so I can't comment on any extras or bonus material on the DVD and thus this is a 'film only' review.
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by (5%):
31.08.2008 20:01
I quite like Jackie Chan films, but more for the action side than the actual story. Ayesha x
19.10.2007 12:01
good review
19.10.2007 11:47
excelent review well done