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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, August 22, 2003

Aging Jackie Chan fails to polish 'The Medallion'

• 'Medallion' offers a different Jackie Chan

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

THE MEDALLION (PG-13) One-and-a-Half Stars (Poor-to-Fair)

Even Jackie Chan's eminently likable nature isn't enough to hide the direct-to-video blandness of "The Medallion," a formulaic adventure with low-grade action and even worse writing. Directed by Gordon Chan. Columbia, 88 minutes.

There's something about the happy, good-natured Jackie Chan that makes him eminently likable. But it's not enough to save his latest formula action flick, "The Medallion."

In fact, Chan's presence is the only reason this bland exercise isn't headed directly to video. Sad to say, even the famous Chan charm is fading.

We've enjoyed the diminutive Chinese martial arts star for many years because he was famous for doing all his own stunts, usually without benefit of trick wires or editing, smiling all the while. But Chan turns 50 next April and age is decidedly slowing him down. The smile still glows, but the action is diminished and less authentic in "The Medallion."

Now we have to pay more attention to the plot — and that's a challenge in this silly movie. It opens in Hong Kong where policeman Chan is working alongside a squad of English Interpol agents, trying to capture a notorious criminal known as Snakehead (Julian Sands). Snakehead plans to kidnap a special child with mystical powers. (Remember Eddie Murphy's "Golden Child?" Well, same idea.)

The child has the power to combine two halves of a medallion and to then make individuals immortal and all-powerful. That's just the ticket for a megalomaniac bad guy. By the film's end, both Chan and the bad guy have been made all-powerful. Of course, there's a way around that magical fact or the movie's fight scenes would go on for all eternity. (A fate worst than death.)

Chan's efforts to track and capture Snakehead take him and his Interpol pals from Hong Kong to Ireland, but director Gordon Chan even fails to make those famously exotic locales look good.

Assisting Chan are two Western co-stars, Claire Forlani, who fails to make much of an impact as his love interest, and British comedian Lee Evans (of "Funny Bones" and "Mouse Hunt"). He makes a negative impact by huffing and puffing his way through several silly bits of slapstick as an Interpol agent who is far too inept to be believed.

The film's writing and technical attributes are slapdash and barely worthy of a weak made-for-cable flick. Chan could formerly get away with weak material; that's no longer the case. Even the outtakes segment, a Chan trademark during the closing credits, offered little relief. (Since he didn't do many action stunts, the outtakes mostly involved flubbed lines or laughter during conversation scenes. Big deal.)

Rated PG-13 for violence and some innuendo.

• • •

'Medallion' offers a different Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan stars as Inspector Eddie Yang in "The Medallion," the first movie he's done in which his character dies.

Chan Kam Tsuen • Golden Port Productions

Jackie Chan's got a lot more cooking than a new film, "The Medallion," checking into theaters today.

He's getting into the restaurant business, with the fall opening of Jackie's Kitchen Hawai'i at Ala Moana Center, on the third level near the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., California Pizza Kitchen and the Mai Tai Bar. It will be the first in America for Chan, who already has 40 Jackie's Kitchens throughout Asia, including three in Tokyo. Besides Asia-inspired dishes, the Kitchen will become Chan's headquarters for assorted souvenirs, particularly movie memorabilia.

Back to "The Medallion": For the first time in Chan's career, his character dies in a movie.

That's the bad news. The good news is it happens early and is a key reason Chan said he agreed to do "The Medallion." The character is immortal.

Though Chan turned down The Advertiser's request for an interview, Sony Pictures offered the following excerpts from a recent in-house interview promoting the $35 million movie, which recently debuted at No. 1 in Hong Kong:

Q. What attracted you to the film?

JC. First, I've been doing action comedy for so many years, and suddenly they approached me with the idea for "The Medallion." My character dies at the very beginning of the movie. That attracted me because I've never died in a movie before, and I've also never done this kind of special-effects movie before. In the beginning of the film, I can still use my Jackie Chan technique — you know, jumping around. But after my character dies, he comes back as a different sort of person.

All of a sudden, my character has this super power, but it's difficult to control. Sometimes he thinks he can do it, but he doesn't realize his own strength. That's where the comedy comes in.

I've really never done a lot of this stuff before, so we hired one of my good friends, Sammo Hung, to be the action director.

Q. Why do you like to work with Sammo so much?

JC. Oh, I've known him for 40 years. We grew up together and went to the same school. I think he's a martial-arts director who knows what people like. There is nobody like him in the whole world. Some people can act, but they cannot fight. Some people can fight, but they don't know how to act.

But Sammo, he knows acting. He knows directing. He knows choreography. He knows editing. He knows music. He knows everything about movies. And I think he's one of the best. Even in Hollywood — even in Asia — there is nobody like him. He just knows everything.

Q. And do you work together very closely on choreographing the action sequences?

JC. The difference between Sammo and me is that I usually do more relaxed fighting. And more comedy and more humor. Sammo is more serious, more powerful. I've been doing movies my way for so many years. This is why in this movie I wanted to use Sammo's idea and Sammo's style.

I don't want people to see three movies that are all the same style. So this is why I wanted to change to another style — Sammo's style. In my next movie, I'll do my own style again.

Q. Going on to the stunt team — how do you go about choosing them?

JC. I've been choosing my own stunt team since '72. All those years, I just kept training. In the old days, I just trained local people from Hong Kong. Later on, I began training with people from Japan, from Korea, from Australia, from all over the world. I'm always looking for the people who can really work with everybody.

I use people who are humble and open to learning new things. I'm always choosing new people for the stunt team, because I train them so much that a few years later they become stunt coordinators. They go out and get their own team. Then I train another one. I am constantly training people.

Q. Tell me about working with Gordon Chan, the director.

JC. I've known Gordon for so many years. He was a screenwriter before becoming a director. And he has made some very good films. A long time ago, we worked together on "Thunder Ball." Usually, he does dramas.

So this is why we have an action director and a drama director. When the action scenes come in, Sammo and I do it. When the dialogue scenes come in, Gordon does it. And we are a very good combination.

Q. Did you do any special training for this film? This is different from most of your other films.

JC. Yeah, totally different — a lot of things I've never done before, flying around from this corner to that corner. We just trust our stunt team and all those years of experience. Also, we do things differently than in Hollywood. We have a lot of wires that are pretty dangerous, and we just guess, 'Yeah, we can do it.'

Sometimes I like to be in dangerous situations. It makes you feel like you're doing something for the movie. You're not just cheating, you know.

Q. Alex was saying that you speak Cantonese? Or Mandarin?

JC. I speak both.

Q. Tell me about shooting in Ireland and Thailand. You had a lot of locations there.

JC. For me, I'm used to it, really. For the last 10 years, I've been making movies everywhere — South Africa, Rotterdam, Ireland, Bangkok, Korea, and yet nothing's different, really. With film people, there is only one language — everybody knows. It doesn't matter what nationality you are, when the camera is rolling, everybody knows to be quiet. Everybody knows.

— Advertiser Staff