Though
I’ve seen Jackie Chan in movies, I haven’t really seen many Jackie Chan movies – star vehicles for
him, either from China or the U.S. By all accounts, this isn’t an ideal one to
start out with, since its reception seems pretty middling, but it’s still
enough to see why he has the reputation he does.
Bu, a
young romantic living in Taiwan, packs up and heads to Hong Kong after she
discovers a message in a bottle written by a lovelorn city boy named Albert.
She follows the message to Albert’s address… where she promptly learns that he
wrote it for his ex-boyfriend. Not one to be counted out, Bu soon meets the
enigmatic C.N., a wealthy businessman/certified ass-kicker. She helps him out
of a tight spot, and the two strike up an unexpected connection.
That’s as
simple as I can make the summary, but there’s a lot more going on here, including
a romantic folktale involving dolphins and a semi-intentional case of mistaken
identity in the form of a triad boss’s missing girlfriend. I also can’t quite
figure out what C.N.’s deal is. The best I can tell, he’s like Bruce Wayne with all the combat skills but without much of anything in the way of
actual crimefighting. He’s a playboy millionaire (billionaire? I can’t
remember) who also faces off on the regular with the henchmen of his business
rival. I don’t know the purpose of this, other than the fact that C.N. is
played by Jackie Chan, so of course there’s gonna be fighting. Honestly, I
spent the first half-hour waiting to find out he was some kind of secret agent,
but that isn’t the case.
As a
movie, it’s kind of aggressively-okay. The central performances are nice (Chan
gets the job done as C.N. and Shu Qi is charming as Bu) and the characters have
pretty good chemistry, even though the writing is a little thin for both and
the plot they’re in is even thinner. There are unnecessary side plots that are
just sort of there, and important moments hinge on silly things. That said, the
action is terrific. Jackie Chan doesn’t mess around, and the fights are as
technically proficient as they are visually inventive. Do some of them go on
much longer than is narratively required? Of course, but I’m not complaining
about it.
As
Albert, Tony Leung Chiu-wai kickstarts Bu’s journey, even if he himself isn’t
in the movie a ton. He’s a supporting character who mostly crops up as someone
for Bu to talk to, a gay bestie to help her with her problems.
Unfortunately,
this role is my least favorite part of the movie. Albert starts out fine, but
his portrayal seems to get progressively more homophobic as the film goes on.
It’s not so much Leung’s performance; though I can tell Leung plays him rather
flamboyantly, it doesn’t really read as intentionally-offensive to me. Rather,
it’s how the film itself depicts him,
if that makes sense. What I mean is, his scenes feature increasingly absurd
outfits and mocking displays of fussy personal grooming (i.e., bronzer, a
fruit-covered face mask,) and he has a pack of gay friends who are similarly
made into the butt of jokes. It definitely made me uncomfortable, and the fact
that Leung would’ve already made Happy Together by this time makes it even more disappointing.
He does
get beaten up by Jackie Chan in one scene, which I’m sure is a delight for any
actor, but that’s really all this role has to recommend it.
Recommend?
In
General
– It would’ve been a toss-up were it not for Albert’s portrayal, but as it is,
I can’t recommend it. Maybe see if some of the fight scenes are on YouTube?
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai
– No. Even if, again, the actual performance isn’t too bad, it’s surrounded by
some ugliness that I just can’t get behind.
Warnings
Violence,
sexual references, drinking, and homophobic “humor.”
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