Old age catches up with everyone, as any NFL fan watching Brett Favre these days can attest to. Rarely has that truth appeared more painful than in the latter-day efforts of Jackie Chan. His spirit remains willing, but the death-defying acrobatics that made him an international superstar have slowly slipped out of his grasp… regardless of how hard films like Robin-B-Hood try to convince us otherwise. Hit the jump for my full review.
If you haven’t heard of the film, that’s no surprise. Released in 2006, it has operated largely below the radar, and only Chan’s biggest fans know about it. A quick look at the film makes it easy to see why. This time around, Jackie plays an expert thief and safecracker who lands big scores only to blow them all at the local gambling dens. Salvation appears when he and his partners kidnap a baby at the behest of a dodgy underworld boss. They end up bonding with the child to the point where they fight on his behalf against the very criminals who tasked them with the kidnapping in the first place.
Had he made it ten years earlier, Chan might have sold us on it. His comic timing remains undimmed , and with long-time collaborator Benny Chan behind the camera, comes up with a fair amount of imaginative choreography to indulge in. A thirty- or forty-year-old Chan would have eaten it all for lunch, astonishing us with his “no stuntmen, no ropes” ethos and the sweaty-palmed thrills it engenders. Alas, he is no longer the man he was, necessitating the use of cheap tricks and special effects to sell us on a number of the gags. Once they click into place–once you sense the wire work and the green screens–the magic vanishes, replaced by utter banality.
As if aware of its increasingly threadbare nature, Robin-B-Hood spaces the action out in favor of more traditional jokes and character development. Here too, Chan feels out of step, playing a less-than-likeable character in his usual likeable manner. We struggle to accept him as a degenerate gambler and while his eventual change of heart supposedly redeems him, the arc feels supremely phony. The director pads it with stock gross-out moments, scenes of the kidnappers struggling with basic baby-caring tasks, and a few heated conversations with Chan’s family. They slow the proceedings to a crawl, leaving the audience wondering when the next big stunt will arrive. When it does, it inevitably proves to be a letdown and the whole cycle starts all over again.
Unlike some of Chan’s other movies, Robin-B-Hood aims squarely at the family market, with comparatively gentle thrills and some too-obvious lessons of the Crime Doesn’t Pay variety. It never descends into the flat-out awful–just a little dull–and even as he ages, Chan’s onscreen presence remains formidable. Sadly, that may no longer be enough. Without a sharper script, he has to rely solely on abilities he no longer possesses, a process which becomes supremely depressing after awhile. The lengthy running time further gnaws at our interest levels, such that even the bevy of appearances from Hong Kong staples like Yuen Biao can’t improve matters. It’s not the worst film Chan’s ever done; it just reminds you of how much better he can be… or at least used to be. Robin-B-Hood deserves some credit for trying to let its star branch out a bit. It needed to go a lot further, or–if it couldn’t–to do what it does with a lot more conviction.
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jacky is so ingrained on me that I still love to see him in shit…but yeah this movie has a very herky jerky kinda flow to it …some stuff you say hey thats ok but then something happens where you say to yourself wow the movies pretty awful …but it still is not as bad as High risk….one of jackys worst flicks along with city hunter….as for the stunts you have to think about this, his very early work has almost no stunts at all and really relies on his charm, humor and the quikness of his kung fu…so he can carry a movie with no big stunts in it…if you are only looking for huge stunts then you are missing the point of a jacky chan movie….he was a huge star in asia and had already made a bahzilion movies much relying on just his comedy… the stunting didnt swing into mondo full gear until the late 80s.. hell he didnt even get recognized in the western world untill the 90s….yeah I know he was in cannonball run ..but he was in it acting like a stereo typical slapstick asain dude..even the kung fu he did in it was just a joke ..they winged all the moves and probably took twenty minutes to film his stuff…he still is very enjoyable to watch stunting or not.
Ah I beg to differ on what you are saying about Jackie Chan. If you knew anything about him, you would know that as an actor he is winning, see him in movies such as Little Soldier and Myth. Only the Western audience who are ignorant and think kung-fu is all that he can do because those are the roles Western audience gives most Asian actors. As for Robin-B-hood, it is meant as a comic film, not staked for the Sundance Film festival or something. And he achieves the goal which is to entertain.
Reviews like this are a waste of time and are far from dignified! Show some respect. Jackie Chan is multi-talented – Actor (in addition to accomplished physical comedian), Director, Singer (not sure if he can count this as his greatest decision??), Stunt Arranger, Writer (although reportedly only in the loosest sense – Concept, Action/Comedy Set-piece, End point before handing primary script duties to someone else for many years Edward Tang did the honours).
Jackie does more than just fight. I loved both Island of Fire (not really a starring role) and Crime Story and the Shnjuku Incident (until the last 5 minutes). All were more ‘serious’ films.
I personally consider Miracles (A.K.A. Mr Canton & Lady Rose, The Canton Godfather, Black Dragon, etcetera) to be the greatest example of his talents working together to create a varied yet balanced performance. This is arguably the finest movie remake of all time (I’ll bet Frank Capra would’ve loved it too). In Miracles his character gets to be the everyman, the romantic lead & both protagonist and antagonist within facets of the plot. There’s enough action and comedy for fans and non-fans alike to take something from that movie which they can appreciate or enjoy. In this time of endless poor remakes Jackie showed Hollywood how it sould be done (and in 1989 BEFORE the popular trend of remaking the s**t out of everything).
I try to forget frankly awkward movies like Gorgeous, which would have been fine as either a romantic-comedy or a straight up drama but the action scenes weighed the whole thing down and distracted from otherwise winning performances from all involved. Did it really need them?? I grew to love that film in time…
Then there was the latest Police Story (5 although 6th in the series if you count ‘Police Story 3 Part II Project S – Once A Cop’ to use both titles from the original theatrical trailer OR ‘Supercop 2’ for the USA, ‘Supercop’ for the UK as number 3 kept it’s series title across here – now do you see why gets confusing?) the ‘New’ in the title was just plain lazy but at least after Jackie Chan’s First Strike (Police Story 4) it got back to the original dramatic premise behind the series. This was a very effective baton-passing movie and to me represents the point at which Chan began defying convention with each new project and attempting to show yet again that he could offer more than just great action scenes to the movie-going public.
His Asian films are still far superior to his Hollywood efforts (bar the Karate Kid). As much fun as The Spy Next Door was, it was no Project-A (part I or II).
Give the guy a break he just seams to be attempting to be taken seriously and reviews like the one above for Robin-B-Hood ignorant of Chan’s other talents written by people who make him sound like a performing monkey are less than ideal. The western media really needs to look at more than the action in his films and get over the age thing – Jackie is in danger of becoming the Asian Roger Moore, so F***in’ what. No film is perfect and If JC did quit acting he has so much more to offer. Nobody minds when Sammo Hung switches professions or primary roles of responsibility so why single out Jackie!!
Great to see Yuen Biao in a modern JC movie!
Again, I suggest you go back and watch Miracles to see Jackie’s full range as a leading man.