sunshinebeachcinema From the start, you know what page you should be on in Jackie Chan vehicle The Medallion. It exists to entertain, not to make any kind of bold spiritual or meaningful statement, even if the plot is grounded in a delightful magical hokum, which may or may not be inspired by certain elements of Chinese mysticism, which I'm sure it takes many liberties with. Still, in this kind of film, a MacGuffin is required to get the plot moving. The titular Medallion is thousands of years old, and grants the holder a host of powers, including strength, speed and immortality. Naturally, some unscrupulous individuals are bound to want to get their hands on this wondrous item, and indeed they do, making off with both it and its child guardian Jai, who has been chosen by the fates as the only one who can activate the Medallion, by binding its two halves.Who's on hand to stop this selfish abuse of ancient power? Hong Kong police officer Eddie Yang, (Jackie Chan). Chan plays his usual role as the dogged nice guy, battling against all the odds, and a seemingly never-ending stream of enemy goons, with only his skill at martial arts to protect him. As ever, it's impossible to dislike Chan, and you end up along for the ride, and rooting for him every time.Lee Evans appears as Arthur Watson, a somewhat incompetent Interpol agent who is partnered with Jackie and becomes his comic foil. Throughout Jackie Chan's extensive filmography, he has been paired with numerous partners, especially in his Hollywood productions that have tended to exploit the "buddy cop" dynamic to its full potential. Lee Evans, for example, is not Owen Wilson, who performs admirably alongside Chan in Shanghai Noon (2000) and its sequel. Similarly, Chan's partnership with Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour film series is, of course, the stuff of cinematic legend.That said, Evans is not a bad choice for Chan's partner. If you like him, he can be endearing, and his character here is written with this intention. However, like many stand-up comedians, he succumbs to the Marmite effect – you either love him or you hate him. If you fall in the latter category, he is likely to annoy you all the way though, and his presence in the film could be a deal breaker.Claire Forlani's character, another agent by the name of Nicole, is an old flame of Eddie/Jackie's. Regrettably, she is not particularly engaging and there is little chemistry between her and Jackie to give credence to their previous relationship. She seems to fill the obligatory role of the love interest to accompany the primary duo into the finale, but I would have preferred to see this role filled by Charlotte Watson (Christy Chung), Arthur's wife, who appears during a fight in the Watson household, revealing herself to be an agent too. Pre-dating Mr. & Mrs. Smith by two years, neither Arthur nor Charlotte have filled each other in on their true professions, but when her family is threatened, Charlotte springs into action. For some reason, nothing is made of this after the scene, and the character does not appear again.Those who grew up watching the animated series Jackie Chan Adventures might enjoy a nostalgia trip when they recognise a familiar sounding villain in the form of Julian Sands, who proves that the stereotype of the well-spoken British villain is still very much alive in his role as the borderline psychotic crime lord known as "Snakehead". At times, this film can feel like a live action imagining of the aforementioned series, where Sands played Jackie's nemesis, a similar villain with a penchant for the theft of mystical items.Gordon Chan directs, as an experienced figure in Hong Kong cinema who has worked with Jackie Chan before. Gordon Chan's other notable works include remakes of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (1972): Fist of Legend (1994), starring Jet Li, and Legend of the Fist (2010). As ever, the real star is not the plot or characterisation, but the fight scenes with Jackie, who is well known for performing all of his own stunts, to the point that nobody would insure him. Typically, the director is happy to let Jackie do his thing, whilst the soundtrack plays some pop rock with a groovy bass line. During the finale, Forlani's fight with her female counterpart in Snakehead's organisation is set to a rocking blues guitar solo. Perhaps this choice of score is not surprising; the soundtrack was co-written by Steve Porcaro, one of the founding members of Toto.In a film about a medallion that gives supernatural powers, the most entertaining fights are the most realistic. These are the ones where Jackie fights a number of thugs in an industrial location. Once in the sewers beneath the streets of Hong Kong, and twice on container ships, in Dublin and Victoria Harbour. Once the characters inevitably become juiced up on the medallion's powers, the fights seem somehow less impressive. Whilst events become visually more extreme, and the stakes are technically higher, what with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, conflicts between these newly immortal warriors lack the tension of a fierce urban punch-up. The Medallion's powers do give Jackie the chance to perform near super-human stunts, such as scaling a building, or leaping a large gate in one smooth movement. I'm sure some of these stunts must be his own, unassisted, proving he doesn't really need these powers after all, even if his character wouldn't normally be up to it.This film, while an hour and a half of entertaining absurdity, does not deserve further analysis, nor does it ask for it. Jackie Chan saves this film, simply by doing what he does best. But it is by no means his best work.

TheLittleSongbird Usually, I try not to judge a film solely on its failures, but unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like this movie, The Medallion has more flaws than you can count. There are some films of Jackie Chan that I like, Rush Hour especially. However, this is not one of them, and I will say right now that Chan is the only redeeming quality to this clunky mess: it certainly didn't help that the film looked as though it had been edited on a bacon slicer. The stunts are usually the best thing in a Jackie Chan movie, but the execution here is very confused, lacking drive and energy. The fact that the film is also devoid of a convincing enough plot is yet another disadvantage, and the script is uninvolving, was forced at times and lacked bite. The chemistry between Chan and his girlfriend (played by Clare Forlani) was unconvincing. Now I liked Julian Sands in The Scoundrel's Wife, and as an actor he is generally watchable, but his villain Snakehead was poorly written, and not at all threatening, and the child did literally nothing but stare which was rather unpleasant at times. The film also wasted the talents of John Rhys Davies, a very good actor, when he has some decent enough material, not the case here. I suppose the worst thing about this movie, is the truly irritating performance of comedian Lee Evans as Chan's partner. Honestly everything he said and did made me cringe, it was strongly reminiscent of Marlon Wayans in Dungeons & Dragons, proving that anyone who's going to try to bring some humour into an overall hopeless film, is going to fail miserably. Overall, a film that is a bit of a mess to put it kindly. If you like Chan, you may like it, otherwise avoid. Not the absolute worst movie I have ever seen, but it certainly lingers at that end of the film spectrum. 1/10 Bethany Cox.

g-bodyl I liked this movie even though there are way too many holes in the film. If you compare this movie to the Rush Hour movies or Shanghai Noon, you will probably hate this film. I saw this movie with a laidback mind and expecting nothing more than a fun action movie. That is what I got. The story is about a medallion that has two halves. Each half gives superhuman strength to the user, but you have to be dead first. If the halves are combined, you get immortality. Now Chan and his gang of Interpol cops must keep the medallion and the user, a kid away from the people who want to use the medallion for bad. Jackie Chan is very clever in this film. He acts well and adds a bit of comedy. Claire Forlani also did a great job. Lee Evans was so-so. He can be a bit annoying. The special effects sucked. A rule of advice is never add CGI to a Jackie Chan movie. It will make that movie bad. What is the point of the cat meowing? It made the movie even worse. Overall, this is a good family film, even though it's a bit cheesy. I rate this movie 9/10.

Enchorde Recap: Police officer Eddie Yang traces known gangster Snakehead to Ireland after Snakehead kidnapped a holy kid in Hong Kong. According to the myth, the kid, with a certain medallion, can resurrect people and give them superpowers (like immortality). Yang, and his colleagues Watson and James, tries to free the kid as Snakehead tries to smuggle the kid into Ireland on a boat. The result however is that the kid and Eddie falls in to the water, trapped in a container. Eddie drowns, but saves the boy, and in return, the boy later resurrects Eddie. Now, Eddie, with superpowers must stop Snakehead once and for all.Comments: I thought they really had something going there. Started out nice. As I expected, a lot of martial arts and fights, all nicely choreographed and with augmented with extra aids (like wires), of course, but still with a good feeling and some nice touches. The story was nothing fancy, but they had found the balance in the fights. Just enough fancy kicks and jumps. Action director Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan were onto something here. Then came the superpowers. Then everything went just silly. The balance went right out the window (along with Jackie Chan/Eddie Yang actually). Instead of nicely choreographed fights we get ridiculous fights with a lot of special effects. Net result; Silly. And the story didn't get any better either.Jackie Chan delivers what is expected of him, he does what he usually does. But I can't do anything but wonder why the character Arthur Watson is in the movie? To add some comic element apparently, as that was needed. Watson is annoyingly clumsy, petty and incompetent and has mysteriously risen to a high position within Interpol. Evans plays the part well, I guess he does what is asked of him, but again, why is the character in the movie? Claire Forlani got the role of Nicole James, agent/love interest, of Eddie Yang. Though Nicole is much more competent than Watson she is clearly side-stepped both in the movie and with the virtual Interpol. Therefore her role is small, her potential and talent not used, her major part is as the one taking care of the kid (Doh, she's a woman - and this is a boring stereotype). She gets to show her skill in martial arts a few times though, showing she (or her stunt double - some shots make it easy to assume she has one) got them. Her only major fight though is, of course, against the female bad guy (to the sound of screeching cats... oh, come on!).So, the beginning was promising, the second "half" disappointing. On average a 5.