Take one seasoned Hong Kong cop (Chan) and throw in an American, Connor Watts (Knoxville), who has a habit for throwing cards and rolling the dice on casino tables, combine them with a shared motive to nab a mysterious crook and what do you get? An unlikely pair who, despite their differences, manage to work for a common cause.
Review: Jackie Chan is known for having made martial arts into an almost acrobatic form, as perfectly choreographed as a dance. Except that his rough-and-tumble maneuvers cause many bad guys to get their butts kicked. And you’ll see plenty of that here. Chan’s partner gets nabbed by the Chinese mafia early on in the movie. Before his partner perishes, he gives Chan his watch, asking him to look after his daughter (Fan). A promise that Chan swears to keep.
Along the way, and quite by accident, he literally bumps into Watts. The latter, true to his character sketch, is quite the dubious character. A rogue, by any other name. And so, they team up to travel through many countries, situations, and places, to finally arrive back at their common destination, which is Hong Kong. And there, they hope to nab the mysterious criminal known only as The Matador.
This movie is quite delightfully off its rocker. For example, where else will you get to listen to a Mongolian village singing a cover of Adele’s Rolling In the Deep? And for that matter, where else will you actually get to hear Jackie Chan actually sing? The latter scene has him exercising his vocal chops while completely inebriated. And you’d be right in thinking that he would have to be in that kind of state to sing.
Knoxville looks bewildered for most of the movie. And that’s because his character gets into all sorts of impossible situations. And he also doesn’t have a single costume change for almost the entire duration of the film. Presumably, because the action is too frantic for him to even change his suit.
If you like Jackie Chan’s brand of cinema, make no mistake; you will enjoy this.
