Jackie Chan is beloved, but he has released as many flops as smash hits.
Did anyone really need to see him pratfalling his way around the world in 80 days?
Keep watching for more of his best and worst.
Not many people would disagree that Jackie Chan found true mass appeal with Rush Hour.
His notoriety had already begun to spread into the Western Hemisphere before the movie was
released in 1998, but it was this hilarious buddy cop hit which catapulted Jackie into
the upper echelons of stardom. In Rush Hour, Chan plays a Hong Kong detective
brought over to the Los Angeles area to help track down an old nemesis. In an attempt to
get him out of their hair, the local police force pairs him up with Detective Carter,
who recently botched a vital operation and was due for some form of punishment.
There are so many delightful elements that make this buddy cop movie work. While the plot may be
a little simplistic, its straightforward formula allows the stars to really shine. Chan is in top
form, at this point a veteran of action cinema who is still young enough to tumble through obstacles
and sail through the air. The juxtaposition of Chan's regimented detective speaking in rigid
English with Tucker's lanky fountain of jokester diatribes also makes for a hilarious double act.
"Thank you, thank you!"
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm just being polite."
"Well, next time be polite to my nuts."
In short, Rush Hour is a movie that reminds you why you love
movies — and easily stands up as one of Jackie Chan's best.
The Medallion fell victim to the same monster that many early 2000s films did — it was wooed by the
overwhelming allure of new-age CGI. Unfortunately, the filmmakers failed to recognize who they had
on board for this film: namely, the king of fight choreography and stunt work. Instead,
they opted to replace all his combat experience with cheesy, computer-animated superpowers.
The film struggles to find an identity most of the way through,
stumbling over awkward attempts at humor, missing entirely on moments of sincerity,
and failing to properly utilize its action star. Even in Jackie Chan's lesser movies,
it's easy to let go and have fun because he always looks like he's having fun, too, but that's not
the case here. The Medallion is a big, choppy CGI backflip followed by a faceplant into the dirt.
It was around the release of Rumble in the Bronx
that insurance companies were getting nervous about insuring Jackie Chan,
and watching this movie will make it pretty obvious why that was the case. Chan is known
for performing his own stunts. Rumble in the Bronx features some of his most daring of all.
In this 1995 movie, Chan plays a Hong Kong cop on vacation for his uncle's wedding in New York.
Things take a turn for the worse, however, when the grocery store his uncle just sold falls victim
to a protection racket from a local biker gang. The hero decides to fight back out of a misguided
sense of nobility, leading him to face off against hordes of ruthless bikers and mobsters.
The movie itself is pretty low-budget, but you'll rarely notice thanks to Jackie's
incredible fighting choreography and death-defying stunts. The action star is in peak form here,
with so much energy it practically bubbles up out of him and onto the screen.
The elaborate battle sequences highlight his ability to use his surroundings, too,
as he fights back with everything around him. Rumble in the Bronx is a testament to both
Jackie Chan's action skills and his star power, and it still holds up all these years later.
If you've ever had a fever dream involving John Cusack crossing
swords with Jackie Chan, then prepare to have your mind blown.
The sheer absurdity of Dragon Blade delivers a sliver of joy, but sadly fails to rescue the movie
from being a colossal dud. Other than the novelty of some of the action, most of Dragon Blade falls
flat. Once again, the downfall of any Jackie Chan flick is its creators' inability to utilize their
stars properly. Bizarrely, the cast is backed up by not just John Cusack but also Adrien Brody,
and no part of the script offers any suggestion as to why they climbed on board this disaster.
Still, the fight sequences at least put Chan's abilities on full display,
showing that he's got some juice left in the tank. The few sparks of life fail to ignite the
fuse on this lackluster ride, though. There's very little story to follow, and what little
there is tends to be driven by cringeworthy clichés. Best to skip out on this one.
The best part of The Legend of Drunken Master is getting to see a fresh-faced Jackie Chan
fully embrace his strengths. While his martial arts abilities are dazzling,
it's Chan's animated expressions and gift for physical comedy that sets him apart from his
counterparts, and this kung fu sequel is Chan's first film to fully lean into this.
Jackie plays Wong Fei-hung, the son to a local merchant who mistakenly mixes up a prescription
of ginseng root with a fellow traveler's Chinese artifact. His attempts to cover up
his mistake only result in further disaster. As it turns out, however, Wong is adept in the art
of drunken boxing and becomes an increasingly adept fighter the more inebriated he becomes.
"I've never seen this."
"Do you think that's a good idea?"
"Don't worry. It gives him power."
The Legend of Drunken Master is arguably one of Chan's best displays of physical comedy.
While the first film is pretty fun to watch, this sequel is more fully formed. Indeed, there are
few other Jackie Chan films that so adeptly utilize every element of the actor's talent.
The buddy cop genre is a tried and true formula that leads straight to America's heart.
Unfortunately, even the greats can make a wrong turn or two. Skiptrace teams Jackie
Chan up with goofball supreme Johnny Knoxville. You might assume that funny
plus funny would equal hysterical, but there are apparently some diminishing returns at play here.
Once again, Jackie plays a Hong Kong detective, and once again, he is paired up with an apathetic
American. The two follow a trail of clichés to a predictable ending, proving once and for all that,
anytime a Chan vehicle fails to deliver, it's down to lackluster writing — because whenever
it's time for a fight, you can't help but fall in love. Just like most Jackie Chan films,
you'll at least get some entertainment value out of Skiptrace, but that's about all you'll get.
It speaks volumes about Jackie Chan's work ethic that, in the same year he led a blockbuster hit
alongside Chris Tucker, he also wrote and directed Who Am I? This aptly named film stars Jackie as a
special forces operative who suffers amnesia after his aircraft crashes in the South African jungle.
After spending weeks living among the natives and recuperating,
he hitches a ride with a cross-country rally car team to Johannesburg,
simultaneously embarking upon a journey of self-discovery.
In Who Am I?, Chan isn't merely a loveable kung fu hero — he's a character with genuine layers,
filled with plenty of potential for emotional resonance. The responsibility of directing
did nothing to slow down Chan's lust for thrilling action sequences either,
and Who Am I? features some of the coolest action scenes in the actor's filmography.
To put it bluntly, Around the World in 80 Days is a serious disappointment.
The beloved Jules Verne classic was ripe for adaptation, but Disney wrapped their talons around
it and took off in totally the wrong direction. Rather than remain true to the source material,
they attempted to transform it into a Jackie Chan movie — and, while there's
obviously nothing wrong with a Jackie Chan movie, you can't force what isn't there.
With a massive budget, you can at least say that the movie does look decent, but this does nothing
to disguise the fact that every attempt at humor falls flat on its face. The endless pratfalls and
terrible line deliveries start to become genuinely annoying after a while, too. In the end, the only
thing Around the World in 80 Days really achieves is making you feel sorry for the actors involved.
"We can tell when we're not wanted."
By the time Shanghai Noon was released in 2000,
it appeared that Jackie Chan was trying to find new challenges for himself. Next on the list,
apparently, was a good ol' fashioned American Western. In this movie, Chan plays Chon Wang,
an imperial guard from the Forbidden City in the late 19th century on a mission to retrieve
a princess who has been taken hostage by a defector. Early in his journey, Wang meets
Owen Wilson's outlaw Roy O'Bannon. The two form an unlikely alliance, with O'Bannon teaching
Wang the ways of the West as they navigate a xenophobic and highly dangerous landscape.
Shanghai Noon is a great action comedy that pairs most of Jackie Chan's fights with a dry Owen
Wilson narrating exclamations on the sidelines. This offbeat genre casting doesn't seem like it
should work, but it does. Even better, Shanghai Noon doesn't take itself too seriously at all,
making it all the easier to sit back and have fun with it.
The Tuxedo is easily one of Jackie Chan's most disappointing films. The concept seems
cute on paper but is executed so poorly that it almost has you rooting against its lead.
Usually, movie audiences are willing to take a walk in fantasyland when it
comes to convenient plot devices, but the technologically enhanced tuxedo
ploy falls flat from the moment Chan slips into his penguin suit.
In this movie, Chan plays a limo driver charged with driving a debonair Bond-type
when his passenger is put out of commission. When he puts on the man's tuxedo, however,
he discovers that it enhances his combat skills and turns him into an accidental secret agent.
Unfortunately, The Tuxedo is so heavily overproduced that its shiny veneer actually
dulls Jackie Chan's raw star power. The only thing this campy flop does is show that,
even after losing 90 minutes of your lives to utter mediocrity,
you're probably still willing to forgive a star as loveable as Chan.
This third entry in the Police Story series finds Jackie Chan reprising his role as its
resident "supercop" to go undercover and infiltrate a major drug ring. Supercop
marks the beginning of Jackie's transition to Hollywood from the Hong Kong film market.
It takes all the high-flying Jackie Chan panache and adds a big, heaping
scoop of old-school pyrotechnics… and plenty of gunfire to boot.
At times, Jackie Chan movies can take a careless approach to story structure, opting instead for
playful banter as a means of filling the void between action sequences. Supercop avoids this
flaw, however, instead blending all the necessary elements of a truly great action flick. The
physical comedy transcends the language barrier, the story is intriguing, and the stunts will make
you just the right kind of nervous. Hong Kong action movies don't get much more fun than this.
The route for every action mega-star eventually passes through kid-friendly territory,
and no plot device is more familiar than the secret agent getting stuck babysitting
a bunch of kids. Perhaps that's why The Spy Next Door feels so exhaustingly trite,
right from the opening credits. Jackie plays an ex-spy looking to settle down in suburbia
when his next-door neighbor girlfriend needs to go out of town. Inevitably,
he offers to watch after her three kids, and hilarity ensues. Or, at least, it should ensue.
Not only is The Spy Next Door wildly unoriginal, but the Jackie Chan of
this movie seems totally drained of the childish joy for which he is known and loved.
In fact, The Spy Next Door falls flat in every department, and the action sequences in
particular are a grim reminder of a sad truth: that Jackie Chan is getting old. Truth is,
there are much better Chan movies out there; this one just isn't worth your time.
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