Better Than I Thought
Skiptrace is the latest film by Martial Arts legend, Jackie Chan and it has already done gangebusters (140 million) in China. I knew this movie had come out in July in China, and its US release date kinda snuck up on me. I wasn't actually looking forward to it for 3 key reasons.
1: Jackie Chan is getting up there in age and can't really do the thing he used to be able to. The last movie i felt like Jackie Chan was moving like Jackie Chan was in New Police Story, some 12 odd years ago.
2: It's an AMERICAN Jackie Chan film. Don't let the early Chinese release date fool you, this is an AMERICAN film that happened to have been made by a majority Chinese production team. This means even if we're getting peak Chan, he'd be on a leash . The movie is almost completely in English, to make room for Johnny Knoxville as the co star. Renny Harlin is the director, most famous for arguably Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and Legend of Hercules (not the one with The Rock). He also holds the record for most Razzie award nominations by a director, so there's that.
3: Johnny Knoxville. Look JK is an entertainer for sure. I loved Jackass, but he's not an actor with a whole lot of range. Granted he's been in some good movies (The Ringer, Elvis & Nixon, A Dirty Shame) but he's never wowed me, or made me feel like he should be a lead in a movie
HOWEVER
All that being said....I quite enjoyed the movie. Now it's not GREAT, in fact it's about as good as Rush Hour 2, WHICH IS BETTER THAN THE FIRST, but it's kinda endearingly entertaining. The basic premise is Johnny Knoxville witnessed a murder in China, and Jackie Chan must get him from Russia to China to help him put away a notorious gangster; hijinks ensue. Like i said, it's not great, but Chan and Knoxville are charming enough to keep the movie going at an entertaining pace. Plus it's interesting to see the "fish out of water" story played where the white guy is is the fish out of water, and not Jackie Chan. All in all, Skiptrace is a distraction. A fun enough movie that you'll forget you saw in 2 weeks
