The Medallion Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)August 25th, 2003
Since "The Medallion" is Circular, Then There Is No Point
by Homer Yen
(c) 2003
As much as I love Jackie Chan, he needs to realize that he is going to need better writers. Chan is one of a handful of entertainers that I will gladly open my wallet to see. I am still happy to support the movie offerings from the lovable Chan, but I am beginning to wonder if the future will hold in store for us a really admirable film. With "The Medallion," we will still have to wait.
That the film is not one of Chan's best goes without saying. Its plot and continuity is chopped up worse than the slabs of meat being sold within the bustling Hong Kong street market kiosks. At a running time of barely 90 minutes, one would think that part of the film got lost between the end of the shoot and the end of post-production.
Chan plays Detective Eddie Yang, a devoted crimefighter who crosses paths with the evil Snakehead (Julian Sands). This villain, in addition to an annoying tendency to snarl, has been looking for a mythical medallion and its 6-year old child keeper. This artifact is the Holy Grail of Eastern mythology and has the power to grant eternal life.
Our detective wants to stop him and uses his deft skills and limber agility to aid him in his cause. There is a breakout sequence involving a foot chase between our hero and one of the henchmen. They run through traffic, around pedestrians, over obstacles, and around gates. It is the type of scene that reaffirms our enthusiasm for Chan's unique brand of action and humor.
Chan likes his films to be even sillier than he is. Two co-stars help him to do that. One is Lee Evans, who plays Interpol cop Watson. His silly, understated mannerisms and slapstick humor puts him somewhere between Rowan Atkinson and Jim Carrey. His humor is all over the board, and in the end, I'm not sure whether I liked him or not. Perhaps he was just trying too hard. There's also Claire Forlani, who plays Interpol cop Nicole and a former love interest. She makes her entrance by smiling warmly at Chan, slapping him very hard across the face, and then smiling some more. For Chan's sake, we can only hope that they don't meet like that too often.
"The Medallion" seems to have higher aspirations, but doesn't have the vision or the talent to get itself there. You can tell from an early scene that the film wants to have more human drama. There is of course the child-in-danger angle that always tugs at our heart. And, our hero performs a selfless act of bravery that seems more human than anything that Chan has done in the past.
Things start going awry in the second two-thirds of the film when our hero is no longer the vulnerable person that we've grown to like. He has become a kind of superhero. By endowing Chan with these super powers, it allows him to cheat and denies Chan fans of seeing his expert skills. And that is ultimately what we pay to see. And how do we know that we have been denied? Well, if you watch the outtakes, you'll notice that there is only one stunt-related outtake versus the dozens of others that focus on flubbed lines. I am hoping that there will be a film where we will see Chan fighting and a good script to support his actions. This film offers neither and is ultimately just a serviceable film and a disposable comedy.
Grade: C
S: 0 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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