Operation Condor Review
by Homer Yen (yenho AT cof DOT org)July 22nd, 1997
Homer Yen
(c) 1997
Operation Condor: More Kung Pow
Admittedly, it gets increasingly difficult to review films that star the ebullient Jackie Chan. One film is just like another. Fortunately, each film is as cutely entertaining as another. Like all is films, he chops, socks, flips and somersaults with the greatest of ease. His playfulness makes him very likable. You can't help but laugh at the cheesiness of the dubbing; you can't help but stare in awe at the wonderfully choreographed fight scenes; you can't help but gasp in delight and amazement as he performs his own stunts. In this movie, you get 90 fun-filled minutes of cheesiness, awe and delight.
This latest Chan vehicle to hit the American landscape is basically a take-off of the Raiders of the Lost Ark genre. Tons of gold, purloined by the Nazis during WWII, sits in a secret German base buried in the Sahara. It's up to Jackie to find it. Now, this is not a really creative story. I mean, even Jackie Chan's character name is…uh…Jackie. But, Chan movies are not meant to have significant depth (or any for that matter). Watch as scenes are seemingly incongruously edited together. Watch mysterious bad guys appear out of nowhere and pop back up at the most awkward of moments. This is no masterpiece to be sure. But it is the situations that Jackie finds himself in, and the incredibly amusing way in which he gets out that is the hallmark of these films. Jackie is also accompanied on his quest by 3 different women. All are attractive and have a minor purpose for their inclusion, but their roles amount to little more than fodder for more comedy and silliness. And, there are the usual odd assortment of bandits, thugs (my favorite rarely-used word), nazis and mercenaries that all try to get Jackie. My feeling is that when there are more people in his films, more fighting can happen. After all, that is what we want to see. That is what we've come to expect. And, smartly, that is exactly what we get.
For those that have never scene the previous Chan releases (Rumble in the Bronx, Supercop, or First Strike), this is a unique movie-going experience, mainly because Chan is so different than the Van Dammes, Bruce Lees or Steven Segals. Chan can fight with the best of them (if not better), but he wants you to laugh at him and with him too. Like all of his other movies, Jackie is a 3-ring circus of entertainment. In one ring, we can enjoy his boyish charm. In another ring, we can see him at the center of some amazing action-sequences and martial arts encounter. And in the 3rd ring, we can enjoy the humor that he injects to brighten anybody's spirit. Chan is a trapeze artist, lion tamer and clown rolled into one. In this case, Chan and his film can be enjoyed by ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages.
Grade: B
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