Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I remembered the title of this film (also known as Highbinders) because of the leading actors in it, I knew as well that it was rated the lowest of the low, one out of five stars, by critics, I was intrigued to see why more than anything. Basically Hong Kong police detective Eddie Yang (Jackie Chan) is cooperating with Interpol to try and capture international criminal AJ 'Snakehead' Staul (Julian Sands), who reading ancient historical books is trying to find a "chosen one"; every thousand years a boy is chosen to bind together two halves of a legendary medallion, and whoever has this medallion will gain super strength, amazing speed and ultimately immortality. This boy is Jai (Alex Bao), and one night searching for the criminal Eddie finds him hiding, he saves the life of the boy from a fire, but Snakehead is able to kidnap the boy and takes him to Ireland, so the Hong Kong officer travels there to continue the investigation with Interpol. In Ireland, Eddie is reunited with old flame Nicole James (The Rock's Claire Forlani) who has not heard from him for months, and also Arthur Watson (Lee Evans) who has worked with previously, he is not best pleased to see the Hong Kong officer. They track Jai to a harbour and shipping yard, Jai is trapped inside one of the containers, this container is knocked into the water with Eddie and they boy trapped inside, Jai is kept alive in an inflatable tent while Eddie dies from drowning, but Jai saves his life with the medallion, Arthur is shocked to see him reappear in the morgue, and his original dead body disappears. Jai splits the medallion into two pieces, giving one half to Eddie, and he sees the powers the medallion gives when Snakehead's men come and try to recapture the boy, despite protection by Nicole he is captured again and taken to a castle hideout, and Arthur's family are threatened by the criminal's thugs also, but Arthur's Chinese wife Charlotte Watson (Christy Chung) reveals her secret as being a police operative herself. After discovering Eddie is alive, Nicole joins him and Arthur to infiltrate the castle lair, they manage to get inside, but Snakehead kills Nicole and with the medallion becomes immortal, but Eddie uses the medallion to take away his life, and Jai allows Eddie to use it to resurrect Nicole, together their super powers remain, while Arthur is frightened with Jai entering a portal to another dimension. Also starring John Rhys-Davies as Cmdr. Hammerstock-Smythe, Anthony Wong as Lester and Johann Myers as Giscard. Chan may be charming and do his own stunts as usual, but Evans is sadly annoying with his attempts to do his over the top reactions and a little of his physical humour, the story is highly clunky and full of the most predictable moments, some fight and chase sequences were okay, but I didn't laugh much, this is just a complete mess of an action comedy fantasy. Pretty poor!
TheLittleSongbird
Usually, I try not to judge a film solely on its failures, but unfortunately, as much as I wanted to like this movie, The Medallion has more flaws than you can count. There are some films of Jackie Chan that I like, Rush Hour especially. However, this is not one of them, and I will say right now that Chan is the only redeeming quality to this clunky mess: it certainly didn't help that the film looked as though it had been edited on a bacon slicer. The stunts are usually the best thing in a Jackie Chan movie, but the execution here is very confused, lacking drive and energy. The fact that the film is also devoid of a convincing enough plot is yet another disadvantage, and the script is uninvolving, was forced at times and lacked bite. The chemistry between Chan and his girlfriend (played by Clare Forlani) was unconvincing. Now I liked Julian Sands in The Scoundrel's Wife, and as an actor he is generally watchable, but his villain Snakehead was poorly written, and not at all threatening, and the child did literally nothing but stare which was rather unpleasant at times. The film also wasted the talents of John Rhys Davies, a very good actor, when he has some decent enough material, not the case here. I suppose the worst thing about this movie, is the truly irritating performance of comedian Lee Evans as Chan's partner. Honestly everything he said and did made me cringe, it was strongly reminiscent of Marlon Wayans in Dungeons & Dragons, proving that anyone who's going to try to bring some humour into an overall hopeless film, is going to fail miserably. Overall, a film that is a bit of a mess to put it kindly. If you like Chan, you may like it, otherwise avoid. Not the absolute worst movie I have ever seen, but it certainly lingers at that end of the film spectrum. 1/10 Bethany Cox.
fearfulofspiders
I love Jackie Chan, so much to the point where he inspired me (partially) to start doing karate (Tang Soo Do) and after sticking with it for three-and-a-half years, I finally achieved my black belt. In a way, Jackie is one of my all-time heroes.However, this film is probably his worst yet -- possibly ever. Every single attempt at comedy falls flat, which is a real shame, as I was expecting a lot more from the star of Shanghai Noon and The Legend of the Drunken Master. Chan's performance is lackluster, Forlani is okay, John Rhys-Davis seems bored and unenthusiastic, and Evans is total lackluster in every way.The action is mediocre, and to finally see a film where Chan didn't do the vast majority of his own stunts was sad. The lame attempts at resembling an old (corny) martial arts' film and possibly The Matrix at some points, made me cringe too much. The final battle is preposterous and made me lose a lot of hope for Chan's future career in film.All in all, with very bad acting, story, and action to match, there's just nothing to appreciate from this movie. Nothing works, except to bring another guilty pleasure into my collection. This is a film I highly recommend to anyone who likes to make their own commentary, as I can't think of any discernible reason as to why someone would have to endure this. I give it three-stars for the fact that it really is a guilty pleasure for its extreme lameness. Don't watch this.
dbborroughs
Jackie Chan's new movie is a bust. Its 80 minutes or so of missed chances. The cast is there as is the action director,Sammo Hung, but this is movie that simply doesn't work.It has six listed writers and about 19 producers of one sort or another.I'm watching this and I can believe its not working. Its just sort of there. I have no idea who to blame it on, probably everyone since this has the feel of a movie that had too many cooks.The director, Gordon Chan, I know by reputation only, his other films are suppose to be at good.Don't get me wrong, its not bad, its not anything its just sort of there. Its sort of like watching a blank wall, or better snow on a TV screen, there are things moving around on the screen but it really doesn't mean anything to you, it doesn't engage you...For the record its about a magical medallion in two parts that bestows supernatural powers when its put together. I think thats all you need to know.Is it worth bothering with? Only if you are a Jackie Chan completist. Everyone else has better ways to spend the time involved.ON THE POSITIVE SIDE - It is better than the Tuxedo which was dumb and shouldn't have worked on any level. This should work but doesn't.
