| * Spoilers * The tricky issue of national historical treasures -- the twin points of how best to preserve and restore these relics, and where to draw the line between displaying it in museums that has staked a claim to it, and repatriating it back to its country of origin -- is the heart of Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan's reported swan song as a movie star . After bit roles in the by-now-mythical Bruce Lee films THE Chinese CONNECTION 1972 and ENTER THE DRAGON 1973 , Chan, now 59, hit it big with 1978's DRUNKEN MASTER and hasn't stopped working since; a certified <more> international superstar, a public figure espousing advocacies he is a UNICEF GoodWill Ambassador, and has campaigned against animal abuse and pollution, and assisted with disaster relief efforts for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami , and, in the late Lee's wake, a kung fu prince in his own right. Chinese ZODIAC top-bills Chan, with several Chinese stars. The James Bond-ish prologue with Chan face-down on a zigzagging mountainside road, on rollerskates, fleeing dozens of armed men! easily sets the tone of the film, juxtaposed with auctions of important national relics/art pieces, and the presence of a nefarious underworld gang that steals, then replicates, said treasures, for ransom purposes. The 12 bronzeheads of the Chinese zodiac serve as the main fulcrum of the film. A ragtag team of art thieves led by Chan, of course and a relic-retrieval group of students led by pretty Xingtong Yao cross paths, leading to the house of French heiress Katherine de Sichel Laura Weissbecker the family went bankrupt . From thereon the fight scenes, the heists, chases and daring escapes, and the comedic repartee among the leads bombard our senses, and we're in for a thrilling ride. Several Asian faces the aforementioned Yao, Korean TV superstar Sang-woo Kwone, etc. and surprise guest stars Oliver Platt, comical as the head of the robbery and replica "company," Daniel Wu, Shu Qi, Tiffany Chang dot the already busy landscape. Chan like Schwarzenegger and Stallone is still glorious and in fine form, notwithstanding the end-credits outtakes showing him grimacing with each stunt. A catchy Chinese-English jingle makes a welcome interruption midway in the film framing the montage of Chan's ragtag team planning their rescue operation of the bronzeheads in Katherine's château . By then, the film has jumped into Indiana Jones/Lara Croft territory -- replete with ancient human bones, a shipwreck from the 1800s, more bronzeheads, nasty but clumsy pirates, and a fantastic 8-tonne cache of gold bars! Chan caps the film with an eye-popping climax involving Chan's audacious free fall over a raging volcano, in a perilous effort to save the priceless Dragon-Head and an epilogue where relics are returned, rightly, to their countries of origin, and where Chan's efforts are lauded by the public and the authorities alike. The main characters also have happy endings, as Chan sagely injects the subplot of solidifying family ties. Chan, the art thief known as Asian Hawk, himself undergoes metanoia and decides to return the 12 bronzeheads to China. Rough-hewn production values and the erratic multiple-screen device to show various countries's overlapping reactions to this and that, ad infinitum almost mar Chan's intentions as actor-director China's heritage being his main theme , but the film is highly entertaining, the viewer's emotions are respected while at the same time tugged at, and Chan, in his twofold role behind and in front of the cameras, employs many imaginative touches, carrying the film almost entirely on his huge charisma. Jackie Chan and Man-ching Ng, the film's cinematographers, capture the breathtaking majesty of the panoramic locales around the world .What a swan song, and what a timely message. Indeed, Chan himself, like the deceased Lee, is rightfully China's national treasure. Bravo! <less> |
