Mr. Nice Guy (1998)

Jackie Chan plays quintessential fall guy for a woman in distress. He nevertheless, braves his way to save his girl, and saves two others risking his life.Jackie (Jackie Chan) is a cooking show host. One day he runs into Diana, a woman who's running from gangs to deliver VHS tape containing incriminating evidence. He saves her for the time being, but the thugs are still after her. They show up at her apartment, but the tape has been swapped in Jackie's car. Now everyone is after Jackie to recover the tape. The thugs show up at Jackie's charity food show. It's now a chase in the mall, and in the streets of Melbourne between Jackie, and the thugs. Diane sneaks into Jackie's apartment looking for the tape. But the thugs show up too, and now they have to balance across the roof to make the getaway. The thugs bombs Jackie's apartment, and now he has to stay with his friend Lakisha. Thugs who came looking for the tape at Lakisha's place takes Miki and tells Jackie to get the tape ready for exchange. There're lot of holes in this plot. Like how did the thugs find out where Lakisha lives, or even if you get the tape back, how do you know that a copy hasn't been made ? So this has to be taken as Jackie Chan entertainment, and not get too serious about the plot. This one though somehow didn't look like Jackie Chan movie. Maybe because there aren't enough twists and turn in the story. Maybe because there're only three Asians in the entire movie including Sammo. This and "Who am I ?" that was made around the same time has this feel to it. Maybe it was the right timing for him to to do Rush Hour and break into Hollywood again. He seems to be running out of space to do new things in this movie.

This is a chain of highly dangerous action sequences, done excellently without wires, CGI, or stuntmen. The thing is there is nothing else it ! The plot has been done for at least million times; they watched the bad guy while doing bad thing, then "catch them BADLY !!" which always and forever means : a long chase of a movie, with all the hot action and the attempts to killing. There is no comedy, unless we're talking about slight nanoseconds during the fights, mostly with Jackie's reactions. There is no developing romance. There is no drama. And there is no good line either. So it's only "Jackie Chan's Circus Presents", a dry circus for that matter !As you see, even a real, creative, sometimes too dazzling action can't make a perfect movie. So, for a Jackie fan; this could be satisfying, however for the American viewer, who this movie was aimed at, it's not the same at all. It couldn't score big in the American box office. Hence it quickly joined the list of the English-talking movies that Jackie used to do for about 15 years to get into America, with constantly no great success. Actually Jackie, at that phase, was still searching for the code-breaker of the American viewer. He would find it one year ahead with (Rush Hour), namely the buddy action comedy formula, where he hits and Chris Tucker talks !So this is the best of Jackie Chan a la Honk Kong, not Hollywood. That's why the movie couldn't be a hit in America, despite the woman with the black bikini, the other with the white underwear, and that fabulous climactic scene ! Seriously, the sex tone, for a Jackie movie, is a bit loud this time. Enough to remember the sequence of the redheaded woman where she was running in the streets wearing only her undies, which was obviously forced and went for too long (usually Jackie doesn't need "stunts" of that sort !) But nothing was louder than the climax. When Jackie rides that monster of an earthmover (a 120-ton mining truck), and wipes the villa off the ground, it's unforgettable piece of cinema, being a fit grand finale for his circus's show; entitled "Bringing Down The House" !Nevertheless, in that show some points bugged me. There are too many fighting women, all fight as hot as Jackie himself !! Let alone that he, as a fighting machine, is presented as just a cook ?!! The videotape that the reporter taped for the gang looks shot with many cameras, in different angles, with sharp cutting as well (Do I hear LAAAAAAAAME ?!). And most of all that bizarre visual effect which was overused in every action scene ???? I couldn't understand was that for slowing the image or quickening it ? Did they want a silent movie's flavor ?! Whatever the answer might be, I HATED IT SO MUCH, IT'S TOTALLY ANNOYING !It didn't prove itself as a hit in America. However it's genuine Jackie Chan fun. Though, when the 2 married : the American hit & Jackie fun, we – as the fans of the old and magical Jackie – lost many special merits, with for instance abundance of wires, CGI, and stuntmen. Hmmm, it might sound tacky and timeworn, but it is its right place to be said : Nothing is perfect !

"Chan stars as a TV chef who gets caught up in the middle of a gang war when he accidentally switches videotapes with a reporter.I think you have to take this film with a grain of salt. It was Chan's first English-language film in over ten years and, according to rumors, it was more of a test for New Line to see if Chan could handle speaking in English for an entire film. As such, not much attention was paid to the story (it's more of a rehash of Rumble in the Bronx than anything else), and most of the action pieces in the film are recycled from previous Chan movies (the mall fight from Police Story, the construction brawl from Police Story 2, etc.).All that being said, the film is fairly entertaining if you don't go in expecting too much. The action (as could be expected under Hung's direction) is done well and some of the jokes are actually pretty funny (Hung is hilarious in a cameo as a beat-up bike messenger). There are a few sticky points, though. Once again (as in Operation Condor) Chan has three ditzy female sidekicks dragging on him (and the story) for much of the film, and Richard Norton (a good fighter you might know from the China O'Brien films or another Chan movie City Hunter) is absolutely wasted in his role as the villain; we don't even get to see a decent fight between him and Chan (apparently, Chan hurt himself and could not film a big fight sequence).Mr. Nice Guy, like many Chan films, also suffers from what I like to call a "Warner Bros. ending," named after those Bugs Bunny cartoons where the creators don't know how to finish the cartoon, so they just have Bugs break into a song-and-dance, crack a lame joke or other such nonsense. The ending here seems to be really tacked on and weak. The story is literally wrapped up in about two minutes. I won't ruin it for you, but I think once you see it, you'll be scratching your head, thinking "That's it?" Yup. That's all folks."

This is a fun enough Jackie Chan film, that's nothing special, but it's quite enjoyable and well worth the watch!. All the characters were great, and some of the stunts were incredible, plus Jackie Chan is simply amazing in this!. Jackie has done a lot better, however this is still quite fun to watch, as it's got plenty of action to keep one entertained, and Jackie and Gabrielle Fitzpatrick had good chemistry together, plus The finale was very cool!. Sammo Hung has a very funny cameo, and the fight scenes were great, plus Richard Norton is awesome as the main villain!. All the characters are very likable, and as usual Jackie brings some great comic relief, plus Richard Norton really seemed to be enjoying himself here. The opening was very cool, and Jackie did his usual amazing stunts, plus it was entertaining throughout!. This is a fun enough Jackie Chan film, that's nothing special, but it's quite enjoyable, and well worth the watch!. The Direction is good. Sammo Hung does a good job here, with great camera work, great angles, and keeping the film at a fast pace!. Th Acting is great!. Jackie Chan is AMAZING as always, and is amazing here, he is extremely likable, was hilarious, was actually very intense in scenes, kicked that ass, had great chemistry with Gabrielle Fitzpatrick and just did an amazing job!. (Jackie Rules!!). Richard Norton is great as the main villain, he was perfectly over the top and was a lot of fun to watch, i loved him!.Gabrielle Fitzpatrick is stunningly gorgeous!, and is fantastic here, she seemed to be enjoying herself, had great chemistry with Jacie, and was very sexy!. Miki Lee does okay here, but it somewhat bland, and only had so so chemistry with Jackie. Karen McLymont does fine with what she had to do, and had a lot of spunk, i liked her lots. Rest of the cast do okay. Overall well worth the watch!. *** out of 5