Jackie Chan Kung Fu Master (2009)

I love Jackie Chan as an actor, so I was pretty psyched to pick this one up at Redbox. I thought I was in for some awesome Jackie Chan action.. Boy, was I wrong. Putting Jackie Chan in big letters across the title and even having him on the cover is pretty much false advertising. The whole movie is about some whiny kid who looks for Jackie, finds him (Jackie gets about 5 minutes of screen time), and then the movie ends. Out of all the movies I've ever watched, I'd place it in the bottom 5. It's that bad. Save your dollar for something else.

I've recently gone back to re-watch EVERY Jackie Chan film, even one's like this where he just has a small role. To be sure, he is featured more here than some other cameo appearances, but even for a die-hard Chan fan, it's not worthwhile.This "film" is just all kinds of horrible. There is literally no aspect that doesn't suck. It looks like it was made for TV, and two directors can't find anything original to do, they just copy well-worn shots and angles and make even Chan's fighting look slow and amateurish. To boot, many shots of him don't clearly show his face, so I don't know, it might even have been a double doing some of the stunts?? If you get Chan to appear in your movie for 5 minutes, you'd show his face as much as possible, right?!The script by about 8 writers also has nothing new to say, nothing interesting, and more importantly, no characters to identify with. The main kid is so unlikable that I was praying one of his horrible decisions would end up killing him, as he's incredibly immature and stupid even considering he's 15. The adults in the film are all rash and unsympathetic, also making a string of foolish decisions. The film wants to show some kind of coming-of-age adventure, but the main kid doesn't grow or mature, and nobody else really helps to guide him. They just yell at him to learn manners and then give in to him anyway. Even Jackie isn't the best role model as he gives in easily.And finally, the action. Well, the film tries to give you lots, but it's all weak, slow, motion-blurred for effect, and unoriginal. No point in watching for that.Worst of all, the film is basically a propaganda piece for China, trying to show the awe of it's modernization, the beautiful women doing important work everywhere, the generosity of Jackie and all civil servants, the new technology and buildings everywhere, and of course the impeccable Chinese manners and morality. It's all such one-sided BS that I couldn't stand it. Anyone who's spent much time in China will easily see what I'm talking about. With crappy music, acting, editing, and everything else, there is absolutely no reason to watch this. If you want to see the real glory of China, there are plenty of other films that represent it greatly. There are also plenty of other Chan films worth watching. This one is just punishment.

An extended service announcement: kids, be nice to granny, honor your family, and study. That's it, albeit sprinkled with tidbits of Jackie Fu. There's no more depth or character development than a moderately swank ad; in fact, I've seen ads that do a much better job. Every character is a foil, including our protagonist who's rebellious and wants to learn Kung Fu so he can kick the butts of those who kicked his. We never get a clue as to why he's rebellious, why he doesn't want to study, etc.; he's a mono-dimensional punk and we don't care. He has encounters with some promising characters—a girl and her master in a monastery, an impressive woman cop—but none of these relationships go anywhere and are dropped in service of moving the main character along his track to encounter Jackie Chan who, as has been mentioned, we see very little of. Then the service announcement (I refuse to call this a "movie") moves inexorably on to complete the message and our protagonist-foil, who's blatantly in service to this ad's message, asks granny about her granny. Lesson learned and now he's a wonderful kid. Yippee. How I managed to finish watching this advert I'm hard pressed to say. I think it was a morbid curiosity to see if it was going to finish as badly as it seemed it surely would.

Originally and more accurately titled Looking For Jackie, this 2009 Chinese family comedy has been retitled for its UK release in a cynical attempt to cash-in on Jackie Chan's recent Karate Kid remake. But with little screen time for the martial arts legend, does the film offer enough elsewhere to placate fans angry at being duped into picking up this DVD?A little research shows that Jackie Chan & The Kung Fu Kid was certainly a hit at the domestic box office, setting a new record for local children and family friendly productions. The film is not unwatchable and there is some ironic fun to be had, mostly due to its stiff lipped and po-faced tone. However, for anyone expecting to see much of Jackie Chan, martial arts action in general, or even an engaging 'rights of passage' tale about one boy's journey into manhood, will be left disappointed. PD