Touches You

Thanks for the memories!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I watched the movie on IMDB, I liked the beginning, it has an interesting plot but the filming mistakes are terrible, the Chinese suntman appearing clearly in the 2 fights with the head of the CIA and against the European full of cement was ridiculous, it seems amateur movie, I do not really understand the high notes of this movie on IMDB, I recommend watching it only if you have nothing to do

I saw this film on TV recently, not having heard of it before. It started off quite slowly and was not that interesting. But being a fan of Jackie Chan, I decided to persist with it as I knew it would get better.The bad points: near the start of the film, there is a scene where soldiers are disembarking from a truck, and you can see one of them put his foot on the head of another by mistake. Then a bit later there is a scene with some top brass officials having a meeting. The acting in that scene is some of the worst I have ever seen. Absolutely awful, worst part of the whole film. Throughout the film we do not know who the man is, and he is known as "Who Am I", except in one scene when the officials who are looking for him actually refer to him as Jackie Chan. I am not sure if this was a slip-up or the character was meant to be called Jackie Chan, although no other reference to his name is made.Good points: after he meets the rally driver whose brother gets poisoned and he heals the man, from then on it gets interesting. Some good car chases, fight scenes and 2 cute Chinese women. The scenes in Holland are good too, some interesting architecture. Overall I think the plot is a good one, but the lost in Africa and being part of the tribe seems to have not been explored enough, and nor did he return to the tribe despite promising to return something to a boy. And the whole bit where is with the tribe could have been written a lot better.I liked the film, it was a decent enough film and a pleasant few hours of watching TV. But not a film that would win any awards.

The gradual introduction and growing popularity of Jackie Chan in America has from the beginning been fraught with odd twists and turns. "Rumble in the Bronx" at last popularized Chan for American audiences, but Chan cultists tend to hold this to be a disappointingly trivial film. These cultists generally came to Chan via "Drunken Master" some years before the release of "Rumble", and still hold that film in high esteem - even though it is actually inferior to a number of later Chan films, including the 1994 sequel "Drunken Master II".The release of "Rumble" was followed-up theatrically with the release of "Operation Condor"; the problem with this is that "Condor" is actually the sequel to "Armour of God", a more interesting and more problematic film, which was released in America only on video.Chan solidified his "Rumble" reputation with the extraordinarily energetic "Supercop", which also introduced Michelle Yeoh to American audiences two years before her appearance in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies". "Supercop", by the way, is also a sequel to a previous film, "Police Story", which only appeared in the US on video.Chan then embarked on 3 film ventures almost guaranteed to subvert his reputation: the James Bond imitation "First Strike"; the low-key, difficult to follow "Mr. Nice Guy", and the disastrous "Rush Hour", which apparently succeeded at the box-office, much to my disappointment.This year, the continuing saga of Chan's appearance of America continued on its twisted way. A film made around 1985 was re-dubbed and released theatrically: "Twin Dragons". The odd thing about this is that "Twin Dragons" has been available in America on videotape for at least ten years! Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, Chan's most recent Asian release, 1998's "Who am I?" was also released in America - but only on video! The odd thing about this simultaneous release is that Who am I is decidedly the better of the two films. So before remarking on "Who am I?", a brief note on "Twin Dragons": This film, co-directed by Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam (although Lam claims he only acted as second-unit pick-up director), is loosely based on a Claude Van Damme film, "Double Impact" and was made (very quickly) as a benefit for the Hong Kong Director's Guild. It is enjoyable, and has one or two remarkable stunts, but on the whole is a bit of fluff, even by the standard of "pure entertainment.On the other hand, "Who am I?" - co-directed by Chan and Benny Chan (no relation) - is a well mounted stunt-and-fight-filled maze of plot and theme, as Chan stars as a commando with amnesia in a struggle with a corrupt CIA agent over a recently discovered explosive element derived from a meteorite; the film moves from South Africa to the Netherlands, and involves considerable double plays and double-guessing on the part of Chan's character as he struggles to reclaim his memory while also stopping the corrupt CIA agent from successfully selling the new element to the highest bidder. The message of the film is very positive, and the action is lively; the editing and camera-work are worthy of commendation.There are some draw-backs to the film: Relationships between Chan's character and, first, a tribe of South Africans, and then later two women helping him, are never fully developed; thus Chan's character, rich in potential, is never developed fully, since this would require greater interaction with others.For Chan fans the film is also disappointing in a number of subtle ways: the stunt work here tends to belie Chan's claim that he works "without a net"; i.e., without safety-supports. The slide down the skyscraper. for instance, is too obviously along a guide wire.Secondly, the climatic final kung-fu battle between Chan and two kick-boxing thugs, while well done and exciting in itself, is clearly derived from the climatic finale of the much better "Drunken Master II." Both these problems raise an important issue which has been buzzing around Chan Fans for a couple years now - namely, is the master running out of steam? Is he perhaps growing too old for the kind of acrobatics his stunts and fights require?

OK, the film does not shine from the plot point of view, but the fight and stunt scenes are incredible. As we could get used to it from Jackie Chan. I don't mind if there are goofs in the acting or the plot. The action scenes are compensating them. I don't know if there is another actor capable of such stunts, maybe Jet Li. But he is rather good in kung-fu, while Jackie also does some amazing jumps, climbings, rolls down on a rope, runs down on the side of a skyscraper. The car stunts are not bad, although in some points they seem goofy. And there is the final fight scene. The last fights are always special in his movies, and this will not disappoint You. If You like Jackie Chan's movies, this is a must see.