Synopsis from here: Globe-trotting soldier-of-fortune JC (Jackie Chan) is hired by shady antiques dealers to track down six missing bronze animal-heads by any means necessary. The six bronzes originally formed part of a set of twelve, representing the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, forming part of a fountain in the old Summer Palace outside Beijing; they were looted and dispersed when Anglo-French armies sacked the Summer Palace in 1860.
JC and his crack team of assistants first head to France, where two of the bronzes are believed to be held in a private collection. The operation to 'liberate' the bronzes from a heavily guarded Chateau brings JC into an uneasy alliance with Coco, a Chinese student in Paris, who is active in a global movement which campaigns for stolen cultural treasures to be returned to their homelands. Along the way, JC makes an enemy-for-life of Pierre, the chief of staff at the Chateau Marceau, and an unexpected friend of Katherine, a bankrupted aristocrat whose home contains another of the missing bronzes.
The trail next leads JC and his team, now including Coco and Katherine, to a forgotten tropical island in the South Seas, where two missing animal heads are found in a beached wreck. A multi-national band of pirates moves to block the team's getaway, but JC's skill and resourcefulness wins the day. Back home, JC is stunned to learn that his employers already had the sixth missing bronze all along, and he sets out to teach them a lesson for tricking him.
Meanwhile the protest movement has persuaded buyers to shun auctions of stolen national treasures, and the shady dealers are threatening to destroy the sixth bronze in public. Will JC's conscience – and his sense of Chinese national pride – kick in to push him to save the last bronze from destruction? The answer is played out on the slopes of an active volcano...
My verdict: This movie bursts with a cacophony of emotions - funny, irritating, annoying, confusing, boring, exhilarating - Jackie Chan's trademark. Conversations among the characters - spoken in three main languages - Mandarin, English, and French - can be quite entertaining at first, but when I have to read the subtitles way too often, it becomes kinda annoying. The action scenes are entertaining and they are basically all about Jackie Chan and his almost impossible stunts for a 58-year-old man.
If you're a staunch Jackie Chan fan, you might enjoy watching this movie. As for me, I find it watchable, as expected.
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Another Jackie Chan starrer with lots of stunts and special effects and no storyline and no acting. Watchable only for Jackie Chan Fans!
ReplyDeleteHi Valentine, I agree with you.
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