Rob-B-Hood

Mr Nice Guy Jackie Chan turns evil. This is the highlight of the film. But like all Jackie Chan movies, this one too fun-action fare. So don't worry. Finally, everyone will be happy. The film follows a group of thieves made up of Thongs (Chan), Octopus (Louis Koo), and Landlord (Michael Hui). They steal for different reasons. Thongs is a compulsive gambler who faces debt collectors at his door. Octopus spends his fortunes to court a rich girl. Landlord does not spend his loot, but saves all of it and keeps it in a safe in his house. Soon the safe is broken into, and in a desperate bid to earn money they become the privy to a plot to kidnap the grandson of a rich tycoon. Predictably, things go wrong, and the thieves end up taking care of the baby, from singing lullabies to changing his diapers. If the plot sounds familiar, then you have seen this kind of films before, from Home Alone to Baby's Day Out. But when there's a Jackie Chan in the project, it's bound to be hilarious. The film has its funny moments, and Chan's signature action set-pieces as well. Sadly, however, Chan is past his prime. It's not the Rush Hour anymore. Yet, he does his best with admirable flexibility. The kid in question also lights up the screen. Even if you are not a Jackie Chan fan, you can have a dekko, provided you have nothing better to do.

Jackie Chan is undoubtedly one of the few Asian stars whose name alone can open a movie, probably worldwide now. With his latest offering for the Chinese National Day holiday in Rob- B-Hood, he has again done back to basics, together with one of his collaborators of late Benny Chan (New Police Story, Who Am I), with his mantra of "no sex no violence", but just pure action.

In his recent movies, while staying true to his brand of action together with his band of merry men from the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, there is no denial of his attempt to infuse a little more drama into his role so as to showcase his acting chops. While his acting in slow moments might not appeal to fans of his action, it looks like dramatic moments are here to stay. However, if you'd notice there's a progression in his willingness to move away from one- man-army type of roles, to sharing the limelight with his fellow co-stars.

Here, his screen time is almost equally shared with co-lead Louis Koo, with the both of them playing unsavoury characters - thieves with vices, with Chan as Thongs, a hardcore gambler with family issues, and Koo as Octopus, a married womanizer and fast car lover. They turn to their current profession of thievery to sustain their lifestyle, and the brains behind the duo's brawn is Landlord, played by veteran Michael Hui, a man whose wife is devastated by the loss of their only child.

See the plenty of moments for some serious drama yet? It is perhaps these moments where an exploration into the character's background slowed down the pace of what could've been a rip-roaring ride from start to end. Clocking in at 135 minutes, the movie felt that it could've been shortened as certain scenes were just too trying. The action scenes too were few and far between, though each scene is still carefully choreographed and felt that it lasted longer than the usual.

The comedic element came in full swing with the introduction of the baby, which probably is the movie's trump card in luring the crowds (my friend and I didn't think he was that adorable actually). It's nothing new as the antics of soiled diapers, refusal to stop crying, and various moments of what baby would do, have already been touched upon in movies like 3 Men and a Baby, or even Raising Arizona. However, having one actor play daddy, and the other play mommy, does call for some genuine laughs sometimes.

Louis Koo has been playing the bad guy role to aplomb with his Election movies, and here, it's a nice change to see him tackle both comedy and action. I truly welcomed Michael Hui's return to the big screen, as one of my favourite comedies as a kid, was his Chicken and Duck Talk. Here though, there aren't many moments where he exhibited his classic bossy demeanour full of wit and sarcasm, probably hampered by the script.

The supporting casts consists of actors past and present in roles that either brought back some good memories, or are milked just for laughs. Yuen Biao was the other supporting role that compelled me to watch this movie, as he seemed to have faded from starring in movies for some time now. He doesn't have much to do here, save for some limited screen action. Actresses like Charlene Choi, Teresa Carpio and Gao Yuanyuan add balance to the testosterone on screen, but probably the best cameo appearance belongs to the duo of Nicholas Tse and Daniel Wu (totally different from what you see now in The Banquet)!

As always, stay at your seats while the end credits roll, for the usual out-takes included. My only gripe would still be to have this shown in Cantonese, somehow the dubbing of the out- takes sounded really too artificial.

I first wanted to say its not nearly as bad as some of the other idiots who reviewed this film said it was. This movie does have some scenes that miss the mark and weren't really needed, but all in all I was satisfied. After watching New Police Story I needed to see Jackie in a film that's more fun, and Rob-B-Hood certainly delivers! Even though this movie's main element isn'the fighting there are some really nice fight sequences, the best of which is towards the end (as always!). The entire finale takes place in an amusement park over rides, ATVs, and speeding roller coasters! I felt that some of the danger the baby was put in was unnecessary but definitely gave Jackie chances to use death defying stunts. If you can get over the fact that the obviously fake baby is visible from time to time you will enjoy this. TWO THUMBS UP!

I also thought I should add that this film ended up outgrossing X-Men: the Last Stand AND Mission Impossible III at the 2006 Chinese box office!

This action comedy flick starring Jackie Chan and Louis Koo as burglars Thongs and Octopus, whose job is to kidnap a baby. Later on, the baby develops strong paternal feelings to the two crooks, leading them to play the role of father.

There are plenty of good-old-fashion Jackie Chan action and slapstick humor. While the story has an intriguing concept, it is overloaded with multiple subplots, which dragged the film at times. The "protecting the baby from the triads" storyline is quite appealing, however, and it does create some suspense. There is also a little good mixture of drama, especially the touching scenes involving Thongs' father (Feng Ku). The acting was also OK, but I thought Chan and Koo playing the two father figures together was a bit odd.

There is a large cast of characters in the movie, but it was especially nice to see comic veteran Michael Hui return to film, as well as martial artist Yuen Biao.

Overall, it is an average action comedy flick - not too bad.

Grade C+

Latest Jackie Chan film is a wildly overly long (well over 2 hours) comedy action film about a trio of safe crackers who use the loot to fuel their addictions. When things take a turn for the worst the trio kidnaps a baby, the same one that they had saved earlier in the film. When one of the trio is hurt and thrown in jail after the getaway, the remaining two, Jackie Chan and Louis Koo must care for the kid. Of course they bond with the kid and of course circumstance provides for some death defying action sequences.

I really didn't care for this film. Sure its nice to see Jackie playing a semi-not so nice guy, but on the whole this is the sort of thing we've seen a dozen or so times before, and I'm not talking action. For me much of the film was past formulaic and into the cliché rut. How many films have their been about grown men with no baby experience taking care of infants? How many of them have gags stolen by this film? As for the action sequences they take a bit of a back seat to the comedy and the baby. Sure there are some nice bits, Jackie walking down the air conditioners and the car chase/crash are good little sequences but they too ring of things that have gone before. It could be argued that Jackie is getting up there, he's 52, but its not that what he's doing is bad its just that its a bit lifeless and repetitive when compared to his earlier films.

It also doesn't help that the film is paced so,leisurely that we feel every one of its 130 plus minutes. This is a movie in need of some real trimming.

A miss. Wait for cable.

4.5 out of 10, 5 out of 10 for IMDb purposes