Ride on: Die zweite Chance

Ride On has the distinction of being an international Jackie Chan film that has something for everyone. For hardcore Jackie Chan fans it has its share of martial arts, stunt choreography, and comedic interludes. However, it is a family friendly film that has a poignant and powerful message about love and family. Finally, it has a stunt horse, and everyone loves a horse that can act and do stunts.

Larry Yang did a create job creating the story of a down and out, fictional stunt man that is modeled, in many ways, after Chan himself. In fact, the film pays such deep homage to Chan's work that many of the scenes incorporate Chan's style and fight choreography. More significantly, the film walks the razor's edge by using historical film clips and injury outakes of Chan's real life, but still maintaining its fictitious persona. Under this guise the audience is getting a Jackie Chan film that, simultaneously, pays homage to Chan's own career.

Chan has matured as an actor and he does a good job here playing the role of a man coming to grips with his age, his family struggles, and his financial hardships. He is very good in this role and he is very likable. Lia Haocun is, particularly, good as his estranged daughter with a legal mind. She is so good that many international social media outlets were sharing a scene from the film and identifying her as his actual daughter.

As the film pays tribute to the legacy of Jackie Chan, it was great to see Wu Jing and Shi Yanngeng in the roles of model cinematic characters, which they actually are.

While the film is family friendly, it is not a children's movie. It has something for adults and children, and the themes are very adult and serious, despite some funny scenes. There is plenty of action and adventure for the viewer looking for more than simply a tribute film, or just a family friendly animal picture. There is a martial arts, action film very much alive in Ride On.

The real star of the film is the horse. He is well trained and fun to watch on screen. Chan's paternal relationship with him transcends the ordinary, and is executed in a powerful, heartfelt, and moving way. This is the heart of the film.

While this film is Chinese made for a Chinese audience, it does have international appeal. If you are lover of Jackie Chan, and appreciate his voluminous archive of work, you will like this a lot. However, you don't need to know anything about Jackie Chan to appreciate and enjoy this move. I liked it a lot, and I recommend it.

The film is in Mandarin with English Subtitles.

No pun intended - there is one scene in this movie that some people confused with Jackies private life. I have to admit, I had no idea about his private life and his issues with his daughter (or hers with him?) ... I reckon if you are not in the know you can easily be fooled ... especially because it was quite emotional ... and it looked like something that could actually happen in real life for them too.

That said, the movie itself lends itself to comparisons ... Jackie Chan being his own stunt man most of the time, having started as stunt man too. So the story is close to home in that regard for sure. Add to that a horse and you have quite the interesting mix. The stunts/action set pieces are really good ... and if you are fan, no one has to convince you anyway ... story is quite simple, but it doesn't need to be more complicated ... and if the drama of it all does not grip you ... well then the movie is not for you I reckon ... most will at least have some moments where they shed a tear or two ... ride on indeed (the movies title is the biggest pun)

Washed-up stunt man Jackie Chan has papers served on him to take his horse. He meets with estranged daughter Haocun Liu to find a lawyer, and she puts forth her geeky boy friend.

It's Jackie Chan and a horse, which is all fans like me need to make us happy for a couple of hours. Even if Chan is going to be seventy on his next birthday, and his stunts are achieved by close-up, short takes, and actually having stunt men in the longer shots, I can still enjoy Chan's sense of humor, and the fact that this is a movie where he actually acts, with a story about an old man growing up, and the dedication to taking real risks to make good movies that stunt men have shown for more than a hundred years.

And it's a very handsome horse.

Ride On is actually a good children / teen drama about family and legacy. Jacky Chan, again, proved he can act. He has been producing dramatic movies with dramatic acting time and time again, this is one of them.

Action-wise, Jacky is old and he knows it well. He kept the action scene limited and using stunt doubles, his own stunt team, nonetheless.

This is an entertaining movie for the family but nothing special for Jacky's fans. It lacks the memorable craziness of his old stunts because he is older and wiser.

But Ride On is not about comedic action story, this is a dramatic movie with some comedic action. I would consider it as the trial run for Rush Hour latest sequel.

Iam a big fan of Jackie Chan, i became very happy that he did a new movie, i put it directly in my watchlist. The cast is ok there is a little bit drama but not that much. The horse did the job very well. He act as smart as a dog witch is impressive. Jackie Chan stel move smoothly and its impressive to as he is old now.

The cast have a good message but there is some questions as Jackie chan was cared well about the relationship between him and his horse but doesnt did the same about his relationship with his daughter in early life? Why he broke up with his wife att why who raised up the daughter when her mother passed away when she was in very young age?

Overall the movie is a good movie and the style is more American than Chinese. I enjoyed watching this movie and i recommend to give it a try.