Who Am I?

ok, so the acting wasn't the greatest, but the excellence in every other aspect of the movie completely compensated for it. It had a good story, amazing action sequences, and a good combination of action and comedy (what Jackie does so well). the fight scene on top of the building is the best fight scene i've ever seen. what makes it the best is how real it is, today's movies' fight scenes are full of wires and quick cuts in editing to confuse the audience into thinking there's more going on. this fight had amazing stunts with guys who really knew what they were doing, with Jackie's trademark funny expressions mixed in. By far JC's best, and I didn't even say anything about the car stunts.

Jackie Chan is a special operative, part of an elite military unit who are employed to capture a group of scientist working on a potent force that can be a power source or a weapon of mass destruction. After the job the group is betrayed and their helicopter forced to crash – Jackie is the only survivor. He comes too much later in an African village having lost his memory. When he has regained full strength he begins to try and find who he is – however his ex-employers are also keen to ensure he knows nothing and that they can complete their work.

The story here is solid – not much more can be said than that. It works quite well as a thriller plot but it wouldn't stand up by itself. Happily we have two things saving the plot. The first is the strand of physical comedy that runs through Chan's work – here we have plenty of little jokes scattered around, e.g. Chan is fighting one man and uses the man's tie against him, another man waits to fight Chan but pointedly removes his tie first! The second (and more important) aspect is the fight scenes. For much of the film the action seems to be toned down – indeed there are only 4 or 5 main scenes in the movie where Chan lets rip. However all of these are good, however the final roof top fight (in fact the whole last 20 minutes) is excellent and worth watching the film for.

As always the film doesn't worry about details rather it focuses on choreography. This means we have bad support actors….and we do! It means that things like realism and continuity go out the window…..a car slides on it's side, spins and then turns over again – however seconds later it has no scratches anywhere! And some of the early special effects are a little ropy. Although these are minor problems.

Chan is excellent in the lead and is a real wonder to watch – I wish I could move like him now…never mind when I'm his age. His ability at both martial arts and comedy helps this film immensely. It is hard to fault him for effort.

Overall this is a good Chan movie – it has the same faults as all his movies do, but it's funny, has some good action scenes and ends with a really good conclusion. Well worth watching.

Some of the most exciting action movies came out in the 90's, and this espionage gem is no exception, as it keeps you engaged from start to finish with its death-defying stunts - all of which don't feel as forced as they do in other Jackie Chan action flicks - and intriguing blend of humor, drama, and suspense. Taking place across a variety of locations (including South Africa), it's an adventurous epic that gives you a lot to see. The plot also unfolds primarily as a mystery, keeping you guessing to the end, as Jackie is trying to find out exactly why everyone from the secret police to the CIA is after him. Like most Jackie Chan films, there's also a strong reliance on humor, except this film doesn't have nearly as much slapstick as, say, "Police Story", to the point where it becomes annoying. The humor is carefully blended into the proceedings, and even when it reaches unintentional levels, it somehow makes the movie all the more enjoyable.

I won't spoil the various stunts performed in the film, you just have to see them to believe them, but needless to say, they are jaw-dropping. Speaking of jaw-dropping, the rooftop fight, which also serves as the final fight sequence in the film, is one of the best I've ever seen. It goes on for a while, but it's so well choreographed and stunningly executed that you'll want it to keep going for a few more minutes afterwards. The score by Nathan Wang, while nothing remarkable, fits the movie well, and sometimes goes so far as to raise the excitement factor, specifically during the chase sequences. It must be hard for anybody to direct themselves in a film, especially in an action film on such a large scale as this one, but Jackie Chan does so admirably here, alongside Benny Chan. It's some of his best work of the 90's alongside "Operation Condor".

As with Mr Nice Guy,this Jackie Chan vehicle is basically a Hong Kong production filmed in English with mostly western actors. It's actually an odd Chan film in some respects. For a start,the first third of the film hardly seems like a Chan film at all,apart from a few comic bits of business {Chan chased up a tree by a lion}which are mostly cut from the US version anyway. Even in shortened form,and with some good desert photography,the whole 'Chan finds himself among desert tribesmen' subplot seems an unnecessarily laborious way of getting into the amnesia story that becomes the main thrust of the story.

Nevertheless,after this the film becomes solid Chan fare with the same fast pacing of Mr Nice Guy. There's a great car chase and while the fights are quite short {as with most recent Chan films,he spends a lot of time running away from opponents},it's good to see Chan bashed about a bit-he looks very vulnerable in this film. Of course the acting is weak and some of the dialogue laughable {I'm not sure I agree with the reviewer here who says it was intentionally comic,but opinions differ!},while the intrigue of the amnesia/spy plot just becomes an excuse for the usual chasing around. However,one can almost forgive all this when the climax features a great fight on top of a skyscraper followed quite simply one of the most awesome and downright foolhardy stunts Chan has done. I won't describe it in detail,just see for yourself! You WILL be amazed.

There is a sense with Who Am I that the filmmakers attempted to tell a fairly complex story and then realised they were making a Jackie Chan movie and changed it accordingly,leaving a fair bit of confusion. Interestingly,Chan's original cut was around 3 hours long,and maybe that made more sense and balanced the two elements of the film better. Still,there's a lot of fun to be had here nevertherless. And just listen to Chan rap the part English,part Chinese theme song during the end credits.

This is the first Jackie Chan film I saw and I loved it. I was a little bit young to understand the storyline but now that I'm older, the storyline is actually very great.

The action in this movie is a key part of this film, as it is in any martial arts film. Jackie Chan brings his usual unique fighting style on screen and the best fight of all is atop the roof of the CIA building at the films climax which is followed by an awesome stunt which I won't give away. The villain is a decent antagonist and Chan's sidekicks come in handy this time around.

Great film, it is dubbed by a few actors/actresses but just plain fun and awesome overall.