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'SKIPTRACE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

The new Chinese-American action-comedy buddy film, starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville. It was directed by Renny Harlin, and written by Jay Longino, BenDavid Grabinski and Wen-Chia Chang. The film tells the story of a Hong Kong detective, that's forced to team up with an American gambler; in order to stop a Chinese crime boss. The movie also costars Bingbing Fan (a popular Chinese actress and pop singer), Eve Torres (a popular WWE wrestler, model and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighter) and Eric Tsang. The movie received mostly poor reviews from critics, but it was a blockbuster at the Chinese Box Office. I enjoyed it.

Bennie Chan (Chan) is a Hong Kong detective, that's been pursuing a Chinese crime boss, known as 'Matador', for many years. He became obsessive about the case, when the notorious criminal killed his partner, Yung (Tsang). Bennie believes that a businessman, named Victor Wong (Winston Chao), is the 'Matador', but he doesn't have the evidence he needs to prove it. When Yung's daughter (Fan) gets in trouble with the crime boss, for letting an American gambler, named Connor Watts (Knoxville), steal from her, Bennie must track the gambler down in order to help her. Bennie and Connor then reluctantly team up, and of course bond on their new adventure.

The movie is everything you'd expect from a Jackie Chan buddy movie; it's reminiscent of 'RUSH HOUR' and 'SHANGHAI NOON', but not quite as good. Knoxville is great playing the comic relief, in action buddy flicks like this (he also did it in 2004's 'WALKING TALL', and 2013's 'THE LAST STAND'), and he and Chan have great chemistry together; it would have been interesting to see Sean William Scott in the role too though (who Knoxville replaced). Renny Harlin is of course very qualified to direct this type of movie as well, and he does a good job. It's a fun movie; not great, but fun.

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Hong Kong police detective Bennie Chan (Jackie Chan) loses his partner Yung in a deadly bombing. He suspects that businessman Victor Wong is criminal Matador responsible for the death. He's been investigating for 9 years to no avail. World-traveling thief Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville) is on the run from the Russian mob after sleeping with the daughter of the boss. In Macau, he gets involved with Yung's daughter Samantha who is infiltrating a casino connected to Victor Wong. He steals her card to access a private floor where he witnesses Esther Yee's murder. He escapes by getting taken by the Russians. The casino accuses him of stealing money and Samantha asks Bennie to track him down.

This is classic Jackie Chan. The action is still there and so is his sense of humor. His fights still have that pep and his fights with Eve Torres are actually funny. It's nothing new except this time's guilo is Knoxville. I expected better chemistry but the two deliver enough comedy. The story doesn't really work and the movie tries very hard to make it into a muddle. The guys end up in the Mongolian desert for no particularly good reason other than it's exotic cool. It's great to see Jackie staying in fighting shape but it's not much better than that.

I have to say, I was shocked to see Renny Harlin's name pop up in the credits, who's best film was, in my opinion, Cliffhanger but is also know for Die Hard 2, Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea. He didn't quit after those, but slowly slipped off the big name notice board in recent years, hence my shock seeing him directing Chan the Man.

I can't help but think Harlin received a lot of creative input from Chan and co, having a strong, distinct Hong Kong cinema feel. However the opening credits is something Guy Ritchie would do, thinking it's more of a show-off instead of suiting the film. I found that a lot with Harlin's films.

I grew up watching Jackie Chan films and I absolutely idolise the man, but, I hate to say it, Jackie appears to lose some of his magic in Rush Hour 3 back in 2007, though Forbidden Kingdom and the rebooted Karate Kid restored my faith, and I have yet to see Police Story 2013. He's not as fast as he once was, he's 62 now, but even though a lot of the action sequences here are copies from a lot of his previous movies, he's still Jackie Chan and delivers the goods.

It's a clichéd storyline of struck-off cop Chan hooking up with gambler low-life, Knoxville in order to catch the bad guy. Johnny Knoxville another man who's not afraid to perform his own stunts. He's come a long way since performing daring pranks in Jackass to now sharing the screen with greats like Dwayne Johnson, Schwarzenegger and now Jackie. I wonder if he looks back thinking "wow" there I was drinking Preston's sweat and boom!

The action isn't always consistent going from being quite impressive to being mediocre and poor, again, a trait I associate with Harlin. The fight sequences mimic a lot of Jackie's slapstick fighting style. But the acting overall is quite terrible, Knoxville being the only believable character here. His wit is actually quite funny and refreshing.

There's some nice touches and funny scenes like the bowling alley and Jackie singing Adele! But a lot of it is silly and totally out of sync, rushing around faster than Jackie's stunt team. however looked like a lot of fun. It even includes Jackie's trademark outtakes at the end credits.

Unfortunately, Harlin doesn't let me down and does what is expected, a film with some great ideas and potential that fails to impress. Not even Jackie Chan's masterful Kung Fu and Knoxville's quick-fire sarcasm can save this film. Still, it's entertaining, brainless fun but certainly not one of Jackie's best, ever.

Running Time: 6 The Cast: 6 Performance: 4 Direction: 5 Story: 5 Script: 5 Creativity: 6 Soundtrack: 5 Job Description: 4 The Extra Bonus Points: 0

46% 5/10

Is this Jackie Chan at his best? Of course not, but if you like him or the particular style of movies, then you should be able to have fun with this. It's not really science to put a movie like this together, things just happen and the action sequences are decent enough put together (again don't look for excellence).

Even former Jackass and now Chan partner has a role that is fitting. He's no Owen Wilson of course or Chris Tucker for that matter. But he does his schtick and it ... sticks. The jokes may not have the impact some could have and many things are predictable, but that's the way it is. Don't overthink it (any of it), just sit back, relax and take it in

I enjoy this movie but only because I've been a Jackie Chan fan.

The movie features his trademark comedy moves and gags, but as an action martial arts flick his moves against goons are now much slower than his past movies due to his age (respectfully so). The man is still doing his own stunts and the end credit routine showing the bloopers is always a treat for me.

Knoxville portrays a crook very believably well and the pair of opposite do attract and contrast sometimes to keep the story flowing.

Jackie Chan should join forces with all the other old stars such as Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung and make united flick franchises like R.E.D., The Expendables...

In conclusion, Skiptrace is a bit like From Russia to Hongkong in 80 days, with some bits of China tourism ads/commercials thrown in, plus regular Jackie Chan favourite flavours. If you enjoy Jackie Chan, watch it to support him.