Operação Zodíaco

In the past 3 decades Jackie Chan has successfully developed and maintained his own kind of genre full of unbelievable action, acrobatic fights, thrilling moments, unlimited fun and decent humour entertaining all age groups ranging from the innocent kids to the intelligent old. His latest offering is also made on the similar format showcasing all the essential ingredients of a Jackie Chan film but still cannot be rated at par with his earlier classics since its not that exciting as it may seem from its short synopsis.

This time the heist specialist or treasure hunter Chan takes up an assignment to deliver the 12 bronze heads of the Chinese Zodiac, stolen from Chinese dynasty's Summer Palace centuries ago. The location of few of those heads is known but the rest need to be discovered and brought back. Chan and his crew are hired to find these 12 bronze heads and the film is all about their adventurous expedition to complete the collection.

It begins with a novel, exciting & well shot sequence where Chan is escaping from a mansion after completing his ongoing mission. It sets the mood right and you are all game for watching something very exciting and exceptional coming up in the next reels. But unfortunately, despite having some great action sequences, CZ12 doesn't turn out to be that entertaining as expected. The fun and humor element is not the same as found in Chan's other movies and the characters are very weak, foolish and forced which are not able to impress at all. Particularly the bunch of pirates and the girls are simply there to act as few silly characters in the film and nothing more.

A major negative feature of the film is the use of French and other foreign languages in it for a considerable period of time without any English subtitles on the screen, which forces you to keep watching it helplessly like a fool. After few initial good moments the screenplay becomes directionless and only aims at the thrilling actions sequences thrown in to keep the pace going. The camera-work is truly superb as usual and the background score successfully manages to excite you in all those well conceived brave scenes, especially the ones involving the sky diving and volcano sequences.

So if you are a die-hard Jackie Chan fan from decades, then this film will surely remind you of his gems such as ARMOUR OF GOD (1986) and more. But at the same time, will not give you a similar experience in the theater watching the miracle man. Yet, CZ12 might impress many young viewers not familiar with the amazing living legend called Jackie Chan. And at the age of 58 (with more than 100 films), I can't even imagine any other person in the entire globe performing such risky and unbelievable stunts all alone by himself like a rubber man.

To say it all, as a true fan of the maestro I loved watching CZ12 and its crazy sequences but as an exciting adventure project its not upto the mark if compared to Chan's earlier gems and could be a lot better (keeping in mind its interesting plot). The man is there in the entire film standing tall as always and if this is supposed to be his last major action project, then it surely deserves to be seen by all his fans as a must for this one reason alone.

This is the type of Jackie Chan movie which you just need to relax and don't think too hard about the plot. It's a fun adventures movie that has the nostalgic feel of his past Armor of God films.

The movie itself is quirky and just overall fun. It is a nod to his past films with the overacting and weird dialogue. It reminds me of his late 80's-90's stuff. CZ12 is a modern version of those films.

The plot itself is quite interesting and it was hard to follow at first but as the story progressed, it made sense. All in all, the film is a modern and updated version of his past Armor of God movies. This is for today's generation who have not seen his earlier work. Older fans might be disappointed if they expect it to be like his older work. Remember, just take off your nostalgia glasses and enjoy for what it's worth.

This is a classic late-period style Jackie Chan Chinese action-adventure. Not quite as good as the Operation Condor/Armour of God movies it's supposed to be a sequel to (nor as good as Supercop/Police Story films) but every bit as good as The Accidental Spy, Who Am I?, and The Myth. And I thought all of those were quite enjoyable.

This movie shares all the great features and all of the flaws of Chan's self produced and/or directed films. They have a great sense of humor and the stunt/action sequences are quite inventive. But they are also quite cartoony--the acting is VERY broad--and there's quite a bit in it that defies any common sense. But who really cares, right? This is Chan unfiltered.

The only REAL flaw to the film is the clumsy way Chan keeps inserting his moral messages. He has characters tell us what's right and wrong in very stilted dialog instead of creating situations that demonstrate his points. (not to mention that a few of his morals seem to have been government imposed--"we are not to interfere with the social structure in any way" a protest leader incongruously says as Chan nods wisely and says "That's right!") But I think this will make a fine home video release for the US audience, once they edit out some of the more China-centric chit chat, re-dub the dialog (or at least all the English, which is horribly spoken by the international cast) and replace a couple of oddly inappropriate pop tunes).

I'll be buying it for my JC collection!

Jackie Chan is a charmer! I cannot believe he received two Guinness World Records for this action packed interesting movie.

It starts with a fine note about some relics and then Jackie and his team who are befriended by a French mademoiselle set out on an adventure to find the French lady's great grandfather's remains but Chan and his team have other plans. As the story moves forwards, things start to squirt out and everything makes sense.

The action quotient for this movie is amazing and Chan has given chance to the females, too. It was interesting and at times funny, too. The plot is not much of a shocker if you have watched other Jackie Chan movies but with a speculation that this is his last action one, I give it 7/10.

Everything else with stunts, screenplay and direction is good; music is fine and numbing during action sequences. But as a whole, it is pretty enjoyable one compared to the recently released Hollywood movies.

Bottom line: It will make a perfect weekend movie with your kids.

WATCH OUT FOR: Jackie Chan, of course!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Language: No | Sex: No | Drugs: No | Nudity: No Z Alcohol: No

This movie could of been good. The story was so thin. There's too much happening and you lose track watching this.