L'Expert de Hong Kong

I did not enjoy the previous effort of a Benny Chan directed Jackie Chan film in "New Police Story" that I was definitely worried about a "Three Men and a Baby" inspired effort. The result was mixed, but going in with low expectations I was pleasantly surprised. "Rob-B-Hood" (US release name is a bizarre name change to "Robin-B-Hood" though in this movie there is no stealing from the rich to give to the poor; neither title is very good) is the third film in the collaboration between Benny Chan and Jackie Chan and Benny's first attempt at a comedic action film. While this film was successful in Asia it was not theatrically released in North America and most of Europe.

Jackie Chan and Louis Koo Tin-Lok star as mediocre bad guys Thongs and Octopus. Jackie Chan tired of stereotypical nice guy roles wanted to play a criminal, though his character Thongs is a burglar and compulsive gambler, the "good guy" nature of his character comes through quite clearly and his performance does not veer far from most of Jackie's previous personae. This role is a good step in broadening his experience as an actor. Octopus is a married womanizer who works with Thongs. He married very young to Pak Yin (the terminally cute Charlene Choi) and is doing his best to woo wealthy young women while avoiding his wife. Thongs and Octopus both work under the guidance of the Landlord (Michael Hui) a conservative criminal who hoards his theft while the other two spend their "earnings".

The Landlord has had his loot stolen by another criminal (he suspects everyone after this) so he allows himself to get contracted to a nefarious case to kidnap a baby for seven million dollars and give the infant to the possible grandfather to test if the baby is his sons (the son is dead and currently frozen in a very expensive decorated freezer). Thongs and Octopus both need the money so they acquiesce and help the Landlord with the felony. Of course, Thongs and Octopus, through a partially botched kidnapping attempt, are forced to take care of the cute defecating infant until they can reestablish getting the kid to who hired them. And, of course, they get attached to the baby (I cannot believe the baby got nominated for Hong Kong Film Award's Best New Performer category).

Some of the negatives of this film include the ill-defined female characters (it seems they would have been better characterization in the original three-hour workprint, but that meant a whole lot more exposition); especially Gao Yuan-Yuan's Melody character who I had trouble figuring out what her relationship with Thongs was the first time I watched this. Some of the baby poop jokes were overdone as well as some of the infant's scenes in general (reportedly the child was an infant terrible on the set; delaying shooting and helping push the film over budget). There is only so much you can do with a babbling, spitting, crying child with flatulence. Yuen Biao's Inspector Steve Mok character is definitely underused (as well as Michael Hui), though at least he gets more than a cameo in this film. And then there is the horrible overuse of Pepsi advertising including one scene where Jackie slides down a pole revealing the largest Pepsi graffiti I have ever seen.

I did end up liking this film though. There is a certain congenial innocence with the lead characters that works well in this comedic action hybrid. In most Jackie Chan movies there are little stunts that sometimes seem as throwaways but are quite dangerous and are done with Keatonesque ease. In this movie Jackie slides down a staircase column and props himself up with ease at the end. If he fell on the wrong side he could have been seriously injured, but since it is so effortlessly it seems so simple. Jackie Chan has used more wires in his stunts and it definitely shows in this film, but I do not fault him for it, since his body cannot handle the punishment like it used to. The stunt where he jumps from air conditioner to air conditioner to the bottom of the street is impressive (even if a wire was used) and his and Louis Koo's stunts in the amusement park owned by the grandfather (location was Ocean Park) were quite good. In fact Jackie was said to be impressed of Koo who was willing to do many of his own stunts in the movie.

There could have been more fighting in this movie but there is a good scene in the apartment of Jackie between Jackie, Yuen Biao, Ken Lo and more. It is inspired by a similar scene in Project A (this is also mentioned in the Benny Chan commentary), but still pleasant. While there are many faults in this film and I think that many action purists will not like this film, I found much that was enjoyable from the comedy to the action and stunts. Now please Jackie no more movies with babies.

just saw the rating of 6.7 and thought it was a little bit high, but i would rate this a solid 6. this is one of Jackies better movies in a while and he tries to go back to his roots, like his movies from the 80's and early 90's.

i enjoyed his old movies cause they were silly and the action was fantastic and crazy and also full of cameos by famous actors and actresses from hong kong. this movie has all that except for the fisticuffs which are a little lacking in this movie and weak in my opinion compared to his prime.

the movie was a little bit sappy in my opinion also, but the baby was really really cute. the story involves Jackie who plays a lowlife gambler who is shunned by his family and his two partners. Louis Koo plays partner #1, who is a handsome womanizer who is actually married and partner #2 is none other then Michael Hui, the eldest of the Hui brothers. it has been a while since i saw him in a movie, and he plays the leader of the 3 man ring.

they somehow get roped into kidnapping a baby and the shenanigans and hi-jinx start from there. along the way there is mobsters, triad debt collectors and of course the police, including yuen baio who plays a police detective who has known Jackie's character for a long time.

for some reason the fighting doesn't appeal to me anymore, there were enough fight scenes but they are nothing compared to the old days. there were plenty of stunts in the movie and one incredible jaw-dropping stunt by Jackie about a 1/3 of the way thru the movie. you have to see how he gets away from the debt collectors while on top of a 10 story building and he really did the stunt himself. INCREDIBLE!

another reason to watch his movies back in the day was for the cameos and this one doesn't disappoint. check out Daniel Wu and Nicky tse as 2 homosexual and inept armor truck guards, it was hilarious. besides that one there were at least 5 other cameos by famous hong kong personalities.

all in all, a very high class production, you could tell a lot of money went into the making of this movie. not one of his greats but a very good watch, makes you long for the good old days though.

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.

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

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.