The Medallion (2003)

It's one of the worst movies starring Jackie Chan
It's one of the worst movies starring Jackie Chan. It's not funny. The fighting scenes are not great either.

I regret watching this movie in the theatre.

Oh boy, that's an hour and half I won't get back...
I usually like Jackie Chan movies, clean, funny, action, good stuff. And this one had Claire Forlani, awesome, and then Lee Evans. I think the story line didn't fit the acts and was just too much for people to take in. Acting was okay, but there was just too much far fetched and unanswered questions to make this believible or interesting. Really, skip this movie, don't watch, don't buy!

possibly the worst jackie chan film ever
Before I began to bash this film, its not because it is just a gosh awful film, but in comparison to most Chan films this is possibly his weakest entry. Sure, he is getting a little older these days, but he can still put out films like New Police Story, I just don't understand. If he was aiming for a kids movie with Medallion, then he has succeeded. And if there was anything I did enjoy most from this film, it didn't necassarily come from Chan himself.

Bascially, this really did seem like something made for kids. The idea of The Medallion did not appeal to me at all, and seemed rather corny and cheesy. It is about a young boy who holds the power of life and death in a medallion, which he is the chosen protector of. There wasn't much exploration throughout the film about the medallion. We get to see it used twice, bringing the Chan character back to life early on and again briefly for the villain. Other than that, this is basically a back and forth chase movie, as bad guys and good guys try to claim the boy and medallion.

Most Chan movies have lots of chases - by foot, bicycle, car and who knows what. In Medallion, the action sequences and chases are kind of boring for a Chan film. Lots of wirework and digital graphics are used, which means hardly any real stunts from Jackie. There is a foot chase early on that lasts for several minutes where Chan walks across a row of bicycles and does some other nice things, but thats about it. As far as fights go, I was also dissapointed. Chan fights the bad guy (Jullian Sands) twice, but both scenes are laughably bad. There was no skill involved, as everyhting was digital and bad camera work.

In addition to a weak story, the characters were quite uninteresting and there was little development between them. The humor you expect from Chan films is a different kind of humor, provided mostly by the Lee Evans character, who is Chan's partner. For awhile I thought his humor was kind of stupid, but eventually it should give some laughs, and ends up being about the only enjoybale thing out of this film.

Don't expect anything serious, anything great, or any teriffic action. This is a lousy film that is worth watching once and probably it. I definetly see this designed more for kids. It was just too cheesy and poor for my taste. Jackie Chan fans will most likely be dissapointed.