The Worst Film Ever

Am I Missing Something?

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Jackie Chan is an agent on a special mission in South Africa to abduct three scientists but he and some of his team are double crossed and left for dead. Chan manages to survive but gets amnesia. He does not know who he is.However the people who double crossed are out to kill him, Chan needs to get to find out who was behind the ill fated mission.Like a lot of Chan films there is a lot of silliness but it does lack action and is not helped by a stupid and incoherent plot.The last segment involving a fight on top of a building in Amsterdam is very good.

A winning combination of amusing humour and great martial arts makes WHO AM I? one of Jackie Chan's best films to date. Although the plot is somewhat simplistic this is to be expected and it's really just an excuse to stage three excellent extended action sequences which are superbly choreographed and a delight to watch. Like previous Hong Kong Chan films the movie takes in international locations, here using location shooting in South Africa and Holland to add to the great effect. Although the acting is only adequate, the physical humour and martial arts shine through and make this one to watch. Jackie Chan is in his prime and as always puts his all into the production.The first really notable action comes when a handcuffed Chan must escape from a gang of shady secret service men; some great stunts follow including a fine car chase and plenty of shooting and explosions. The second action sequence is a chase through the streets and involves some fine comedy involving clogs. The final and best piece of action is the twenty-minute long finale, which involves a tremendous martial arts bout on the rooftop of a skyscraper between Chan and two expertly-trained fighters. An awesome mix of impossible superhuman moves, props, dangerous situations, stunts, and humour follows, all performed without the aid of special effects and with Jackie Chan not using a stuntman of course. All in all this is a splendid and greatly enjoyable production which doesn't let up and manages to be funny as well as exciting.

The gradual introduction and growing popularity of Jackie Chan in America has from the beginning been fraught with odd twists and turns. "Rumble in the Bronx" at last popularized Chan for American audiences, but Chan cultists tend to hold this to be a disappointingly trivial film. These cultists generally came to Chan via "Drunken Master" some years before the release of "Rumble", and still hold that film in high esteem - even though it is actually inferior to a number of later Chan films, including the 1994 sequel "Drunken Master II".The release of "Rumble" was followed-up theatrically with the release of "Operation Condor"; the problem with this is that "Condor" is actually the sequel to "Armour of God", a more interesting and more problematic film, which was released in America only on video.Chan solidified his "Rumble" reputation with the extraordinarily energetic "Supercop", which also introduced Michelle Yeoh to American audiences two years before her appearance in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies". "Supercop", by the way, is also a sequel to a previous film, "Police Story", which only appeared in the US on video.Chan then embarked on 3 film ventures almost guaranteed to subvert his reputation: the James Bond imitation "First Strike"; the low-key, difficult to follow "Mr. Nice Guy", and the disastrous "Rush Hour", which apparently succeeded at the box-office, much to my disappointment.This year, the continuing saga of Chan's appearance of America continued on its twisted way. A film made around 1985 was re-dubbed and released theatrically: "Twin Dragons". The odd thing about this is that "Twin Dragons" has been available in America on videotape for at least ten years! Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, Chan's most recent Asian release, 1998's "Who am I?" was also released in America - but only on video! The odd thing about this simultaneous release is that Who am I is decidedly the better of the two films. So before remarking on "Who am I?", a brief note on "Twin Dragons": This film, co-directed by Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam (although Lam claims he only acted as second-unit pick-up director), is loosely based on a Claude Van Damme film, "Double Impact" and was made (very quickly) as a benefit for the Hong Kong Director's Guild. It is enjoyable, and has one or two remarkable stunts, but on the whole is a bit of fluff, even by the standard of "pure entertainment.On the other hand, "Who am I?" - co-directed by Chan and Benny Chan (no relation) - is a well mounted stunt-and-fight-filled maze of plot and theme, as Chan stars as a commando with amnesia in a struggle with a corrupt CIA agent over a recently discovered explosive element derived from a meteorite; the film moves from South Africa to the Netherlands, and involves considerable double plays and double-guessing on the part of Chan's character as he struggles to reclaim his memory while also stopping the corrupt CIA agent from successfully selling the new element to the highest bidder. The message of the film is very positive, and the action is lively; the editing and camera-work are worthy of commendation.There are some draw-backs to the film: Relationships between Chan's character and, first, a tribe of South Africans, and then later two women helping him, are never fully developed; thus Chan's character, rich in potential, is never developed fully, since this would require greater interaction with others.For Chan fans the film is also disappointing in a number of subtle ways: the stunt work here tends to belie Chan's claim that he works "without a net"; i.e., without safety-supports. The slide down the skyscraper. for instance, is too obviously along a guide wire.Secondly, the climatic final kung-fu battle between Chan and two kick-boxing thugs, while well done and exciting in itself, is clearly derived from the climatic finale of the much better "Drunken Master II." Both these problems raise an important issue which has been buzzing around Chan Fans for a couple years now - namely, is the master running out of steam? Is he perhaps growing too old for the kind of acrobatics his stunts and fights require?

"Who Am I" is a one of the truest Jackie Chan films I have ever seen.Of Jackie's international espionage related films (such as 'First Strike' and 'Accidental Spy') this one shines by giving Jackie more a purpose and making him less hapless. Regardless of this minor change in character, Jackie remains Jackie, but the subtle shift in dynamics is what makes this film stand out and a more fulfilling experience in cinema.Though the CGI and special-effects were a bit over-blown we still get classic Jackie-style humour and great fight-scenes and some very nice action-scenes as well. Jackie's cry "Who Am I!" in the middle of the film also has a great amount of emotional content and when I saw it in a commercial for the film I immediately knew that I wanted to watch this film.This is the definitive Jackie Chan experience.