Chan serves up plot TKO

Jackie Chan has some good martial arts flicks and some wretched, uninspired ones. Sadly, his latest effort falls into the latter category, proving some ideas are better not permanently committed to celluloid. \nEddie Yang (a noticeably aging Chan) is a Hong Kong cop tracking down a baddie named Snakehead (Julian Sands). With the help of Interpol, lead by Arthur Watson (an incredibly annoying Lee Evans), Eddie hinders Snakey's attempt to become immortal. See, there's this medallion broken in two halves that can be joined once every so often by the chosen boy. Then the medallion can give life to the dead, complete with spiffy immortal, god-like status. To make a long story short, Chan gets himself killed (for once) and comes back as a super powered "Highbinder" (the original title of the movie, as illustrated on the marker in the blooper reel). Snakehead gets identical powers and we're supposed to be entertained somewhere along the way. \nA major problem with this waste of time is the script -- it's convoluted, with one of the most muddled narratives I've ever seen. Bottom line, the movie feels thrown together, like an ad for what it should have been. This all despite the film's four credited screenwriters (yay teamwork). There's no explanation for anything that happens -- Chan's hair inexplicably goes from long to short between scenes, Arthur's wife has an extremely unmotivated character switch and there's no real enlightenment to the medallion's life-giving power -- pretty bad when that's the whole gimmick. The action sequences are muddy and confusing. The camerawork and editing jumble the choreography and leave you just accepting that, somehow, someone got beat up. \nChan is known for his life-threatening, self-performed stunt work. But "The Medallion" relies heavily on very shoddy-looking wirework and variable frame rates. These gimmicks strip every stunt of all integrity and Chan comes across as sub-mediocre, despite his real talent. At my showing, the audience roared on cue, laughing incessantly. I spent the whole time trying to figure out what they were freaking out over. Kids predominantly loved this flick and I'm not surprised -- it's ridiculous and immature. \nThe one saving grace is the trademarked Jackie Chan outtakes reel during the credits. It's obvious (as always) that Chan genuinely enjoys doing what he does, as he is laughing and smiling all the way. It's just sad that what he loves doing seems to suck right now.