Dak miu mai shing (2001)

Director:

Teddy Chan

Writers:

Rod Dean (English adaptation)
Ivy Ho (writer)

Release Date:

18 January 2001 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

Ordinary guy. Extraordinary spy

Plot:

This action movie unfolds with the story of Bei, a salesman at a workout equipment store, who harbors dreams of adventures...

Plot Keywords:

Turkey | Spy | Elevator | Safe Deposit | Nudity

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Buck Yuen / Jackie Chan
Eric Tsang	...	Many Liu
Vivian Hsu	...	Yong
Min Kim	...	Carmen Wong (as Kim Min Jeong)
Hsing-kuo Wu	...	Lee Sang-Zen (as Wu Hsing Kuo)
Alfred Cheung	...	Cheung the Lawyer
Anthony Rene Jones	...	Philip Ashley (as Tony Jones)
Glory Simon	...	TCN Field Reporter
Bradley James Allan	...	Lee's Bodyguard
Tat-Ming Cheung	...	Tsui
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Scott Adkins
Gordon Alexander	...	Hitman
Didem Erol	...	Girlfriend of Mafia Boss
Lillian Ho	...	Candice
Paulyn Sun	...	Looking at Gym Instruments

Also Known As:

Te wu mi cheng (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
The Accidental Spy (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for strong action violence, some drug content and nudity.

Runtime:

108 min | Argentina:92 min | USA:87 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English | Korean | French | Turkish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS (English version) | SDDS (English version) | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Brazil:14 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Buck's SUV pushes the Hyundai Sonata backwards into the pond, a cast member is visible briefly on the right side of the screen attempting to jump out of the way.

Movie Connections:

References Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

I know I'll be hated, but...

Except for one glaring error, I think Dimension Films did an excellent job in recutting/redubbing The Accidental Spy for the American Market. They didn't cut any major action sequences, the editing in general was better in the US version, and the actors who did the dubbing in the US version were 500% better than the ones who spoke English in the original (especially the woman who played Carmen--she had a gorgeous face, but her English was less convincing than Jackie's and she was a horrible actress to boot). Also, the new English dialog is MUCH better in Dimension's version, easily beating out the original's English dialoge as well as the subtitle translations of it's Cantonese and Turkish dialoge.

For instance, in an early scene where shop-clerk Jackie is demonstrating exercise equipment to a middle aged man and his hot young wife, the man becomes indignant over that attention Chan pays to his trophy spouse. In the original version, the translation of his complaint about Chan to the shop manager is "Is he a circus clown?" In the US version, he says, "Is he hitting on my wife?" which makes MUCH more sense (to americans anyway).

Of course, the most unusual thing about this re-edit is that Dimension gave the film an entirely different story! The original was about the chase for an ultra-lethal, weaponized pathogen called Anthrax II. Spy was set to come out right in the middle of our nation's big Anthrax scare, however, so that was out. In Dimension's remake, everyone is chasing after vials of a prototype drug 100 times more addictive than heroin. I say "six of one, half a dozen of the other." The chase is the important part in a Jackie Chan movie, not what everyone's running after. In fact, the drug plot works much better in many ways.

The only thing they messed up was the very end of the film--a common problem for Dimension (see the awkward end of the US version of Legend of Drunken Master). Spy's original ending was both bittersweet and comic. The US version's chopped up ending is just jarringly abrupt and the explanation of the plot is even more nonsensical than the HK version (oddly enough, the "simple" US-version explanation is more unbelievable than the convoluted version in the original.).

The Accidental Spy is Chan's best HK film in years--great cinematography, slick set design, great action! A class act, as these things go.