Jackie Chan goes back to his roots in this exciting, martial arts, car racing drama. I was kept interested by the film throughout and I rarely got bored due to the adrenaline pumping fight scenes and fairly captivating plot.
Jackie Foh's (Jackie Chan) sister's are kidnapped by a criminal racing driver and Jackie must beat him in a race to get them back. What the plot lacks is intelligence and justification of the ideas. Why did the racing driver kidnap the sister's in the first place? Why does he want to race Jackie? These are things that are never really developed and don't really make much sense. However, what the plot lacks in intricacies it makes up for in intensity and entices the audiences with 'Rocky-esque', uplifting scenes where we see Jackie train to become the best racer there is. It is done in a typical, feel-good way and gets the viewer behind Jackie throughout.
The acting is actually very good and Jackie Chan, Michael Wong and Kar Lok Chin are particularly impressive in their roles as Jackie Foh, Steve Cannon the attorney, and Jackie's racing trainer respectively. However, as usual in Hong Kong films, the Western actors are pretty poor, most notably Cougar (the kidnapper) played by Thorsten Nickel.
As far as the action goes, we see a familiar style reminiscent of Jackie's 'Police Story' days, with some of the best fight scenes you are ever likely to witness, especially a scene where Jackie uses a sledgehammer to fend off his adversaries. The action is presented in such a way where the viewer can actually 'see' what is happening, as a result of clever camera-work, so it is made that more exciting because we know it is real. This is where Chan films always excel; we feel the danger for the character, because we know the stunts are real and not computer generated effects; this adds so much to the exhilaration.
There is not much character development, plot depth or originality, but it achieves to entertain the audience and even at times 'move' them. Definitely a 'must-see' for all Jackie Chan fans and worth taking a look at for those even slightly interested.
A good, exciting, film.
7/10
