User reviews

In 3 words, awful, awful, awful.

I began watching Jackie Chan movies because it was SO cool that anyone could move like that. He didn't need the stuntmen, he didn't need the CGI, he was just that good. Plus, his movies had a sense of humor that was subtle enough to be funny without feeling you were being hit in the head with a 2x4.

And now this travesty of a movie. The action scenes? CGI'd up to the point that Ben Affleck could pull 'em off. The comedy? Lame, and forced.

As I sat in shell-shocked silence at the end of the movie (having tried desperately yet unsuccessfully several times throughout to go to sleep), all I could wonder is, what was Jackie Chan thinking? :(

This was just a bad movie. It reeks! I turned it off with about 40 minutes left. The action was boring. It felt like I was watching a bad movie from the early 80's. Avoid it! Even if you are a Jackie Chan fan, avoid it! Why do the movie gurus even put this stuff on film? Probably because they know an idiot like me might give it a chance and check it out. They obviously could have done a better job from the ground up. Watch Shangai Noon or something if you need a Jackie Chan fix. I don't even think I saw Claire Forlani in the movie before I turned it off. My wife was so happy when I said the words "ok, let us turn this poor thing off". It burns my buns that movies like this still get the time of day to see actual filming.

I read Ebert's review and was expecting it to be okay but he was wrong. This movie isn't even for the Jackie Chan fans. The story is dumb. The comedy was stupid. The acting was bad. In particular "Snakehead" and Warren were the worst offenders. The action scenes didn't carry any weight and the movie had tons of goofy special effects. There's nothing worth seeing here. Stay away.

Something occurred to me while watching this movie. I have seen more bad Jackie Chan movies than good ones and yet I continue to check out his latest movies. Only about 1 in 10 Chan movies are worth your time. It's that awesome 10% that makes him an attraction. He really ought to be more selective about scripts. Arnold comes in second in my "actors I like who have had many bad movies" category.

This is not a great movie; in fact it isn't even funny when it tries to be. Jackie Chan has starred in so many great movies that one could've imagined when he'd have a flop of his own. The Medalion is just so woeful, it is difficult to explain how utterly poor this movie is. And to think that this was produced in Hong Kong as well, now that to me is a big shock.

The makers pumped so much money into the CGI and special effects that they limited the amount of fight choreography and action sequences, of which weren't all that spectacular. It looked heavily disjointed and out of sorts; there was too much CGI, not enough genuine action. The story was frustrating at times, unexciting and lacked depth; the characters were either one dimensional or flat. The romance between Claire and Jackie was embarrassing to watch, it's hard to believe that they had chemistry, because it looked totally unconvincing, and may I add it was a flawed idea to hook them up, anyway. The acting was not so much the problem but rather the woeful script and tedious dialogue, it was boring to boot as well.

Lee Evans does his typical one- man English routine to minimal effect. I think he is okay as a stand-up comedian, but his role in this film did him no favours whatsoever. He was wasted in the Medalian, which is unfortunate to say.

In fact, this is a waste of a movie and a waste of Jackie's talents- the editing was all over the place. The premise sounded interesting for a while, but overall, it just didn't work and the end product is terrible.

I loved Police Story, Drunken Master, Wheels On Meals and My Lucky Stars but this film, the Rush Hour series and The Tuxedo have been disappointing. The truth is Chan is effective when he is given the freedom to do things, but also when the story itself is good; he however is not so effective and at his best when the script is poor and Jackie doesn't get to showcase his strengths and talents. The latter is certainly the case, in reference to his American efforts and in particular to The Medalian.

This is not the Jackie Chan we all know and love: as fans of this genre, we all are aware that he can do better than this. But I for one just couldn't bring myself to recommend this to any JC fan, of which I'd say to them avoid this movie at all costs