Today, a new film “Kung Fu Stallion” with the ever-young Jackie Chan was released on the big screens. In particular, it became available in the Russian box office.
We are already processing the novelty and sharing our impressions. Apparently: he doesn’t watch the trailer – he deceives the eye, now I perceive why. All points.
Deception #1. The synopsis of the film shamelessly lies, a completely different plot
According to the description of the main plot in Russian venues, the film promises to tell a hilarious story about how an aging stuntman, along with his faithful four-legged companion, discovered research on the Internet.
What is the movie about: A famous martial artist and his trusty scoon burst into a world where any street fight can tiktok. Coolly splitting with a gang of collectors, they immediately became superheroes in the network. There are and can love enemies.
In fact, the film is much more multifaceted and ties together several storylines.
The aged Jackie, due to problems with the law, is trying to improve relations with his own daughter, along the way make friends with her fiancé and his family, build a newly emerged stuntman and save the chosen horse from the collectors. And all this in one episode. A bunch of everyday problems of an aging actor.
It doesn’t sound so fun anymore.
Deception number 2. The action is criminally small, and it was filmed so-so
The trailer advertises Jackie Chan’s signature fun action scenes – chases, fights using improvised objects, jumps and falls. We are promised that very careless Jackie, throwing obstacles against and to the left. On your own or with the help of a horse!
But in fact it turns out that there are only two real classic jackie chan fights in the film! At the very beginning of the movie and closest to the expectation. They were filmed much older than those funny showdowns that we remember from Who Am I?, Showdown in the Bronx, or Rush Hour.
This is far from perfect editing and modest (by Jackie’s standards) level of tricks..
Against the backdrop of the recent John Wick, everything looks boring and in some ways even ridiculous. If in “John” the choreography reaches a new level over and over again, then in “The Stallion” the action looks like “the old man can only do this now, please understand and forgive.” We really must forgive, for a moment Jackie Chan already 69 years old! But there would be more.
Unfortunately, the horse does not save the situation. He generally at some point sits next to him and just watches the fight from the side. And I’m not kidding.
Jackie is already on set (movie within a movie) and starts taking pictures of the stunt shoot. And this is where the need arises to resemble Indian films: close-ups of screaming heroes, strange camera spans, idiotic choreography. Looks terrible.
Deception number 3. This is not a comedy, there are more tears here than blood.
The saddest thing is that in the movie, we often see Jackie crying rather than distributing the cuff effect to his enemies. Jackie cries several times in this episode, and at one point begins to sob non-stop.
Of course, these scenes look grounded enough, and they don’t have enough of a weak main picture that doesn’t feel far-fetched. But let’s be honest weeping Jackie is not something we can be trusted to advertise for a movie.
Why are there so many tears in this movie? Basically, this is due to the endless attempts to establish contact with his own daughter, because of which the main character held too little time while she was young.
In the process of viewing the impression that this a very personal film for Jackie Chan.
He literally says straight out that because of his career as a stuntman, he really missed something in dealing with his own family, and this film is literally literally apologizing, admitting its mistakes. In something it turned out, in something it looks clumsily.
But Jackie’s loudest tantrum in this incident is still not with her daughter, but with a horse, and it cannot be compared with the dramatic silent moments in the film “The Foreigner”.
There, the dramatic moments really cause tears, despair and devastation. Pretty straightforward.
You sit and watch the heroes cry again, but it doesn’t move you.
Deception number 4. This is not a comedy, and not a drama, and in general genre paintings are incomprehensible.
As you already understood, this film does not work. Yes, the director’s films turn into rails of “apologies to the family” into a comedy channel. But the jokes here are such that you start to think that it would be better if they didn’t exist at all.
Don’t expect funny scenes in this movie, old Chinese superstar movies have been famous.
Deception number 5. This film has been caught more than once, it was created to honor the memory of all stuntmen
According to the plot, Jackie Chan comes from modern film sets, when complex stunt tricks are replaced with CGI graphics. And the hero proposes to deceive on the topic of what should not be watched and that everything should be done for real, and now he will prove it. In a few minutes refuses possible words.
Again, you can understand the motivation of the plot, but it is given so ridiculously that you don’t understand what the author wanted to say with this act.
Need to accept that special effects are still gradually replacing stunt tricks? And Jackie is forced to accept the real situation with this? John Wick would definitely not work with this.
Watch only if you are a true fan of Jackie Chan
In the end, the director usually uses a trick, death on the TV screen. those crazy tricks from an old Chan movie. There is nothing shameful to put pressure on the feeling of nostalgia, of course. You really remember those spectacular crazy scenes.
But “Kung Fu Stallion” is not cool at all. Worth watching movie Only for true Jackie Chan fans. The rest will not be caught and will feel cheated. These are not at all the feelings that you want from the cinema hall.
Jackie, thank you anyway. Your message is clear. For us, you will forever remain a fearless action hero of the 80s and 90s. Thank you for a fun childhood.
But it would be better if it was a black actor from Hollywood. He’s a better fit for your partner.
Yes, and dancing with him is more than convincing than with a horse. This is a fact and no deception.
Source: Iphones RU
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
