Bullet Points: Skiptrace
Jackie Chan has 136 acting credits listed under his IMDB.com page. For a man who has been in the business of action movies for as long as he has been, there was bound to be a few stinkers in there from time to time. I can’t lie and say that I’ve seen even a majority of his films over the years but I’ve enjoyed a good deal of the ones that I’ve watched. Sadly, my recent viewing of his 2016 collaboration with Johnny Knoxville did not inspire me into giving it a standing ovation. Let’s find out why….
Synopsis: After an American con artist witnesses a murder, a Hong Kong detective with a history with the killer chases after the American in order to bring him back to testify against the killer. They’ll have to first travel 1200 miles across three countries while being chased by a score of bad guys.
- Jackass: I’ve always enjoyed the Johnny Knoxville style of humor. You know the one where the dude falls off the roof and lands on his balls on a fence. Or the type of scene where a guy steps on a rake and it smacks his face so hard he farts loudly, then embarrassingly walks into a glass door or something. That is the type of humor that I’ve always expected from Knoxville and he does some of that in Skiptrace. The problem I had with him teaming with Jackie Chan is that someone has to be the straight man. Jackie did it with Owen Wilson and Chris Tucker but couldn’t pull it off with Johnny.
- Renny: Renny Harlin was one of the most in demand action directors in the early 90’s. He worked with Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis, and made a couple very fun action films with his wife Geena Davis. But like I’ve learned from watching Every Frame a Painting, people who aren’t Jackie Chan just don’t know how to film a Jackie Chan action scene. Renny does his best with an obviously aged Chan but I found the action scenes to be missing the normal Jackie Chan flair.
- A Pleasant Surprise: Seeing former WWE Divas Champion Eve Torres pop up was a great surprise for multiple reasons. Yes… she’s gorgeous. But she also is involved in a ton of the action scenes in Skiptrace and she does an excellent job. She’s a legitimate badass after training with her Gracie Jiu Jitsu husband for the last few years and I could definitely see some great stuff from her in the future.
- Pushing the Limits: I really do like me some action comedies. Some movies really get it and Jackie Chan is usually right on point with some of his work. Skiptrace kind of pushed the limits of what I can handle in an action movie. Kung Fu Hustle and movies like that can come out every few years and be fun but I don’t want to make a habit of watching too many movies like this.
- Random Nameless Villains: There are several different bad guys (and girls) running around trying to capture or kill the good guys. There are even some Russians ones (including Eve Torres)!
- Mongolian Party: I had no idea that Mongolians were into playing drinking games like beer pong or belting out hits from Adele. Add in the kickass wrestling matches and I’m thinking about planning my next vacation to the Texas of Asia.
If Jackie Chan can survive doing his own stunts for over 100 movies, you can survive some bonus Bullet Points:
- Sean William Scott was set to star opposite Jackie Chan but dropped out and was replaced by Johnny Knoxville.
- Director Renny Harlin and Jackie Chan were at one point going to be filming a movie in the U.S. called “Nosebleed”. They were planning on shooting a fight scene on the roof of the World Trade Center the morning of the 9/11 attacks. They were only missing from the building because they had rescheduled in order to come up with a new choreography for the fight.
- The song that Johnny Knoxville and Jackie Chan sing in order to get through a party is one that was from a Jackie Chan album released in his native China. He has released several albums and is considered a good singer.
