Sunday 22 January 2012

Who Am I?

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:1998
Country of origin:Hong Kong
Director:Benny Chan, Jackie Chan
Genre:Martial arts action thriller
Starring:Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto
Rating:5/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127357/
Tagline:Fight now. Ask questions later.
Favourite line:"I like the third choice: I keep the disk, and I throw you both off."

Jackie Chan is in fine form here.

Chan plays a super commando, identity unknown, suffering from amnesia after a helicopter crash. The movie follows his efforts to discover his real identity, and to prevent a new formula becoming a super-weapon.

As ever with Chan's work, the plot is utterly superfluous, the real point of interest being the fight scenes and stunt work.
Though a little slower to kick into high gear than some of his other movies, when this fires up, it is spellbinding.
Two main set pieces here, both rooftop based:
In the first, Jackie finds a way to get down to ground level from an improbable height by wrapping a cable around himself and spinning to Earth whilst, in the second, he slides down the angled side of a glass fronted building in a scene that will stop the heart of those vertigo sufferers out there. And what makes it all the more terrifying is you know without question he is doing this for real, as the out-takes clips as the credits roll demonstrate; Jackie leaps off the top of the building apparently without fear whilst, in another scene, we see the result of some of these death-defying stunts as one of the stuntmen is stretchered off in an ambulance. Silly, funny, action packed and high energy, this is an action movie of the highest order.
Superb.

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