REVIEW:
The Accidental Spy is a surprisingly mature film for Jackie. While not completely leaving his comical style behind, Jackie brings a more serious and moody atmosphere to most of the film. Following in the footsteps of Who Am I?, The Accidental Spy is a big-budget, large scale, hollywood-type production. The Accidental Spy is more successful than the entertaining, but flawed Who Am I? and truly does mix the Hollywood-style production with some good HK action and storytelling. The Accidental Spy is Jackie's most mature work to date and definitely ranks as one of his better films.

The film actually could be split up into parts. The beginning of the film, which sets up Buck's character and background, sets the stage for his big mission and is not too terribly far from Jackie's style. While not as heavy on the comedy as many Jackie movies, it is still a little more lighthearted and has some standard Jackie stuff. The later part of the film is mostly action, which will be discussed later. The film, also, unlike many Jackie movies, has a proper ending that explains much of the film. None of this win-the-last-fight-then-roll-credits stuff. A welcome improvement indeed. The core of the film and its entertainment, though, lies in the middle portion.

The middle part of the film lasts from when Buck first meets his possible father up until he decides to try catch the main villain. Here, the film takes a mostly serious tone (aside from some short fight scenes) and is very moody. The initial mystery upon seeing Carmen (Kim Min Jeong) and hearing her story sets the tone first. Then, there is a solid action mystery. The heaviest part is in regards to Vivian Hsu's character. Buck will face a great decision about her that can affect many people, and this decision is riddled with emotional tension. This is much in the more serious style that the film takes.

In addition, it is not as "clean" as other Jackie movies. There is lots of blood, people are shot and killed, and drugs are used. These are not glorified, mind you, but rather fitting the story and mood of the film to create this harsh world. It fits in well with a story that throws a lot more issues and emotions at the viewer. Jackie puts on a solid performance, and no actors are particularly bad (unlike Who Am I?). Vivian Hsu, I thought, was particularly good with her part, which really helps the viewer appreciate Buck's moral dilemma with her.

The action in the film is pretty decent, although far from his best. There are no big fights at all, but rather lots of small fights here and there. These are where the film drops back into traditional Jackie style and allows for some Jackie goofiness. Luckily, only one or two tiny bits of this goofiness stands out badly from the rest of the film. The rest blends in okay. The most elaborate fight scene is one where Jackie is attacked at a bath house and loses his towel. He then runs through a market trying to cover up his private area while fighting the enemies. Its a very entertaining fight and gives some good comic relief to the film at that point.

Later in the film, the action turns away from fights. The last part of the film, in fact, is much like the movie "Speed", with a speeding vehicle that can not stop. While it is seemingly in many ways a rip-off of "Speed", I assure you, has better action than "Speed" and does not come off as too much of a rip-off. It is not the best action piece you could ask for, but allows for lots of tension as well as lots of destruction for those who enjoy good ole' destructive action in their films. It also leads up to a very cool final stunt. It does drag on a little long, though. One dissappointment was that Brad Allen was in the film, but his fight against Jackie was short and simple. After the great fights between the two in Gorgeous, it would've been nice to see another elaborate fight from them.

The Accidental Spy is a great film for Jackie to have done at this point. While still keeping bits of his standard entertainment style, he has allowed himself to show that he can do a more serious film. The plot is very well laid out and will keep you tuned. Action is adequate, if less than amazing. The mood of the film is its greatest asset and the (mostly) serious tone of the film works to its advantage. As previously stated, this is Jackie's most mature work yet and hopefully he will be open to doing even more serious films in the future after this. It is not the most entertaining Jackie movie, but definitely one of his better efforts and deserves to be in any Jackie fan's collection.

The plot is by-the-numbers Chan, wherein he plays a man thrown into circumstances beyond his control. Here he plays a fitness equipment salesman named Buck who becomes a local hero after foiling a robbery attempt, which attracts the attention of a private detective played by Eric Tsang (almost unrecognizable in a balding wig and thick glasses, at least until he speaks). Tsang wants to bring Chan to Korea to meet the man who might be his father. The man dies, but not before he gives Chan a mission of sorts. As Chan unravels the mystery, he finds a beautiful woman, a large sum of cash and himself smack dab in the middle of an international conspiracy involving chemical weapons (hence the title).

Yeah, so the plot's not mind-blowing -- but then with the exception of a few films, such as the Drunken Master movies, Heart of Dragon and Crime Story, Chan's plots usually have the weight of the paper the scripts are printed on. But that's okay in my book. They're usually just an excuse to get to the action sequences, and like Chan's best movies, The Accidental Spy delivers. They're not spectacular -- keep in mind, Jackie's getting up there in years... I don't think we can expect any more 20-minute duels ala Drunken Master 2 from him -- but they're damn solid and a lot better than Chan's last few movies. The stunts are also done well, though it looks like he was doubled for the more dangerous stuff.

Just one last point about something that is becoming a pet peeve for me: the bad English acting by the Asian actors in many recent Hong Kong movies. I don't want to sound like I'm a cultural elitist (I'm sure these actors' English is much better than my Cantonese) and I understand that Hong Kong studios want to build an international audience for their movies, but enough is enough already. Either find actors that can speak English well, or just dub them over. Case in point: one of the actors pronounces Athens "ay-thens" not once but twice. Don't they have someone to supervise that kind of stuff? Besides that (as Tim Youngs pointed out in his review) there's an epilogue that seems to serve to only provide a space for the advertiser's logos rather than further the story.

But these are pretty minor complaints. If you've been disappointed with the recent wave of Hong Kong action movies, The Accidental Spy should at least give you some hope that Hong Kong can still churn out the world's best action movies. If you don't believe me, just watch this and then take a look at a new US action movie like The Mummy Returns. I think you'll see that despite how much homogenization has gone on in both Hollywood and Hong Kong, and how much money Hollywood can throw at a movie to make it seem like a Hong Kong one, that Hollywood simply cannot compete with a dedicated artist armed with a crazy imagination and a set of props.

REVIEW:
Jackie returns to Hong Kong filmmaking in a globetrotting project that laboriously reaches for suspense amid stunts that lack the punch of his earlier works. Jackie's attempt to please an increasingly wider audience may be just the thing that hinders this film the most.

"The Accidental Spy" is reminiscent of his other international efforts such as "Armour of God" and "Mr. Nice Guy." One distinction is the higher level of polish. The acting while never great, is better than most previous efforts. Slick cinematography and a complex story is proof that working in Hollywood has rubbed off on Jackie. Filming in exotic locations like Turkey was certainly a visual bonus and Jackie uses it well as seen in a bathhouse scene. Stunts and actions scenes are paced evenly throughout the film and executed with Chan's typical goofball fashion. But not all is well.

What really hurts the film is a story that attempts to create an air of intrigue and mystery and fails for the most part. There are several elements that work as Jackie tries to uncover the meaning of the words "Wait For Me" that elude to his goal. Hong Kong film veteran Eric Tsang, best known as director of the hit, "Aces Go Places" plays an investigator at the beginning of the film and hints of being a more complex individual. But there are problems with the plot. Why would an intelligence agency trust a bungling sporting goods salesman and why couldn't they nab the Anthrax II virus themselves? The film plays out like a twisted cross between True Lies and Frantic, finally dumping traces of both to emulate Speed for the finale. So a potential thriller with an everyman person caught in circumstances beyond his control ends up being a film that is beyond his control.

Need I say it? Yes, Jackie is getter older. The stunts and fighting are not as exciting as in the good old days. But, we all know that in the best moments Jackie can entertain without cracking his skull. "The Accidental Spy" has managed to ignore all of this. Sure, Jackie swings through the side of a skyscraper while on construction equipment. Yes, he takes out a dock full of submachine gun-wielding goons, dock and all. Ok, he also manages to crash a motorcycle in to an airplane about to take off and even drives a burning fuel truck off a bridge. But as Bruce Lee once said, "You need emotional content". All these acts lack the personal charm Jackie provided in films such as Project A where the physical danger and acrobatic feats represented an extension of Jackie's personas and were like nothing we had ever seem before.

No effort was made to play up the martial arts in this film as in Gorgeous. At least Jackie does get to trade blows with that film's talented co-star, Brad Allen. In fact, little time was spent building up any of the action scenes and they were quickly passed over for the next, not allowing the viewer to develop enough interest in each scene. For example, when you see a scene in the film, "The Matrix" where Neo and Trinity begin blasting their way through the lobby, the film has been carefully building up to this scene, ultimately showing the surreal weapon selections beforehand. For an attempt at a thriller, "The Accidental Spy's" action is too haphazardly assembled and this is much a reflection of Teddy Chan's directing as it is of Jackie's desire to please.

In short, "The Accidental Spy" suffers from a story too broad for the director to control. Jackie and his stunts are nothing more than a showcase to keep the audience's attention. The result is that they neither add to a potentially compelling story or manage to provide an edge-of -your-seat experience. While a noble notion, incorporating multiple languages, locals and subplots in an apparent attempt at reaching broader audiences ends up taking the wind of this film's sails.

The slower Jackie Chan gets in his old age, the more he surrounds himself with gorgeous women. Hell, Gorgeous was a rotten film, but it starred former nudie pin-up superstar Hsu Chi, who has been making a name for herself with her clothes on as a decent action actress in recent years. Jackie's latest, The Accidental Spy, pairs him up with another former nude model and video naughty star, Vivian Hsu. The point I'm really trying to make is this:

Damn, it's good to be Jackie Chan.

I mean, can you blame the guy? He's given everything for his art, everything to his fans. He's broken down, beat up, and will be lucky if he can remember his own name or walk in another ten years. Chan has sacrificed himself, his now former family, and just about everything else. You can play armchair psychologist if you'd like, analyzing how the fact that he was abandoned by his parents (who sold him to a Peking Opera school, where he met Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, and Yuen Kwai, among others) has driven this insatiable need on his part to be loved and accepted by fans while crippling him when it comes to close personal relationships (his marriage was a total sham and his flings with sexy female starlets have become constant fodder for worthless Hong Kong gossip rags). He's somewhat cocky and egotistical (though honestly, wouldn't you be the same way if you were him), but he's also very nervous and humble around certain reporters and throngs of fans. Jackie's a complex guy, one full of personal problems and accomplishments, failures and successes. In short, he's a human, and that's why I like him so much and defend him, especially now that's he's probably in his twilight years.

Jackie's list of injuries is both frightening and amusing, but it should never be forgotten that he got each and every one of them trying to make us happy. There are very few, if any, film stars who have given as much to their fans as Jackie has. For that, we should be forever grateful. Hell, if he decided tomorrow that from now on he was only doing Merchant Ivory movies about snotty people in riding coats or big frilly dresses sitting in the garden drinking tea saying "pray tell," we should still never forget how much he's given to us. The man is, without a doubt, one of a kind, and there will never be another like him.

So as far as I'm concerned, I'm happy to see Jackie going in the direction he's heading. As a fan of his since his old kungfu films from the 1970s, I'm satisfied to see him taking it easy, slowing things down a bit, and not mercilessly abusing himself the way he did in the 1980s. Sure, I miss mind-blowing sequences like the shopping mall finale from Police Story, but that was a long time ago. In 1985, I could run five miles without losing my breath. I could play a hard-fought ninety minute soccer game without a break. Nowadays, I can run from the front of my apartment to the curb with maybe nothing more serious than a severe cramp in my calf muscle. Hell, if I can hardly get up the four flights of stairs to my home without having to set aside an hour for recuperation, then I shouldn't expect Jackie -- as he approaches fifty -- to still be falling head first off clock towers.

A lot of people have been up in arms about Jackie's films during the 1990s. I agree that some of them were pretty bad. City Hunter was awful, Rumble in the Bronx was just plain stupid (a multi ethnic neon dune buggy gang from the Bronx? Someone watched too much Warriors) Police Story III was dull as dishwater thanks to a shoddy direction job by Stanley Tong, who for some reason could never figure out the proper way to film Jackie. Gorgeous despite featuring the unspeakably sexy Hsu Chi (and for you ladies, the unspeakably sexy Tony Leung Chi-wai) and a couple good fight scenes, was one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. It was far and away the worst Jackie Chan film ever, and that includes his role as the evil melting king in Killer Meteors. It was insipid, annoying, and the people in it were so monumentally grating and stupid that I literally wanted to reach into the television and throttle them. Not having strange videodrome powers, however, I did the next best thing and just stopped watching.

But other than that, I think Jackie's films have been amusing at the worst, and at their best (i.e. Drunken Master II) they've been astounding. People were pretty hard on films like First Strike, but I thought it was a lot of fun. Same with Mr. Nice Guy. Yeah, they had their weaknesses, but I still had a good time. So Jackie wasn't delivering the next Project A -- big deal. I thought Rush Hour was okay, and would have been a lot of fun if I didn't find Chris Tucker so overbearing. Shanghai Noon was tremendous fun. In this day and age where everyone tries to be edgy, it was great to simply sit back and enjoy an old fashion action-comedy where the stars actually seemed to have some chemistry together. Who Am I was also a great deal of fun for me, and it was pleasing to see Jackie return to the final fight scene climax after shying away from it for so long.

In short, cut the guy some slack. For all intents and purposes, he should be dead. If you're a fan of Jackie, then you shouldn't be pulling for him to kill himself trying to pull off some stunt. He did that. Hell, he actually did kill himself when he cracked his skull open during a botched seemingly simple stunt in Armor of God. It's time to adjust your perception of Jackie. He's not the machine he once was. If you keep that in mind and you still can't stand his more recent movies, well there you go. Nothing wrong with that. There's this stuff called taste, and everyone's is slightly different. If, however, you do adjust your thinking, you might find that his newer films are still worthwhile, even if they are not the classics he was making in the 1980s.

So in short, if Jackie wants to relax and pal around with ultra-sexy women half his age, that's his right. I, for one, thank him for that almost as much as I thank him for Drunken Master II and Dragons Forever. A man who parades Hsu Chi, Vivian Hsu, and Michelle Ferre across the screen is still doing us all a great service even if he can't deliver the kungfu and stunts like he used to.

I should point out that in this movie, Jackie Chan attempts to outdo is formerly frequently nude female co-star by featuring prolonged exposure of his own bare ass. Longtime fans of Jackie Chan films are, of course, already acquainted with his bare ass, which if I recall correctly made its film debut in Police Story. I think this might be its longest appearance yet, and also its first action scene. For some of you, extended scenes featuring Jackie Chan's bare bottom may be enough to scare you away. For others, it may get you even more fired up about seeing the film. For me, as a seasoned veteran of movies that feature Jackie Chan and movies that feature naked rumps, I simply nodded at Jackie's naked butt and said, "Hey man, long time no see."

I always look forward to a new Jackie Chan film regardless of bare ass content, unless it's Gorgeous. It's always something fun and exciting, which is cool since very few movies get me fired up these days. What makes me sad is that I really miss seeing them debut on the big screen. I'm not talking about dubbed, edited, and re-scored bastardizations from Dimension, the people who brought you gangsta rap in Police Story III and everything in Spy Kids (in answer to your unasked question, yes, someone is going to hell for that movie). We used to always time trips to New York City to coincide with Chinese New Year, which in turn meant the debut at the Music Palace of a new Jackie Chan film. Rumble in the Bronx didn't seem nearly as stupid sitting in the balcony of the theater alongside hundreds of cheering, shouting, rowdy Chan fans. Seeing the premiere of Drunken Master II was positively electric. The theater was a complete nuthouse. People went insane. It was far and away the most fun I've had attending a film that was not at a drive-in movie theater.

I moved to New York when the Music Palace was in its decline. The collapse of the Hong Kong film market hit the theater hard. No one wanted to go see Wong Jing's latest piece of shit, which would no doubt have a title like Naked Killer VIII: All Whore Bitch Slut Women Rape Rape Rape yet would still manage to feature very little nekkidness while, at the same time, being non-stop hateful, misogynistic, and god-awful boring. Annual Jackie Chan films became a thing of the past as American studios nabbed the rights to his films. The Music Palace countered this downturn in business by trotting out classic Hong Kong films, which again is something I was incredibly fond of. For a couple years, I could amuse myself on a Saturday afternoon with a six dollar double feature on the big screen of films like Zu, Dragons Forever, and Swordsman. The theater wasn't nearly as packed, but there was always a decent sized crew there. As I did for every movie I ever saw at that run-down, wonderful place, I sat in the front row of the balcony. No matter when I went, no matter what movie I went to see, I seemed to always sit in front of the eight-hundred year old guy who would chain smoke and erupt into nerve-shattering fits of phlegm-choked coughing.

The beauty of the Music Palace was also its ugliness. As long as you didn't bring a forty-ouncer of Colt 45 in with you, you could do pretty much anything you wanted. You want to bring in snacks? Hell, the Music Palace would let you walk across the street and bring back a whole roast pig if you weren't enticed by their concession stand selection of M&M's, gummies, and dried cuttle fish niblets (not all mixed together). If you wanted to stay all day and watch the same two movies over and over, they were cool so long as it wasn't overly crowded. Thus, it became a refuge for homeless guys who needed a couple hours out of the cold or old Chinese dudes with nothing better to do than sit back, smoke, and watch some kungfu.

The audiences were always fun as well. This was no hush-hush affair. People were loud and vociferous. They cheered, clapped, hooted, hollered, and if the movie stank, they booed and heckled the images on the screen with a smattering of barbs and jabs in English, Cantonese, Vietnamese, or Spanish. It was always a mixed ethnic crowd. The movies may have been from Hong Kong and the theater may have been in Chinatown, but the people who came did so simply because they loved the films. Everyone left with smiles on their faces, either because they'd enjoyed the film and the experience, or because they'd enjoyed ripping on the film or groping their date when the lights went down.

I admit that I'm lowbrow. It doesn't bug me. For me, movie theaters are at their finest when you're seeing a wild film with an equally wild audience. You want to annoy me? Put me in an arthouse theater full of wannabe film students who nod constantly in "comprehension" and feel the need to laugh quietly at strange points just to prove they get something you totally missed. No, I did my time in the arthouse world. I read the books, studied the techniques, learned the theories. I tried to fool myself into thinking I was part of that world, but in the end, when it came down to French existentialism or Foxy Brown, the choice was clear.

Likewise, I like my movie-going experience suitably rowdy. If I was seeing a serious film with lots of drama, then sure, the gab would be out of place and downright annoying. But hell, when I'm watching shit blow up or fly around in space or jump off a building and kick someone in the head, cheering, booing, eating, and back row sex are all essential parts of the overall experience.

Unfortunately, the Music Palace could only sustain itself so long on the memories and nostalgia. In 2000, it finally shut its doors for good while all around it new DVD stores sprung up. It was a great loss. New York has very few offbeat theaters full of that much character and energy left. Where we were once unique, now we're just another collection of AMC and Lowes' cineplexes. The old Chinatown movie theater on the corner of Bowery and Canal is now a big Buddhist hall, and the Music Palace sits a little ways down the block, vacant and still echoing with boisterous laughter and yelling.

New Jackie Chan movies are still fun, but man alive do I miss the experience of seeing them on the big screen with hundreds of other rabid fans on opening night. Going to Lai Ying Music on the Bowery and finding the movie on DVD is cool, but it can't hold a candle to the days when I could see it on the giant screen at the movie theater right next door.

So, in the most roundabout way ever, it all finally brings us to the movie at hand, Jackie Chan's big Hong Kong film for 2001 (probably not his biggest film of the year, since Rush Hour II will be opening later in the summer). Like I said, I enjoyed most of his recent films even if they were flawed, and I really enjoyed Who Am I, which this film is very similar to.

One thing's for certain: as much as Jackie exploits his ability to hire cute female co-stars, so too does he still flex his considerable muscle to score all sorts of exotic location work no other Hong Kong film maker could ever dream of getting. Accidental Spy bounces from Hong Kong to Turkey, giving the film a real international, James Bond type feel, which is fine by me. Most of his films since Armour of God have featured a fair amount of globe hopping, and while some people have complained about the "international spy" feel of the films, I dig it, what with me being a fan of old spy films and all.

The action begins in Turkey with a bunch of villagers and tourists getting mowed down by masked men wielding machine guns. Nothing like a little mass slaughter to get things going. Obviously, that'll all come into play later, but the film quickly jumps to Jackie, who for the first time since I can't remember when, does not play a guy named Jackie. This time, he's Buck Yuen, acclaimed salesman of all things gymnasium related. The bit with an over-zealous Jackie trying to sell a rich couple on fancy exercise equipment is pretty funny. He resorts to doing flips on the trampoline and bouncing around on the exercise ball (the one piece of equipment he has ever been able to actually sell). This being a Jackie Chan film, none of this has much to do with anything, and of course Jackie is still an ex-cop. Jackie's been a cop or an ex-cop in pretty much 98% of the films he's made in the last twenty years.

While on his lunch break in the mall, Jackie foils a bank robbery. Of course, where some people would just punch someone or trip someone up, Jackie's attempts to foil the robbery result in a giant crane smashing through a glass building while Jackie dangles from the arm. And you thought you were daring on your lunch break because you took an extra fifteen minutes. Jackie becomes a big celebrity as a result of costing ten times as much in damages as he probably saved by foiling the robbery, sort of like when the Powerpuff Girls destroyed an entire neighborhood and historic bridge to stop a man who stole a hundred dollars.

His fifteen minutes of fame bring him into contact with a disheveled private eye played by the always delightful Eric Tsang (is every private eye in the world named Manny). You might know him as Blockhead from the old Lucky Stars movies, or you might know him as the host of a long-running Hong Kong variety television show. Or maybe you know this silly little guy as what he actually turned out to be: one of the most influential and powerful men in the Hong Kong entertainment world. Go figure. Eric Tsang is a powerful producer and his fellow Lucky Star and goofball slapstick comedian actor friend John Shum is one of the most important pro-democracy activists in China. What a weird world. Together they are the equivalent of Bud Abbot and Larry Fine. I suppose you really can't judge a book by its cover. Any day now, someone will discover that in America Don Knotts has been calling the shots all along.

Tsang is seeking out male orphans born in 1958, which Jackie, err Buck, happens to be. I guess since he took the time not to call himself Jackie in this movie, I shouldn't call him Jackie in this review. I guess his reasoning for always naming himself Jackie makes perfect sense. When you look up at the screen, you don't see Buck Yuen or anyone else. You just see Jackie Chan, playing essentially the same everyman (albeit an everyman with incredible kungfu skills) Jackie Chan character he's always been.

Tsang has been hired by a dying Korean man who is seeking his long lost son, who ended up in an orphanage in Hong Kong. With the promise of an all expenses paid trip to Korea, Buck agrees to at least go meet the guy.

No sooner does Buck get to Korea than he is confronted by an American-Korean reporter named Carmen (Min Jeong Kim in what looks to be a debut). She is working on a story about the man who might be Buck's father, Mr. Park. Turns out he was once an infamous North Korean spy who defected to the South while in Turkey. Jackie seems mildly interested in all this, but since he doesn't even know if the guy is actually his father, he doesn't have much to say. Park meets with Buck and challenges him to a little game of hide and seek. He has something of great value hidden, and Buck needs to find it. Unfortunately, the guy won't say what, though it soon becomes apparent that others want it, whatever it might be. When Buck goes to visit Park one evening, he finds a load of hitmen in the room. Jackie deals with them through creative use of kungfu and those defibrillator things they use to shock people's hearts back into operation.

Something to note right away: one of the things people complained about most in regards to Who Am I (and I do not share their outlook) was that there wasn't enough action, or at least not enough kungfu action. Who Am I basically had three extended fight scenes, but Accidental Spy opts instead to deliver a lot of shorter but more frequent action sequences. It's a similar formula to Jackie's 1980s films, and I think it works brilliantly. It keeps the film from ever slowing down. It's also worth noting that for the first time in forever, some of the action scenes are not based around Jackie running away from people. Jackie's run away from more adversaries than I can remember. Some of his best fight scenes came as a result of trying to get the hell out of town. Accidental Spy finally strikes a balance between "I'm going to run away and hit you with random things" and "I'm going to just stand here and hit you with random things."

Buck Yuen ponders the small number of clues left by Park, and eventually discovers a coded series of numbers that wind up being the telephone number for a bank in Istanbul. Some of Buck's detective work comes to him pretty easily, and Jackie communicates hard thinking by furrowing his brow. The narrative explains it all away by pointing out that he's very intuitive about a lot of things. Okay, sure. Hell, I've let worse things slide. With the $10,000 left to him by Park, Buck hops the next plane to Turkey, which is not unlike hopping on the last train to Clarkesville, except that it takes you to Turkey, where if you are lucky you can catch a revival showing of The Man Who Saved the World.

In Turkey, Buck finds a safe deposit box stuffed full of cash, which makes him mighty happy, at least up until the point where the same guys who attacked him back at the hospital in Korea show up again. More fighting and flying in and out of car windows ensues as Buck fights protect his life and his new suitcase full of wealth. Turns out the assailants weren't all that interested in the money, though. When the cops arrive, they split, leaving the whole pile of cash untouched.

Jackie checks into a posh hotel that was once a famous hang-out for spies, and he soon meets Yong (Vivian Hsu), the associate of a Japanese gangster named Mr. Zen (Wu Hsing-kuo of Green Snake fame). Jackie, being a sucker for a purty girl, arranges a dinner date with her, then promptly gets attacked by those guys again in a Turkish bath in one of the film's funnier sequences. Jackie and his opponents slip and slide all over the place before Jackie escapes the building, losing his towel in the process. What follows is the copious amount of bare Jackie butt I alluded to earlier. The fight scene is pretty funny, not to mention more than a bit remarkable. If you thought it was clever how Mike Meyers strategically covered his privates in Austin Powers, you should see it done while the guy is back-flipping and kicking and jumping over tables. I'm guessing there were some pretty good bloopers from this scene, although they were left out of the end credit blooper reel we've come to know and love.

Jackie makes it to his meeting only to get attacked again by those guys demanding "the thing." They might get farther in life if they were a bit more specific. The thing? What do they want? The guy from the Fantastic Four? Mothra's egg? That disembodied hand from The Addams Family? The head with spider legs from John Carpenter's The Thing? I mean, history is not short on things. Maybe these guys would be better off if they clued everyone in on exactly what thing they were looking for. I'm guessing they saw Jackie's thing during that last action sequence, but apparently that wasn't good enough for them.

Buck and Yong are captured and taken to a seaside village where they beat Jackie up more and demand the thing. To be honest, at this point it's beginning to all sound a bit silly. Maybe there is a cooler vague word in Chinese, but since all of this dialogue is in English, they go with the thing, which just starts to sound funny, like one of those old jokes that takes twenty minutes to tell and then ends with a really stupid punchline like, "and then he was hit by a car."

While getting beat up, Jackie manages to at least figure out that the thing is a new strain of Anthrax, which would be slightly less fatal than a new album by Anthrax. Turns out Park was supposed to sell the virus to Mr. Zen but decided against unleashing such death upon the world. Now Zen wants it because, you know, he's evil, and these angry Turkish guys want it because it was tested in their village -- thus that opening scene of mayhem! See, it's all coming together. The beating of Jackie is interrupted when the same masked men from the beginning of the film show up and start killing everyone. Buck and Yong make their escape after managing to destroy the entire town. This is Jackie Chan, after all. Or rather, it's Buck Yuen.

While afloat in a little makeshift boat, Jackie notices track marks on Yong's arm. Mr. Zen keeps her under his control by addicting her to heroin. It's a really weird and tragic little subplot that seems out of place in a Jackie Chan film, to be honest. There's really no point to it. It's not like we needed more reasons to hate a guy who slaughters whole villages and wants to terrorize the world with biological weapons. That he addicted a perfectly nice young girl to heroin is just sort of icing on the cake. Jackie, of course, wants to help her because he knows she is an innocent caught up in things bigger than herself, and she is an orphan like him.

As fate would have it, just as she is about to freak out, along comes Zen in his lush yacht. After plucking Buck and Yong out of the drink, he makes Jackie an offer: turn over the anthrax, and he'll let Jackie keep the money (which it turns out was payment from Zen to Park for the virus) and take Yong away. The one hitch is that Jackie still doesn't know where the virus is even hidden. Of course, he eventually figures it out, and in what has to be a cinematic first, the evil villain does not get the merchandise then try to kill the hero. In fact, he takes the virus then lets Jackie leave with Yong just as he promised. Hey, he may force cute women to shoot up, and he may want to control the world's supply of anthrax, but at least he is a man of his word.

Carmen eventually resurfaces and reveals she is actually a CIA agent, exactly like the girl from Who Am I. No one seems all that surprised, though they do consider the whole trading anthrax for a girl thing to have been rather stupid, especially when it turns out Yong was injected with the anthrax. Advice: don't do things that will result in Jackie Chan seeking revenge on you.

The finale is another in the long line of big stunt pieces that rely on smashing up vehicles more than smashing up people, as Buck, Zen, assorted thugs, and a truck driving family all find themselves speeding down the highway in a variety of vehicles, including posh sedans, goofy looking motorbikes, and a burning petrol tanker. You may think it's zany, but it's just another daily commute for a guy like Jackie Chan. The finale is pretty fun even if it isn't kungfu. I figured we'd gotten our fair share of kicks throughout the film, so a big exploding gas truck flying off a bridge was perfectly in order. Ever notice how all these out of control heavy vehicles always get out of control near highway construction and half finished bridges? Just once, I'd like to see someone have to drive a hundred miles before they are able to jump out and drive the truck off a half-finished bridge or something.

After that, the movie ends about five times in the course of a couple minutes. There's the epilogue involving Buck and Eric Tsang's character, who is of course revealed to be more than he initially let on. This also fulfills Jackie's requirement to end some of his films with a really tasteless disease joke. In Drunken Master II we had to endure the stupid "blind retard" ending to what was an otherwise amazing film. This time it's a joke about snorting the ashes of a man who died of cancer. Ha ha. Those Hong Kong people! What cards!

But the movie doesn't end there. Oh sure, the credits role, and we get the prerequisite bloopers, but then the movie starts back up again with Jackie getting offered a spy job, traveling to Italy, and riding around while wearing a fake "mama mia that's a spicy meatball!" mustache. So I guess he didn't take his old job at the fitness store back. Anyway, if this is his way of saying, "If this movie does well, I'll make a sequel," then that's cool with me. Like I said at some point way up there, a lot of people have been lukewarm or downright negative about this film, but I thought it was pretty good.

The film's only real drawback is the Sammo Hung-esque schizophrenia in its tone. I mean, for a good hour we're treated to very typical and enjoyable action-comedy, and then all of a sudden there's this whole depressing heroin subplot out of nowhere. The movie turns deadly grim for a while, then decides to get all slapstick again for the final scene. The hell? It reminded me of Pedicab Driver directed by and starring Sammo Hung (who was famous for changing the mood of his films in the blink of an eye). Like Accidental Spy, that movie starts out as a slapstick action comedy, then turns into a fairly devastating, dark, and angry tragedy. It's cool to keep people off balance, but it doesn't entirely work in Accidental Spy. Instead of raising the intensity, it just detracts from the overall enjoyment. It's almost like it was just some sort of an afterthought.

Other than that -- and I can live with it -- I thought the movie was fun. It's got plenty of action, and just about all of it is great. The script is harmless, which is about the best we can expect from a Jackie Chan film. It doesn't try to be too clever, and that's good. The location work is great, and the movie's budget is on the screen. It's almost like Jackie intentionally set out to reclaim his spot as Hong Kong's most expensive film maker -- a title he has held on and off ever since the globe-trotting shenanigans of Operation Condor. You didn't think Jackie was going to sit back and let Storm Riders keep that honor, did you?

The acting is passable to good, with Min Jeong Kim's Carmen being the one big exception. It looks like this was her first role, so I'll cut her some slack, but she was pretty bad. I know traditionally the English language acting in Hong Kong productions has not been very important, but when over half the movie is actually done in English, you need to pay closer attention to who is doing the talking. Min Jeong Kim sounds like she's reading her lines for the first time in several scenes. The other people who do their acting in English are okay, but that's because they are either Jackie Chan, angry young Turks, or the black CIA guy whose only job is to grimace and say, "You really screwed things up!"

Vivian Hsu does alright. I didn't expect much of her, but she actually made me care to some degree about her character, though she could use some work on conveying certain emotions. She accomplishes her withdrawal scenes by sniffling a lot. Maybe she should have watched Gene Hackman freak out and scream about the Lakers or whatever during his detox scenes in French Connection II. Hell, I'd pay good money to see cute, sad looking little Vivian Hsu screaming incoherently about basketball while she rolls around on the floor.

I will say this about both Min Jeong Kim and Vivian Hsu -- they manage to be a whole hell of a lot less annoying than those women from Mr. Nice Guy, who I was actually hoping might get killed at some point just so they'd shut the hell up. Min Jeong Kim is a bad actress, and Vivian Hsu is just sort of there, but at least neither of them grated and annoyed. When it comes to female sidekicks in a Jackie Chan film, about the best you can hope for is that they won't drive you insane, and neither of the gals here ever got that bad and whiny.

The director of the film, Teddy Chan, is someone I expect great things from. He's one of the big names behind what I hope will prove to be the rebirth of the Hong Kong film industry. With films like Purple Storm and Downtown Torpedoes under his belt -- both of which I thought were tremendous amounts of fun -- he seems heading down the right path. In Accidental Spy he shows the most skill at figuring out how to direct Jackie since Sammo Hung or Jackie himself. Stanley Tong was amazing at making Jackie seem dull and lackluster, which must take a lot of work. Benny Chan (another name I expect to deliver big things) did pretty good with Who Am I, which I've already pointed out is very similar to this film. Teddy Chan seems to click best out of any of the new guys working with Chan. The film has good pacing, and Teddy knows when to lay off the "directing" and just let Jackie do his stuff. He manages to use the camera to augment Jackie's skills while covering up the fact that the guy is slowing down and can't perform like he used to.

Also of no

Jackie Chan is back in Hong Kong. This international feature, shot in Korea, Turkey, and Hong Kong, has Chan travelling the world and fighting his way through the bad guys. One hilarious fight has Chan fighting (gasp?!) naked. While trying to cover himself up, he fights Turkish bad guys who want the Anthrax II as they assume Chan has it. In another interesting fight, Chan fights JC Stuntman Brad Allan in a car while the car is driven by the film's villain, Zen. Of course, the leading ladies of the film are beautiful. Vivian Hsu (who is dating former Luna Sea guitar player Sugizo) and Korean-born Kim Min Jeong are gorgeous in this film. However, the biggest flaw of the film is the finale. Many expecting a final Jackie Chan fightfest will be extremely disappointed. Instead, the film pays an homage to the Hollywood blockbuster Speed. Other than that, the film was somewhat enjoyable, but as mentioned don't expect a fightfest in the ending, which was the most disappointing thing. Anyway, the film will have a USA release on January 4, 2002, with distribution from Dimension.

Jackie plays Buck Yuen, a gym equipment salesman, who receives unexpected fame when he foils a bank robbery in an explosive stunt filled start to the movie. Unusually Jackie's character is just a normal guy (albeit one who can fight) rather than a multi-millionaire, secret agent, television personality or treasure hunter. The fame brings Buck to the attention of a seedy private detective (Eric Tsang) who has been contracted to track down the orphaned son of a dying millionaire. Buck himself was an orphan and his date of birth and circumstances make him a possible candidate. Making the journey to a Korean prison to meet the man who may or may not be his father, Buck soon realises that things are not all they seem and that he himself is in great danger. To find out more Buck has to travel to Turkey where most of the movie is set.

The story, while being pretty far fetched, is still quite intelligent and hangs together a lot better than in some of Jackie's recent movies. For once it doesn't leave the impression that the story was made up as they went along, which has certainly been the case in the past. The look of the movie is also very accomplished in terms of camerawork and acting. Eric Tsang steals the show on the acting front and its a shame that his role is little more than a cameo. The Western actors are all fairly competent so there are no scenes that make you want to cringe.

While the film is peppered with fight scenes the overall impression I got was that it was more stunt/action led than martial arts. Many of the fight scenes seem to rely on Jackie's acrobatics rather than martial arts techniques but they are still quite fun. A couple of examples include a fight with Brad Allen in the back seat of a moving convertible and one in a crowded lift. Neither of these scenes give much scope for the viewer to see properly executed martial arts techniques as there is much use of fast-editing.

Probably my favourite scene in the whole movie begins with a fight in a Turkish bath and turns into a chase through the streets of Istanbul with Jackie completely stark naked. The fight sees him put as much effort into keeping his privates covered as defending himself from attack. Of course this scene provides plenty of opportunity for comedy.

With any action movie its usually the climax that leaves the overall lasting impression and sadly this is where 'The Accidental Spy' blows it big time. Not only did the ending seem tagged on and rather irrelevant to the plot but it was also more than a little reminiscent (if not a blatant rip off) of another famous American action movie. Also I think Jackie fans will always feel short changed by the decision to end the movie with a big stunt instead of a big fight.

Still, if you go in expecting an enjoyable action movie then you'll probably have a good time.