CZ12

Elizabeth Kerr started her review by saying, “The latest globetrotting romp by martial arts action star Jackie Chan, opening Dec. 20 in Hong Kong, is the kind of mindless, silly romp the multi-hyphenate has become known for. CZ12 (sometimes Chinese Zodiac) couldn’t be a more inauspicious swan song if he tried, if such rumors are to be believed.” As a mercenary tomb raider trying to find ancient Chinese sculptures Chan is starting to show his age. With the exception of one main fight sequence he leaves the larger load to his younger costars and depends on either green screen for his large moments – or does them from a standing position. That isn’t what we wanted to see when we watch a Chan film.

Kerr noted, “Clocking in at just over two hours and with a remarkable dearth of the martial acrobatics Chan is known for, there’s little to recommend the film for anyone other than Chan completists.” The film was released in 2012 in Hong Kong the same week as the better family films of “Wreck-It Ralph,” popular box office disaster of the last “Twilight” film, and only days before “Les Misérables.” Kerr said, “It’s going to be an uphill battle for this vehicle, particularly in light of recent comments in the press (“taken out of context” naturally) where Chan whined about Hongkongers being too quick to exert their right to free speech. It hasn’t endeared him to the public and a backlash wouldn’t be at all surprising.”

Still, it’s a Jackie Chan movie and his fans all over are legion. Kerr mentioned, “CZ12 is aggressively multi-national and designed for maximum market appeal: the cast hails form South Korea, China, the USA and France, is spoken in four languages and was shot in Paris, Taiwan and the South Pacific among others. Chan is still a brand even if it is a diminished one, and he broadened his reach when he went down the slapstick road with 1995’s Rumble in the Bronx (complete with Canada Post mailboxes visible in the background). The kids in the audience rarely stopped giggling, and so reasonably healthy box office returns should be expected in Asia where slapstick plays well, and the content will make it an enormous hit in China.” Overseas the film is going to have to depend on viewer concern and brand loyalty. “CZ12” should just go away from Chan’s work sooner rather than later.

As the leader of a clever group of Indiana Jones-type archeological crooks, JC, played by Chan, has a good living stealing rare antiquities from abandoned areas of the planet and giving them to auction houses. When the evil president of the MP Corporation (Oliver Pratt) hires him to find the last of the missing bronze zodiac animal heads from the old Summer Palace in Beijing, he meets the annoying, self-righteous Coco (Yao Xingtong), a member of an annoying, self-righteous activist group wanting to return national treasures to their rightful owners – which is mostly China. They end up on an island where a French woman that’s really going through a bad moment, Katherine, played by Laura Weissbecker, says her grandfather’s ship became stranded coming back from China. Kerr mentioned, “Great, more stolen treasure for Coco to get indignant about! After about five minutes of introspection JC finds his soul and decides to steal for the right reasons.”

Whatever someone believes about historical modesty and national rights, “CZ12” is not the place to debate that, and after the third lecture on the foreign raiders and auction houses that come from the 19^th century loots, the subject just becomes tiresome. Kerr said, “No matter how valid the argument, it’s cocooned inside some truly awful paint-by-numbers filmmaking with dull characters, wooden acting and at least two moments of dreadful compositing.” No one thinks Chan will come out with the next “Citizen Kane,” but we do look for a certain level of enjoyment. This is mostly lazy, with a lot of lapses in logic and continuity. A final warehouse fight with Lawrence’s henchman Vulture (Alaa Safi) in and around a sofa set and then a group of thugs is the creative highlight, however JC’s right hand Bonnie (Zhang Lanxin) and her opponent (Caitlin Dechelle) is far more enjoyment. Kerr noted, “If Chan were half the patriot he claims he is, he’d put his considerable resources as a producer into finding the next Jackie Chan; Jet Li is only slightly younger, leaving Donnie Yen as Hong Kong’s sole marital star.” If this ended up being Chan’s last movie it would have been easy to see why. Even the end credit outtakes were not enjoyable as the previous ones.

As you can see, I wasn’t really impressed with this film. As with a lot of other trilogies, this one is the black sheep of the trilogy. It is definitely one that I would not recommend, sadly, especially if you were fans of the last two movies. Sorry, but this is one that you can give a past, even though I think they are planning a sequel.

Well everyone, thank you for joining in on “Jackie Chan Month.” I hope everyone enjoyed it and stay tuned next month where I will look at a famous franchise that Jackie Chan starred in. Now I know I said this is the end of “Jackie Chan Month,” but that’s only because I want to review the franchise that he starred in. Stay tuned next month to find out which one I’m referring to.