Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Chinese Zodiac

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Horace Cordier
    Senior Member

  • Chinese Zodiac



    Released by: Universal Studios
    Released on: March 25th, 2014.
    Director: Jackie Chan
    Cast: Jackie Chan, Oliver Platt, Kwone Sang Woo, Liao Fan, Yao Xingtong
    Year: 2013
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    CHINESE ZODIAC is Jackie Chan's follow up to his two very popular ARMOR OF GOD films. Since the last of these was in 1991 it's safe to say that this film was eagerly awaited. Chan also made a big point of saying in various interviews that this film would be a throwback to his earlier heavily action-oriented days. Basically the middle-aged star's lad hurrah.

    Unfortunately the film itself is a major disappointment due to its weak script, often poor cgi and iffy acting. The film begins very strongly with a chase sequence introducing the character Hawk (Chan) - a retrieval expert hired by to find missing historical artifacts. Like a piece out of a Bond movie, Hawk flees a massive industrial complex using a special suit that has various wheels built into it. He zips up, down and under just about anything you can think of. It's a very fun scene and quite exciting.

    The artifacts Hawk is after are ancient Chinese bronze heads that have been stolen. Businessman Lawrence Morgan (Oliver Platt) has hired Hawk and his team to retrieve the various heads from all over the world. This happens to put Hawk in conflict with a woman named Coco (Yao Xing Tong) - who believes that these priceless artifacts belong in the hands of their rightful and historic homeland, not the highest bidder.

    A weird, and slightly jarring nationalistic subtext runs through the film leading to sometimes preachy speeches. These tend to gum up the works in an action film. Chan has also naturally lost some of his physical abilities with age (he's pushing 60) so the camera tricks and wire work are sometimes obvious. Platt is wasted and nondescript and lacking menace. Chan's team members and costars are alternately dull and invisible or in the case of Coco's insufferable sanctimony, pure agony to watch.

    Chan himself continues to exude true star presence however. Much of his stardom has always been predicated on his immense physical skills, but the man has a genuine and extremely likable persona on screen. Warm, funny and nice without being stilted, Chan's body may be slowing down but his charisma is still fully intact.

    While the film is paced to deliver "big" action set pieces at regular intervals, these become less and less impressive. The volcano bit is so over-cgi'd as to become embarrassing and having silly stereotypes like pirates running around in a jungle sequence is just goofy. And not in a good way. CHINESE ZODIAC had a very good budget and the luxury of extensive worldwide locations. Pity it couldn't have been better.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    CHINESE ZODIAC is presented in a very strong 2.35.1 AVC 1080p encoded transfer from Universal. Colors are mixed very "hot" in the film, but once that intentional choice is acclimated to, the rest of the visual fundamentals are solid. As expected from a digitally shot feature with a healthy budget, black levels are good and fine detail excellent.

    Sound is provided solely by an English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio Track that represents a bit of a blunder. Since the actors in the film's international cast are speaking a variety of languages, there is a lot of dubbing involved. Some of it is frankly amateurish. Having some alternate language options like Cantonese would have been advisable. Technically the track is fine though. Dialog is crisp and well situated, LFE and surround used effectively, and overall track presence sound.

    The only extra is an hour long documentary about the making of the film. This is an interesting piece, with Chan coming off particularly well. It's informative and interesting and frankly better than the film - especially when he pulls back the curtain on some of the action set pieces in the movie.

    The Final Word:

    Really only for Jackie Chan fanatics, CHINESE ZODIAC is a failed opportunity.


    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!




















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X