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122 reviews in total

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23 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
Entertaining, Fast-Paced Genre Melder, 13 January 2005

Author: Brandt Sponseller from New York City

Every 1000 years a child is born who can wield the power of two halves of a supernatural medallion, which can bestow superhuman strength and immortality, as well as take life away. Snakehead (Julian Sands), your typical crook with world domination ambitions, has discovered the identity of a modern-day chosen child, and pursues him. Meanwhile, Hong Kong police detective Eddie Yang (Jackie Chan) and Interpol agents Arthur Watson (Lee Evans) and Nicole James (Claire Forlani) have been pursuing Snakehead because of his criminal activities, and stumble into the grander scheme.

While The Medallion is certainly not a film without flaws, it is satisfying on the whole if you approach it as a comic book/cartoon-styled Jackie Chan actioner. The film combines even more genres than that, actually, and there are times when it seems almost to be a spoof of James Bond-styled thrillers. There are also more straightforward comedy elements--especially when Evans is on screen, the film almost becomes a slapstick farce--there are Matrix-styled fantasy/action aspects, and there is a romance subplot. On top of all of that, The Medallion moves very quickly. Director Gordon Chan packs a lot of information into the film and barely pauses for a breath--if you blink, you're likely to miss some bit of crucial action, a plot point, or a joke.

In short, it's a complex stew of different genres, with a mixture of adult themes and childlike lightheartedness, wrapped in a dense mythology of fantasy and served at a non-stop, breakneck pace. Undoubtedly, those qualities will turn off a great deal of viewers, whether because they hate MTV/attention-deficit-disorder-styled editing, genre hopping or a lack of real-world believability. I don't mind any of those qualities, and in fact I tend to prefer films that forgo realism.

I only had two small complaints about The Medallion. One, it took me a few scenes to get up to speed with the film, both plot-wise and in terms of style. Once I got into the groove, though, I didn't want the film to stop--enough that my second complaint is that the film was too short (and in general, I strongly dislike the fact that most films seem to be forced by studios to end within 90 minutes). I wanted to see more of these characters, especially Evans, who stole most of the scenes he appeared in. Jackie Chan fans seeking a return to films that are solely kung fu-oriented will likely be disappointed, but if you have broader tastes, The Medallion might hit the spot. An 8 out of 10 from me.

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15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Fun fantasy, and not much else, 17 March 2005

Author: AwesomeWolf from Australia

It has taken Jackie Chan about 27 years, a good 60 movies or so, and a few near death experiences for him to decide that he can start making movies that don't regularly involve certain death, thanks to CGI. The results are not so good. In fact, I'll just say it: 'The Medallion' is a terrible action movie.

Jackie plays Eddie Yang, a Hong Kong detective chasing a villain named Snakehead (those villains and their crazy names). Snakehead, like all Hong Kong villains is actually English, so when he kidnaps a boy with the power to control The Medallion, Yang follows him to Ireland to reclaim the Medallion and find the child (who just goes to prove, that even if you live in a Buddhist temple in a sewer below Hong Kong, you can still learn to speak perfect English with an English accent).

Seems like 'The Golden Child'? Why yes, yes it does. Its a fun fantasy movie for kids, but anyone wanting to watch an action movie should watch this up until a short cameo appearance by Sammo Hung and then turn it off very quickly. Now I'm not a fan of CGI action, but I assumed that with Jackie Chan starring and Sammo Hung directing the action - two action masters - could still pull of some entertaining action scenes. Apparently not, as 'The Medallion' is only marginally better than, oh, say 'Charlie's Angels 2'.

Fun for kids, but action fans should avoid entirely. I'm being generous when I give this 5/10.

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17 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Too Painful to Watch, Too Loud to Sleep Through, 20 September 2003

Author: BangPing from Michigan

In 3 words, awful, awful, awful.

I began watching Jackie Chan movies because it was SO cool that anyone could move like that. He didn't need the stuntmen, he didn't need the CGI, he was just that good. Plus, his movies had a sense of humor that was subtle enough to be funny without feeling you were being hit in the head with a 2x4.

And now this travesty of a movie. The action scenes? CGI'd up to the point that Ben Affleck could pull 'em off. The comedy? Lame, and forced.

As I sat in shell-shocked silence at the end of the movie (having tried desperately yet unsuccessfully several times throughout to go to sleep), all I could wonder is, what was Jackie Chan thinking? :(

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20 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
One of Jackie's worst!, 3 January 2004
Author: Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC

They had $35 million or so dollars to make this movie! If you've seen plenty of Hong Kong movies like I have, you know they are able to stretch a dollar to incredible levels. So you might think that this would be the Hong Kong movie to rule over all others.

Think again! The first and obvious mistake they made was having Jackie using wirework and other special effects. Huh? Did they somehow forget that Jackie made a name for himself by NOT using wirework and special effects? Plus, you could see that he was taking real risks by not using that stuff, so his antics were more thrilling and entertaining as a result. Also, ANYONE could have easily done what Jackie did in this movie because of all the special effects work - so what was the point of hiring Jackie?

Even with all the money and time put into these action sequences, they are a mess. The editing gives us a different shot every millisecond or so, making it hard to get a handle on the action. (Also, the camera was a lot closer to the action than in Jackie's other movies, so much so that even seeing the movie in widescreen still makes it confusing at times.) Look at Jackie's other movies - the camera stays back, and the editing is kept to a minimum. We see everything of the action in those movies, and the minimum editing prevents any breaks in building excitement.

Speaking of editing, the American editors did a TERRIBLE job altering it for North American audiences. The story makes no sense, with even a lot of the minor details not being explained. (For example, the surprise revelation of Watson's wife.) The DVD contains a number of deleted scenes, though watching them clears up very little of the confusion - in fact, the deleted scenes just reveal new murky details that add MORE confusion! I suspect there were a number of other scenes cut that did explain things better, but that were left out by Sony in perhaps embarrassing realization their American editors did a terrible job.

But even with a story that would make no sense, this would still be tough going, not just with the mishandled action scenes but also because of the movie's incredibly bad sense of humor. Particularly with Lee Evans' character, who is unbelievably annoying - at least the editors showed SOME sense by cutting out some of his painful scenes. So even if you have a region-free DVD machine and are a die-hard fan of Jackie, I strongly suggest you don't even pick up the Asian DVD release of this movie when it comes out!

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Jackie Chan movies are becoming their own genre, 23 December 2003

Author: yossarian100 from usa

Seriously light hearted and filled with wonderful stunts and fight choreography, The Medallion is about as entertaining as an action adventure movie can be. I loved Charlie's Angels because it was fun and loaded with action and The Medallion is no different. You know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with pure entertainment. Anyway, Jackie Chan is backed up by Claire Forlani, who does an "Angels" class job with her character, and the side splitting comedy of Lee Evans as the bumbling Interpol inspector Watson. Julian Sands plays a really good bad guy, as always. By the way, does Julian Sands seem to be getting younger? I mean, he's been making movies for a long time and he certainly doesn't appear to be getting any older. Maybe he should do The Portrait Of Dorian Gray for his next film.

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6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
It Almost Worked!!, 23 August 2003
Author: jrat6200 (jrat6200@yahoo.com) from San Antonio, Texas

Being a long time fan of Hong Kong cinema and a big Jackie Chan fan, I had high hopes for The Medallion. Shanghai Knights was pretty good. When I saw the trailer for The Medallion, it showed Jackie performing as usual plus the cgi crap. But, I wanted to give it a chance. A lot of film experts and other sources of information gave insight into the movie, and it received a lot of promotion. I thought Jackie would return to his original style in this one considering his age. I'm going to look at two perspectives of film, the pros and cons.

PROS - There were two action scenes where Jackie doesn't do any wire martial arts nor requires cgi involvement during the first half of the movie. Given the fact that Jackie is reaching 50, he can still get down. The female lead was great. Claire Forlani exceeded my expectations of the female character, and her acting wasn't really bad either. She gets to do some martial arts herself (couldn't stand Jennifer Love Hewitt in The Tuxedo egh!!!). Lee Evans provides the comic relief along Jackie's martial arts and stunt work. I liked the way Hong Kong and American filmmakers collaborated to do the film. Look out for veteran Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong in a supporting role as the bad guy.

CONS - The cgi incorporated into the film just didn't do it for me. Filmmakers can't use cgi for everything. I'm tired of seeing people running through trees and jumping over things that's not possible in reality. The plot in the film had to many holes and seemed to be rushed at times. Jackie's acting didn't seem to fair well including the chemistry between him and Claire. It seemed to dull. Julian Sands wasted his time in this film. Hope he takes this as a lesson learned. Bey Logan's writing skills needs a brush up before he can continue on in my opinion. I hope he doesn't utilize the same form in the upcoming movie, Kung Fu Master. The mystical kid in the movie annoyed me too much, and he only said two sentences throughout the whole movie. Repeating the Golden Child theme is just ridiculous.

All in all, the movie was alright. Compared to Jackie's recent American releases, this better than The Tuxedo but less than Shanghai Knights. Jackie doesn't have to take every movie offer he can. Take a break and come back with the Police Story series or something. This is a type of movie that can only be seen once or twice if you want to consider your judgement about the movie.

My final vote 6/10

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
'Medallion' doesn't score high with other Chan movies, but it's fun enough and better than his bomb 'The Tuxedo', 23 December 2003
Author: kibler@adelphia.net (jere816@verizon.net) from PA

Medallion, The - Hong Kong detective, while hot on the heels of a megalomaniac bad guy, dies after an accident to save a young Chinese boy known as `the chosen one', but is resurrected by the boy's supernatural medallion that grants him immortality and invincibility. Chan's physical grace is still intact while the large-scale martial arts moves are replaced more than augmented with cartoonish special effects. The English dubbing is typically shoddy and the script witless (with much credit due to Evans' idiotic ways), but the movie is an OK, nondescript diversion. ** ½

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Bemusing and agreeable film with super Jackie Chan, 29 November 2004

Author: ma-cortes from Santander Spain

The movie centers about a police agent (Jackie Chan)who will confront against an evil baddie (Julian Sands) by the possession a medallion with extraordinary power. Chan and others agents (Claire Forlani and Lee Evans)will must face off nasties who are waiting rule over world and obtain eternal youth , but the medallion is carried by a boy and he hands over one halve to Jackie Chan.

Since the start until end action pace is interminable ,the movie is fast moving and for that reason is amusing and isn't boring neither tiring. The film blends intrigue , humor, pursuits ,frenetic action,struggles and is amount entertaining. In spite of it, this comedy/action picture failed in the box office and was a true flop.

The action by Jackie Chan is by means of special effects FX and strings to difference others films that he's the stunt. The motion picture has a certain likeness to ¨the Tuxedo¨ similar in extreme powers of Jackie such as : thanks to the 'medallion' and 'tuxedo'. While in the first Jennifer Love Hewitt played as ¨buddy movie¨ couple with Jackie Chan, here plays along with Claire Forlani.

The final showdown between the starring and nasties contenders is astounding and overwhelming although there are deal computer generator FX. The yarn will like action-packed buffs and Jackie Chan fans.

Rating: Average 5/10

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
What a waste of Lee Evans!, 5 May 2004
Author: sarahcyn from London, England

What a dreadful movie. Even my children were bored. I thought the point of Jackie Chan was that he did his own stunts? Isn't that his main claim to fame? So what is the point of having half the film devoted to boring CGI stuff with people flying around and disappearing in puffs of smoke and so on? And if you are going to hire a REAL genius like Lee Evans for your comic relief, why not use him properly, let him do his own thing, instead of making him adopt a silly I-say-old-boy accent and utter lamentable lines? It's a shame as Jackie Chan comes over very appealingly on screen, he has a genuinely warm and affable screen presence. The romantic element is especially embarrassing. The film looks as though it's been chopped about like chicken livers to end up with an incomprehensible plot of no interest whatsoever.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Jackie Chan is the Man!, 23 November 2008

Author: g-bodyl from United States

I liked this movie even though there are way too many holes in the film. If you compare this movie to the Rush Hour movies or Shanghai Noon, you will probably hate this film. I saw this movie with a laidback mind and expecting nothing more than a fun action movie. That is what I got. The story is about a medallion that has two halves. Each half gives superhuman strength to the user, but you have to be dead first. If the halves are combined, you get immortality. Now Chan and his gang of Interpol cops must keep the medallion and the user, a kid away from the people who want to use the medallion for bad. Jackie Chan is very clever in this film. He acts well and adds a bit of comedy. Claire Forlani also did a great job. Lee Evans was so-so. He can be a bit annoying. The special effects sucked. A rule of advice is never add CGI to a Jackie Chan movie. It will make that movie bad. What is the point of the cat meowing? It made the movie even worse. Overall, this is a good family film, even though it's a bit cheesy. I rate this movie 9/10.

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