Vanguard. (15.)
Directed by Stanley Tong.
Starring Jackie Chan, Yang Yang, Lun Ai, Miya Muqi, Ruohan Xu and Jackson Lou. Subtitled Mandarin and dubbed English. VOD Jan 8th/ Blu-ray and DVD Jan 11th.108 mins.
What is truly remarkable about Jackie Chan is not that he's still risking life and limb doing his own stunts at the age of 66 (the end credit outtakes show him being rescued after being pinned down underwater by an overturned jet ski) but that he's been a global superstar for over four decades appearing almost exclusively in rubbish films. This latest sees Chan, who is beginning to resemble Ronnie Corbett, as the boss of a private Chinese espionage/ protection agency, Vanguard, run out of an office high up in London's Walkie Talkie skyscraper.
Chan still helps out with the punch ups but most of the hard graft is done by his young team as they take on evil arms dealers and fast lane bling jihadists. The globe-trotting plot apes Mission Impossible but its taste in location and set pieces is more Fast And Furious: the action is a mix of sprightly fisticuffs and the overkill deployment of military hardware, while the climax is a chase through Dubai in gold cars. It's a glossy, high-end enterprise, let down by some horrendous, cheapskate CGI. A stretch limo reversing at high speed around the corner of Hyde Park is an early low point.
Directed by Stanley Tong.
Starring Jackie Chan, Yang Yang, Lun Ai, Miya Muqi, Ruohan Xu and Jackson Lou. Subtitled Mandarin and dubbed English. VOD Jan 8th/ Blu-ray and DVD Jan 11th.108 mins.
What is truly remarkable about Jackie Chan is not that he's still risking life and limb doing his own stunts at the age of 66 (the end credit outtakes show him being rescued after being pinned down underwater by an overturned jet ski) but that he's been a global superstar for over four decades appearing almost exclusively in rubbish films. This latest sees Chan, who is beginning to resemble Ronnie Corbett, as the boss of a private Chinese espionage/ protection agency, Vanguard, run out of an office high up in London's Walkie Talkie skyscraper.
Chan still helps out with the punch ups but most of the hard graft is done by his young team as they take on evil arms dealers and fast lane bling jihadists. The globe-trotting plot apes Mission Impossible but its taste in location and set pieces is more Fast And Furious: the action is a mix of sprightly fisticuffs and the overkill deployment of military hardware, while the climax is a chase through Dubai in gold cars. It's a glossy, high-end enterprise, let down by some horrendous, cheapskate CGI. A stretch limo reversing at high speed around the corner of Hyde Park is an early low point.
