I've watched The Spy Next Door on Friday evening. I have expected it to be a typical family movie that can meant for both children and adults. It has indeed turned out to be so. On hindsight, I think that is it actually difficult to make such a movie a good and satisfying one. The very fact that everyone knows what will Jackie be up to in a movie. I mean, he is Jackie Chan afterall.The action scenes in the movie are the very typical Jackie Chan style that were commonly seen in his movies in the 90s. Same old tricks but applied on different tools. There was no life-threatening scene as compare to his older films. I am not sure is it an age issue or a change of style. I do remember reading from somewhere that Jackie did hope to go into more acting than action in a movie. Sometimes, the problem with actor like him is that Jackie is definitely being overly stereotyped.
For me, when I view a movie, I see action and fighting as seperate discipline. Besides the martial arts movies that Jackie was involved in his earlier years, his fighting style in his recent movies have been the same. Despite this, I find that Jackie has compensated very well because of that the actions are very compact. Jackie definitely still has a niche in action choreography. I have always find Jackie's actions to be awesome. How he can fully utilise daily items as an edge over an his opponents in a fight for cinematic effects.
Jackie has changed. I sincerely appreciate his change. Instead of the usual saving the distress damsel plot in a family movie setting, this time round Jackie has to protect three children. It is not just about fighting off villians, okay that comes at the latter part of the movie, but how Jackie tried to please and taking good care of them. This makes the dynamics more complex because it is no longer one-to-one but one-to-three, with each children having their own problems in relating and accepting Jackie to be their stepfather in the movie.
Not forgetting that Jackie works hard to speak English in the movie. Damn, he's probably speaking better English than I do now. I bet Jackie doesn't know Singlish. I also like the part where he sang a Chinese lullaby to the coax the small girl into her lala land. I just couldn't help but to remember in one of Jackie's interview with a German talk show, he claimed to be the best singer among the action stars. He's funny.
At the end of the show, I was surprised to find myself more interested in Jackie's drama performance in this movie than his actions. Just before the credits rolled into the screen, various no-good take scenes were shown and that is so typical of Jackie Chan's style! And I like that!
Anyway, a new Jackie Chan movie is coming in June and I can't wait to watch. The new movie is produced by Will Smith and stars Jackie and Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith. Yes, it is The Karate Kid. Till now, the title of the movie seems to have been contested by some people. This is because instead of the original American kid learning Japanese Karate (honoured to be from Okinawa), the movie version is having him learning Chinese martial arts. Who knows will the title be changed again as the date draws nearer? Anyway, this upcoming movie also stars Yu Rongguang (于榮光). Sad to say is I am unable to find a proper website that tells his bio! I think he is one of the lasting and good supporting actor. You can catch a glimpse of him in the trailer. He slaps Jackie on his chest. That's the guy!
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