Susan Granger’s review of “The Medallion” (Columbia Tri-Star)
So here’s the premise: once every thousand years, a small boy will join the two halves of a mystical medallion and acquire not only its infinite strength but the power of giving immortality. Hong Kong police inspector Eddie Yang (Jackie Chan) is given the task of retrieving this Chosen Child (Alexander Bao) who has been kidnapped from a Buddhist temple by Snakehead (Julian Sand), a villainous smuggler who’s determined to dominate the world. As part of Yang’s daring rescue, both he and the boy are trapped in a shipping container at the bottom of Hong Kong Harbor. While saving the boy, Yang drowns – only to be brought back to life, thanks to the talisman. And the reincarnated Eddie Yang possesses new strength and speed, illustrated by the kind of special effects that are usually saved for not-so-skilled wannabe martial artists a la “The Matrix.” I know Jackie Chan’s pushing 50, but his fans are bound to be disappointed by the obvious digital enhancement of the stunts. It’s a mockery of what Chan’s fans expect from him. Writers Bennett Joshua Davlin, Alfred Cheung, Gordon Chan and Paul Wheeler should have recalled that the curiously similar concept of “The Golden Child” was Eddie Murphy’s first flop. But this is a Hong Kong production by director Gordon Chan (no relation to Jackie) with action sequences staged by Sammo Hung. Actually, this film made headlines in Hong Kong as the first movie in which Jackie Chan kisses the leading lady – Claire Forlani – but that’s one of its most insipid sequences, topped only by Lee Evans and John Rhys-Davies as clichŽ Interpol agents. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Medallion” is an acrobatic, escapist 4, destined for a quick trip to video.
