MR. NICE GUY (1998)
A film review by Steve Kong Edited by Cher Johnson Copyright 1998 Steve Kong
When watching Jackie Chan's previous films I have always said to myself, "Boy, Jackie would have a big hit if he were to do a film with no plot or story but action from start to finish. Why insert these mindless plots?" Mr. Nice Guy is just the film I was hoping for, but it is also just the film I was not hoping for.
Plot? What plot? In Mr. Nice Guy, Jackie Chan plays a TV celebrity chef, Jackie. A news reporter accidentally leaves Jackie with a videotape that two opposing mob groups want. The mob groups try to get the tape back from Jackie. Enough plot, let's get to the action.
Mr. Nice Guy is filled with action scenes, but most of them don't work for one reason. I love Jackie Chan films because of the stark honesty of the action sequences: no overuse of slow-mo or quick cutting to cover up stunts. Unfortunately, in Mr. Nice Guy there is a heavy dose of both and not only does it take away from the honesty (and thrill) of the stunts, it gets downright annoying at times. The slow-mo is used in all the wrong occasions-do we really need a slow-mo Jackie running down a street yelling "Miki"? Do we need the quick cuts and unintelligible shaky-camera technique during the action sequences? No. It's been shown in previous Jackie Chan films that we don't need these fancy camera tricks-all we need is Jackie.
Mr. Nice Guy is a less than average Jackie Chan film. There is less plot than his previous films and contrary to what I thought, this is actually detrimental to the film. Now, I think that Jackie Chan films should have a little more plot than did Mr. Nice Guy-I also think that there should be a 90 minute film of just the outtake of previous Chan films. For Mr. Nice Guy, the end outtakes are the best thing in the film. As much as I love very amiable Jackie Chan and his films, I'd have to say, skip Mr. Nice Guy. Jackie has done better than this.
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steve kong reviews@boiled.sbay.org
reviews from a guy who loves the cinema
http://boiled.sbay.org/boiled/
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