Review: 'Skiptrace' is exasperatingly annoying
What have Bennie (Jackie Chan) and Connor (Johnny Knoxville) done in “Skiptrace?” (Shaw Organisation)
Secret ending? No, but there’s a bloopers reel in the credits.
Running time: 107 minutes (~1.75 hours)
“Skiptrace” is an action comedy about a disgraced Hong Kong police officer and supposedly charming American conman who have to team up against a diabolical threat. They find themselves crossing Mongolia together in the process. It stars Jackie Chan (Bennie Chan), Fan Bingbing (Samantha), and Johnny Knoxville (Connor Watts). It is rated PG.
It’s amazing how exasperatingly annoying Johnny Knoxville can be, especially when he’s forced to be smarmy and charming. “Skiptrace” dredges up every East vs West stereotype in the book and throws it at the audience in the form of what are presumably jokes that fall flat at every turn. It’s a dismal Jackie Chan buddy film that offers nothing besides a different Western face.
Driving you crazy in “Skiptrace.” (Shaw Organisation)
Highlights
Surprisingly touching twist at the end
For a film that’s so predictable, “Skiptrace” does provide us with a decent surprise in Act Three, on top of which another surprise appears. While the twist actually doesn’t make sense if you think about it, the way that it’s handled provides closure for the film, and is one of the few redeeming aspects of the movie.
The duo in “Skiptrace.” (Shaw Organisation)
Letdowns
Everyone speaks English
The Hong Kongers, the Russians, every nationality seems to conveniently speak in English, as heavily accented as it might be. This would not be a problem if not for the fact that Bennie (Jackie Chan) and Samantha (Fan Bingbing) converse in Mandarin with each other when they’re alone. It’s an odd inconsistency that explicitly caters to an English speaking audience, when subtitles would have worked just as well.
Slapstick antics
Would you find Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville in traditional Mongolian garb singing Adele in the Gobi desert particularly funny? The writers certainly seem to think so, and make every effort to put them in increasingly ludicrous situations, like dropping Johnny Knoxville down an industrial chute or having him doused in mud. The cheesy shenanigans of the main characters remain stuck in perpetual immaturity, like we’re watching a pair of children stuck in adult bodies.
Disappointing action
The set pieces seem more like an excuse to make as many things explode as possible, rather than thrill you with well-choreographed fights. It chucks aside Jackie Chan’s skills in favour of yet another collapsing structure. So if you’re watching “Skiptrace” in the hope of seeing him execute fluid martial arts moves, you’ll be sorely disappointed at the fights in the film.
Flimsy excuse of a plot
There’s no plot. It’s just a thread of pathetic reasons to get the two main characters away from Hong Kong and Macau, so they can make their way back – on foot. And this is so they can trek through scenic locations and showcase all the wonderfully diverse cultures the world has to offer, who all happen to conveniently converse in English. It’s such a transparent ploy to get them to hiking to Mongolia that you wonder if this should just have been a travelogue instead of an action comedy.
Samantha (Fan Bingbing) and Bennie in “Skiptrace.” (Shaw Organisation)
“Skiptrace” is one of Jackie Chan’s most banal films.
Should you watch this if it’s free? OK.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? No.
Score: 2.0/5
“Skiptrace” opens in cinemas 22 July, 2016 (Friday).
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
