Famed screen actor and martial artist Jackie Chan needs little introduction. Chan has over 1.25 billion fans from China, and is adored in the West as well, with millions wishing to attain the level of superstardom he finds himself at. With Chan’s range of stunts and habit of clowning, he has managed to garner appreciation from every corner of the globe due to his unique combination of comedy and action. Robin-B-Hood is the 3rd film Chan has worked on with Benny Chan after his 1998 Classic, Who Am I? and 2004s Police Story reboot New Police Story. These modern Hong Kong movies differ greatly from Chan’s earlier works, as they take on a different tone and are more inclined towards what Chan was looking to achieve with his career, which was more serious acting.
‘Robin-B-Hood‘ marks a movie that is at the center of the ‘triumvirate’ for Jackie Chan that initiated after he completed ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ where he challenged himself by taking on three consecutive different roles to establish himself as an actor rather than a performer. The question is, does this transformation merit success?
The plot premise is underdetailed, but both Chans anticipate that character interplay will add some emotional aspects. Jackie is a thief named Thongs, whose life is carefree as his two accomplices, Octopus and Landlord, are oiling him. Thongs is a compulsive gambler who blows it all while avoiding his loan sharks.
Octopus is the youngest in the trio and he decides to spend the money he has to live lavishly, wining and dining with elite socialites and driving a Ferrari that he can never pay for. The final partner, Landlord, is the eldest and he skips the upper-class lifestyle to only hide all his stolen money in preparation for his retirement. When one day he is robbed of all his life savings, he agrees to take on a very dangerous and morally questionable job that is even out of place for these thieves, giving him an ample reward. Both his criminal partners took a hit on their finances and wanted a way out so they jumped at the chance of earning easy money, The Landlord was not able to elaborate on how much contraband was needed.
At this point in the story and in the film, some may begin to lose their faith in the director’s credibility and in the narrative. This hapless trio has to kidnap a child and hand it over to the child’s grandfather. The landlord thoroughly explains to the younger members what they are supposed to do at this particular location, but for some reason, they just want to take care of business. As a result, they are shocked to learn that the plan involves capturing a child instead of robbing a bank and stealing jewels and expensive items. If the intention was to make these two characters Thongs and Octopus more likable, then this step in the story works. It, however, does make the story less believable but Chan has mentioned that he wishes to portray different characters. His intention for this particular story as stated earlier is to be a villain. Whether intended or not, this does allow the character in Chan to redeem himself and take away the picture that he is an unscrupulous, morally challenged individual with a gambling problem in a desperate situation like many others trying to turn a quick dollar, which is the quite clear angle in my opinion.
By this point, Thongs and Octopus are having some struggles with burglary cleanup. There is a not so pleasant impression and Landlord is crying for the cash he needs.
They took out a male character, but then this became The Eastern version of Three Men and a Baby, which includes high-kicks. The midsection of this already too-long film is dedicated to and I cannot stress this enough trying to figure out the humor in this. The stereotypes of two grown men failing to prepare powdered milk and the utter contempt for changing a nappy are presented in the most sinister way possible. Feces are no doubt deemed as funny in some fashion, but there are so many instances in which having a dirty nappy used as a weapon takes away any kind of impact. Watching a child’s feces scraped across someone’s face isn’t exactly a joyous experience and makes the viewer sick in a way that one hopes to not ever put their eye on a chicken Korma. One can wear themselves out thinking of these tired stereotypes of men incompetent in taking care of a child, and one gets nothing that one seeks in a Jackie Chan movie.
The originality picked from this theme is not only negligible but also strays quite a bit from any sense of comedic success.
If more serious roles have begun to appear, we must ask ourselves whether Chan is capable of portraying raw emotion. Well, there are some scenes in which he performs decently, so with a little luck, this might have worked well in another movie. The concern is less about Chan’s capability, and more in the construction and rhythm of the piece as it ceases to be a breezy comic romp or an introspective drama, and instead ends up as something completely in between. To achieve any depth in the more nuanced and darker scenes which delve into the trio’s motivation for their crimes and what brought them to this, there is just too much light-hearted gaggery. This shift to a more serious and powerful portrayal also works the other way. When the glee of flying jumps is portrayed at such levels, finding laughter is hard. It is conclusive that during performances, Chan might sound as if he is unhappy with his category, especially in the western region of the kingdom where brightly clad stunts full of well-orchestrated and fun physical comedy action drips in thick layers. Nonetheless, this somber vein is indeed where his real strength lies.
I have no doubt that he has the capacity to perform, however, to let him do what he does best, which is masterful choreography and comedic timing, in a piece that attempts to do more such as this one, does neither side any justice. Even so, Chan has sparks of brilliance in both skill sets, but tired concepts, a dearth of action set pieces in light of the ridiculously long duration of the movie, and a non-consistent pace that stems from this bizarre combination, means a movie that takes too long to deliver its message and does so in a manner that is unbelievable and poorly executed.
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