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The Accidental Spy

The Accidental Spy

List Price: $14.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Accidental Twist
Review: A Jackie Chan film with a twist. Fab Story multy language and fantastic action ESPECIALLY the scene in which chan is being chased in the buff very inventive stuff. Do not want to give to much away. Chan plays an orphan named buck who travels to Korea in search of his father Events turn his attention to Exotic Turkey where meeting an assortment of characters Fighting him along the way. The Stunt at the end is where the major twist occurs say no more. The best all round film chan has done scince MIRACLES.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A mature Jackie Chan
Review: Although probably not Jackie Chan's best, it is right up there with them. It is a highly entertaining film, but at the same time is much more mature than most of his films so far.
First of all, the cinematography is probably better than Miracles, that was also very good by Jackie's standards. Then there is actually a plot! Yes, not only that, but it is quite entertaining, too. The main characters are well developed. Jackie's character, Bei, goes from being a bit lost to a focussed and purposeful. The "mysterious girl" (sic) Vivian Hsu, gives Bei a lot of his purpose, but ultimately comes to a tragic end. (Hey, this isn't a Hollywood happy-end film in all respects.) One feels that the other characters are more multi-facetted as well, even though the attention is mainly on these two.
But, this is a Jackie Chan film, where is the action? Answer: all over the place. There are the various stunts, that are perhaps not as spectacular as in his other movies, but are still impressive. Or, how does jump off a building with three parasols as parachutes sound like? No, don't try this at home! The ending stunt (and you can see from the outtakes that it is real) is stunning, although the ball of fire from the truck was obviously edited in. That faux-pas doesn't detract from the stunt itself.
However, the must-see scene is the fight/chase scene in the Turkish Market. It ranks right up there with the finale in Drunken Master I (and II), the bicycle chase scene in Project A, the chase over the roofs in Miracles, ... And then there are the other fight and chase scenes - you just have to see them.
I hope that we'll see more of this sort of thing. I think Chan is best in fights, and the stunts always impress me less. This film has a good balance of both and a plot and characterization, and perhaps only falls a bit flat on depth. But then, James Bond will have to do his homework to keep up with Jackie!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not the Jackie I'm acustomed to...
Review: Although this was a OK movie, I didn't like it that much. I maybe one of the few people that is saying this but as a long time Jackie Chan fan, this movie just was too serious to me. It was a lot like "Who Am I" except less humor and more guns. I actually bought the movie thinking it would be really good because of all the good reviews. I was a bit dissappointed. One thing I did like about it though was the fact that Vivian Hsu was in this movie and she is pretty good looking.. I kept focusing on her through out the movie.

I am actually looking forward to the movies Highbinders and The Tuxedo and hoping The Bellboy will also make it into production. Those seem more like a Jackie Chan film

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chan is still the man!
Review: Chan fans, this is a "must have"! How is Jackie able to keep coming up with so many fresh ideas for outrageous, clever stunts?
Any ONE of the many action sequences in "The Accidental Spy" is more thrilling and creative than an entire Hollywood action movie. There are MANY fights...just when you think things may fall into a lull, Jackie kicks it into gear again.
This Jackie film is a spy mystery with a puzzling plot (surprise). Though it can get a little dramatic at times, fear not! Jackie keeps things moving with plenty of humor and derring-do. The climactic stunt sequence alone is worth the price of purchase.
I bought the import with subtitles, so I can't speak about the editing or dubbing of an "Americanized" version. Some of the movie is in English. It rocks!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chan is still the man!
Review: Chan fans, this is a "must have"! How is Jackie able to keep coming up with so many fresh ideas for outrageous, clever stunts?
Any ONE of the many action sequences in "The Accidental Spy" is more thrilling and creative than an entire Hollywood action movie. There are MANY fights...just when you think things may fall into a lull, Jackie kicks it into gear again.
This Jackie film is a spy mystery with a puzzling plot (surprise). Though it can get a little dramatic at times, fear not! Jackie keeps things moving with plenty of humor and derring-do. The climactic stunt sequence alone is worth the price of purchase.
I bought the import with subtitles, so I can't speak about the editing or dubbing of an "Americanized" version. Some of the movie is in English. It rocks!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good story, tame action
Review: Contrary to the past reviews, the action in this movie is not up to Jackie's normal level for his Hong Kong films. Whether it is due to his age or time constraints, the quality of fight sequences are more on par with his American pictures (Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon). Don't expect any fights like the end of Who Am I? That being said, the story far exceeds any other movie Jackie has done. I was actually engaged by it (expect the nonsensical ending). And the big stunt at the end was pretty good. So, a bit disappointing form an action stand point, but a big plus on the story side.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Yes, This Is True Jackie, Action Film in His Style
Review: Finally! Now a truely international action hero of our era, Jackie Chan came back to Hong Kong movie. This is what he wants to do, and avid fans should not miss it!

Of course, the plot is only an excuse for involving him into a series of actions. But it is his action scenes that count. And "Accidental Spy" gives them to you.

This time we have two standout scenes, both of which take place in Turkey: one of them shows how Jackie escapes from thugs in spice market, stark naked (Yes, naked!!!), using various props you can think of in a lightening speed. Silly? Sure, but absolutely funny and hilarious, and I even respect him for doing that in a hot country, his body all over spices (think about how he felt)! The other comes at the end, in a "Speed"-like way, with a tank truck set on fire running on a bridge, and fans, you know what he is going to do? Of course, he jumps from there!

As in Jackie's movies made in Hong Kong, the script is weak and sometimes you have to sit through occasional slack. To be fair, the script of Ivy Ho, who is responsible for that of much inferior "Gorgeous," is better than you might expect, and I have no complaint about it. And true Jackie Chan fans should know that death-defying action is not a thing you can do every day. Naturally you want more, and more, and more (yeah, I understand), but think about it; 5 minutes of HIS action is always worth your money.

And lastly, as one of many Jackie fans in Japan, I believe this is his movie should be. I am ready to go to see another "Rush Hour" but it is a Hollywood-made, not-exactly-his-style work. Remember, "Accidental Spy" is clearly made with mainly Asian audience in mind (cast of Vivian Hsu, popular in Japan and Taiwan, and Min-jeong Kim, who comes from Korea, testifies to that) but this fact should not discourage any movie fans from seeing it. Just sit back, relax; get laughs, get thrills, and enjoy it. Just like we do.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: BATMAN
Review: First of all, I'd like to say that I love this movie. I had begun to lose faith in Jackie Chan after seeing some of his latest films like The Tuxedo and Shanghai Knights, but this film reminded me why I love him. The stunts are wonderful and very nicely choreographed. The camera work is tight and very nice. The writing is well above par for a Jackie Chan film.

The only thing about this film that bothers me is the DVD itself. Whoever made the cover for this DVD was on crack. You see the three other people on the cover besides Jackie Chan? Well, they're not in the film at all. I was waiting to see the silly blonde or the angry guy with the gun show up, but they weren't there. Not at all. Also, the copy on the back is full of flaws. There's several major differences between the copy and what actually happens in the film. Aside from the cover being horribly incorrect, there's no original language track option. That made me very sad. Also, there are absolutely no extras on this DVD. Unless you count a badly dubbed French language track as an extra. I know that I don't.

In conclusion, awesome film, terrible packaging and DVD. But the actual film is amazing. Pure Jackie Chan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Deceptive but Wonderful
Review: First of all, I'd like to say that I love this movie. I had begun to lose faith in Jackie Chan after seeing some of his latest films like The Tuxedo and Shanghai Knights, but this film reminded me why I love him. The stunts are wonderful and very nicely choreographed. The camera work is tight and very nice. The writing is well above par for a Jackie Chan film.

The only thing about this film that bothers me is the DVD itself. Whoever made the cover for this DVD was on crack. You see the three other people on the cover besides Jackie Chan? Well, they're not in the film at all. I was waiting to see the silly blonde or the angry guy with the gun show up, but they weren't there. Not at all. Also, the copy on the back is full of flaws. There's several major differences between the copy and what actually happens in the film. Aside from the cover being horribly incorrect, there's no original language track option. That made me very sad. Also, there are absolutely no extras on this DVD. Unless you count a badly dubbed French language track as an extra. I know that I don't.

In conclusion, awesome film, terrible packaging and DVD. But the actual film is amazing. Pure Jackie Chan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Surprise Hit
Review: I am a huge Jackie Chan fan and have been for several years now. When I first heard about this movie I was a little leary about it due to some of the reviews I had read and the fact that it didn't earn a theatrical release here in the states. But I must say that I was very pleasently surprised when I popped into my dvd player yesterday afternoon.

With this film, Jackie proves once again, that he is the man of action films. No one does it better. Period. The stunts in this film are amazing as usual and Jackie still looks in top form even though he's pushing 50. The fight scenes are creative and use Jackie's usual style of incorporating many different objects and people into the scenes. The best scene in the movie is a 10 minute fight fest that lands Jackie naked on the streets of Turkey. Very creative!

The plot of the movie is pretty decent for a JC film. Basically, Jackie gets mixed up in a drug war between the Koreans and the Turkish. I watched the english dubbed version so I'm sure the plot lost a little bit in the translation. But the plot is not the main reason we watch these type of films right? The action is great and definately worth the price of the dvd alone.

The dvd is ok. The picture and audio are acceptable but the extras and menus are not.


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