I'd never heard
of this Jackie Chan movie until Livia came across it. The title is rather
deceptive, since the movie isn't about skiptracers at all. Chan is a police
detective in Hong Kong who's trying to bring down a drug kingpin known as the
Matador. When his partner is killed in that effort, Chan becomes obsessed with
the case. (Stop me if you've heard this plot before. On the other hand, don't,
because then there's no post.) Johnny Knoxville plays an American gambler/con
man who has the members of a Russian crime family after him. He stumbles across
some information connected to the case Chan is working on. So they have to team
up and work together to solve both problems, and that winds up with them
getting lost in Mongolia before they finally get back to Hong Kong. Along the
way there are wisecracks, crazy, death-defying stunts, and some spectacular
Chinese landscapes.
This action/buddy comedy/road movie is really by the numbers, but Jackie Chan is always likeable and fun to watch. Johnny Knoxville doesn't annoy me as much as he does some people (faint praise, I know). And the script has a few over-the-top goofy moments that make the movie better than it could have been. SKIPTRACE isn't in the upper ranks of Jackie Chan movies, but it is a good popcorn movie, which is probably all it ever set out to be.
This action/buddy comedy/road movie is really by the numbers, but Jackie Chan is always likeable and fun to watch. Johnny Knoxville doesn't annoy me as much as he does some people (faint praise, I know). And the script has a few over-the-top goofy moments that make the movie better than it could have been. SKIPTRACE isn't in the upper ranks of Jackie Chan movies, but it is a good popcorn movie, which is probably all it ever set out to be.
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