Review of Chinese Zodiac (2012) by Leon B — 06 Sep 2015

Review:

I really didn't have a clue about the plot in this movie but the action scenes are top class. The acting was a bit shaky in places and I did find the girl who joined the group, quite irritating, especially when she wouldn't stop screaming in the jungle. Anyway, the movie is basically about a rich man who hires Jackie Chan to retrieve 12 Chinese Zodiac animal heads which were stolen in the 1800's. After following all the clues, he ends up in France with his reliable team but the mission isn't as straight forward as they first thought. That's the bit of the plot that I did understand but when the other business men get involved, I got completely lost. Jackie Chans comedic acting wasn't bad because it was mixed up with some clever stunts but it was a bit silly in parts. Its basically a National Treasure meets Indiana Jones type movie which obviously went down well with audiences around the world, judging by the box office takings. Personally, the film did get on my nerves after a while because it jumped from one situation to another. With that aside, you can't fault the action in the movie which has proved that Jackie Chan has still got the ability to entertain audiences with his amazing Kung Fu skills. Watchable but quite confusing!

Round-Up:

At 61 years old, Jackie Chan is still coming out with top action movies, whilst doing most of the stunts himself, so he has definitely has made his mark in the Kung Fu entertainment world. They cleverly mixed the languages with English and Chinese so you don't have to concentrate on annoying subtitles. I'm sure they dubbed the movie for other countries because it's quite a big budget film. Anyway, I personally preferred Chan in the Drunken Master authentic days, before he decided to concentrate on his comedic movies but he still has an audience which flock to see his movies. This film was actually directed by Jackie Chan so it must have been hard to play the lead and do all of the stunts at the same time. He definitely can't complain about the profit that the movie made and I'm sure that they will come out with another part of this Armour of God series which started in 1986. Anyway, it's worth a watch just for the action and the funny Pirates that tackled them in the woods but the storyline is a bit sketchy.

Budget: $26million.

Worldwide Gross: $145million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/adventure movies about a man who searches the world for 12 Chinese Zodiac artifacts which are worth a large amount of money. 4/10.