Review of Chinese Zodiac (2012) by Jeremy P — 17 Oct 2013

It's been a really long time since I saw a Jackie Chan movie like this in theaters. For the last dozen or so years Jackie has been in a true variety of films, trying all sorts of different things. This movie fits in perfectly with what he was making in the 90s.

Operation Condor, Rumble in the Bronx, First Strike, Who Am I, Gorgeous... this fits in with all those. So it's pretty crazy and silly, but is filled with excitement for sure. A lot of great locations and stunt sequences.

I haven't seen anything like a couple of them before (the very first and very last). In terms of actual martial arts, there's really only one major sequence that Jackie performs in, just after halfway into the movie.

This is my second time seeing it, after seeing just that clip at Comic-Con, but it's the best 15 minutes of the movie and oh so classic for all the reasons we love Jackie Chan. The movie is more than those 15 minutes though! He's just not always throwing kicks.

There are a ton of stunts. It never feels slow. Jackie is great as the director and lead actor, as well as 13 other major production roles he filled in this movie (beating a record held by Robert Rodriguez).

The version I saw was about 110 minutes, shorter than I anticipated, but it might have felt too long otherwise, who knows. This would never make my top 5 Jackie Chan movies, because he's done some truly legendary work, but all fans of his should see this! It's why we all became fans!