Note: This is the first in a recurring TFS feature series, analyzing past stars and their journey deep into career failure and, in some cases, their way back to success.
It’s been a rough road to middle age for the action star, who, after commercializing Asian martial arts films in a way Bruce Lee could have never dreamed, has struggled from convoluted kid film to convoluted kid film over the past decade, occasionally offering a tired reminder of the wall-jumping great he once was (Rush Hour 3, The Forbidden Kingdom, etc.).
Let’s take a closer look:
The Rise:
Supercop – sure, Police Story was a milestone overseas for Chan, and now looked back on by many as an early indicator, but Supercop was the balls-out action movie that made Americans (granted, not many, but enough) notice how talented this man was.
Though it came out internationally in 1992, Miramax distributed it in American theaters in 1996, right alongside the more-successful Rumble in the Bronx and Jackie Chan’s First Strike, both released by New Line Cinema. All of a sudden, within two years, Chan was everywhere, climbing up walls with his feet and swinging from building to building using only his teeth.
The Peak:
Rush Hour – One sincerely hopes both Brett Ratner and Chris Tucker have bought Mr. Chan large, large fruit baskets for handing them their respective careers. Capitalizing on his marginal Western fame, Ratner allowed Chan to showcase both the hard and soft edges that have come to make him so iconic. He kicks ass, and makes jokes.
Rush Hour was the kind of hit no one could have predicted, grossing nearly $250 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. A retread of 48 Hrs. and Lethal Weapon had no business garnering that much attention. Nevertheless, both Chan and Tucker became household names, leading to a sequel three years later that grossed $100 million more than the first. Meanwhile, Chan started up another successful, if not considerably more modest, buddy-comedy saga with Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights. His old, dubbed movies were on TNT all the time (this writer recalls watching Who Am I? at least 10 times on the channel). The man could do no wrong.
The Fall:
The Tuxedo – And then he did wrong. Way wrong. Way, way, way wrong. Chan, hot as ever, chooses a film in which he plays a hapless chauffeur who must use a special-super-duper tuxedo to fight bad guys and win the heart of Jennifer Love-Hewitt. The film lacks chemistry between leads, comedic direction of any kind or any reason for Chan to be hapless or in the film at all.
Nobody liked it, expect apparently Chan, who decided to follow up the non-starter with the non-non-starter The Medallion, in which Chan plays a Hong Kong detective (yep) who dies at the hands of a…medallion…that then turns him into a superbeing or something like that. Claire Forlani (who may deserve her own “What Were They Thinking?” sometime soon) co-stars as a Lara Croft-wannabe. And, early this year, was The Spy Next Door which, well, was The Spy Next Door. Billy Ray Cyrus. Just, I don’t know.
The Resurrection:
The Karate Kid – Maybe he was tricked. Maybe it’s a fluke. Maybe we should all just count our blessings. Someone decided Chan should act his age, and for people his age. And kids! And it worked? Playing a recreated Mr. Miyagi, Chan plays a tired old man with regrets to go with what was once incredible fighting abilities.
All while retaining his lovable, Charlie Chaplin-esque goofiness that made him a star. This is the kind of mature step other stars like Bruce Willis and Richard Gere take and then try viciously to revert from (i.e. Surrogates and Shall We Dance?). Blame it on vanity. Let’s all hope Jackie Chan keeps walking in the right direction.
What do you think of Mr. Chan’s career trajectory? When was he best in your eyes?