Surprisingly likable, if very silly, comedy from Jackie Chan that harks back to his 80s classics…

Thongs (Jackie Chan) and Octopus (Louis Koo) maybe two great acrobatic cat burglars, but neither have any idea on holding onto the money they make. Thongs gambles his away, while Octopus spends all his entertaining girlfriends, despite being married. When their boss Landlord (Michael Hui, The Cannonball Run, The Magic Touch) entices them with the promise of $7 million, they jump – but he doesn’t tell them it involves stealing a baby to return to his estranged grandfather, a triad boss.

Thongs wants to return the baby immediately, but when the handover goes wrong, he and his friend are left literally holding the baby without the faintest idea of what they’re doing. Unfortunately the triad gang are closing in on them.

Hardly original – it’s mostly Three Men And A Baby meets Raising Arizona with martial arts – director Benny Chan’s (Divergence, Invisible Target) third collaboration with Jackie, after Who Am I? and New Police Story follows the later film in attempt to relive Jackie’s 80s career. But despite the obvious broad humour and no lack of baby poo jokes, Robin-B-Hood is oddly a lot more successful than it’s predecessor.

As you might expect, it’s far less like Police Story and Project A in tone than it is his collaborations with his fellow Peking Opera students, such as My Lucky Stars and Wheels On Meals. Yuen Biao even co-stars as a police detective who happens to be an old friend of Thongs. (It’s a shame Sammo wasn’t invited?)

Benny and Jackie worked on the script together from a story by regular Benny Chan collaborator Alan Yuen, and what it manages to capture – as well as the daft innocence of those earlier films – is a real return to the almost balletic grace of the action choreography displayed by Jackie and Louis Koo. (Though Koo had to rely on a double for the trickier moves.)

It’s slick, well rehearsed and in it’s own way beautiful to look at, following that Yuen Woo-ping style of intricate trickiness Jackie has studied since they first worked together on Drunken Master and Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow. There’s also some fantastic stunt work, which might not equal the self-conscious elaborateness of New Police Story, but in many ways seem more impressive.

Almost always miscast in younger roles nowadays, here Jackie gets away with being an older thief who has never faced up to his responsibilities. His co-stars from New Police Story, Nicholas Tse and Daniel Wu, appear in a cameo as security guards, with Wu confessing his affection for Tse (with a very stupid Brokeback Mountain joke).

And yes, there’s even an end title sequence – just like the old days – with Jackie getting hurt. Does he ever learn? (Though the funniest sequence shows Yuen fluffing his line after a one-take stunt sequence from Jackie, who then complains he’ll have to do it all again!)

Sure, it’s very silly, but quite enjoyable too.

This predates Shinjuku Incident by three years, hinting that though Jackie may be only too happy to revive his familiar, 80s persona for Western audiences, he’s changed tactics in Asia towards far more interesting, if not entirely successful, character roles. The Spy Next Door, for instance, seems to be little more than a US adaption of Jackie in the role of babysitter.

As fun as this is, it’s probably time to move on…

Robin-B-Hood is released as a two-disc DVD and single-disc Blu-ray by Cine Asia on Monday, 24th May.

DVD details

Distributor: Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty (UK)

Yet another strong release licensed by Cine Asia from the US Dragon Dynasty label (though by now you may be wishing they co-opted a few of those Shaw Brothers movies – presumably the licensing by Momentum is causing problems there?)

There's plenty of bonus material, with extended interviews with Jackie Chan, director Benny Chan and co-star Conroy Chan, as well as too 'making of' featurettes, but more behind-the-scenes footage and dissections of how action scenes were put together, as well as a commentary, would have added extra value to this release.

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This entry was published by Andy H on Monday, May 17th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Action / Thrillers, Comedy, Films, Hong Kong, Martial arts, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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