Critics and fans alike have been fairly ruthless in recent years in giving Jackie Chan's Hollywood movies a real drubbing. I'll admit that the last film I saw of his, THE TUXEDO, was a two-star effort with poor casting and choppy action sequences. Thankfully, THE MEDALLION, another film which has been pretty much panned across the globe, comes across as something of a revelation. For a start, it's a quite good movie, much like Jackie's '80s efforts, with plenty of humour and action to keep the audience from noticing the thinness of the plot. Thanks to some particularly good international casting as well as interesting locations – when was the last time we had an action film set in Dublin? Never! – this is a mildly entertaining effort, low brow but crowd-pleasing with it.The story is as thin as they come and former stuntman Bey Logan even had a hand in creating it (Logan is the guy who does all the DVD commentary tracks on martial arts movies). It involves a medallion which makes the wearer become immortal – so this is basically the film where Jackie gets to be superman. Unfortunately the CGI effects to show the magical nature of the talisman are very poor, but they do fit in with the film's comic-book style. Jackie, although starting to look like a piece of crumpled parchment, is very good here in the comedy stakes and, although his once famous stunt work is replaced by wire work and computer enhancements, he still cuts it as the clumsy but lovable hero. Jackie's opponent this time around is Julian Sands, an actor who doesn't seem to have aged much recently; Sands is wasted and doesn't even get to overact much, but its still good to see him on cinema screens again after so long.The film is action-packed from beginning to end. There are a handful of fun martial arts battles and plenty of stunts, even if they aren't the most realistic on offer. Jackie's fall from a high building is a hilarious moment and the chase through the streets of Dublin is great to watch as well. Primarily, though, this is a comedy, which sees Lee Evans being cast as Jackie's partner. Evans is a delight to watch here, despite what others may have to say. Utilising the old-fashioned slapstick kind of humour, he plays a clichéd, stuffy, stereotyped British upper-crust character with non-stop pranks, pratfalls, and gurning, and I was actively looking forward to him appearing in each scene. He's ace and his natural, non gross-out gentle comedy is a real delight.The supporting cast includes veteran Chinese bad guy Anthony Wong as a suit in a bowler hat, reminding me more of Charlie Chan than anybody else. John Rhys-Davies shows up in a minor supporting role – the likes of which he used to do in the '80s/'90s all the time - but is wasted as usual. The love interest is played by Claire Forlani who is easily more attractive than Jennifer Love Hewitt – a natural beauty, her presence is delightful every time she shows up. Generally, that's all I have to say, except for older non-critical fans to check this out, as it's a return to the old days for Jackie and a film which leaves me actively looking forward to his next.

The Medallion (2003): Dir: Gordon Chan / Cast: Jackie Chan, Claire Forlani, Lee Evans, Julian Sands, John Rhys-Davies: Mediocre Jackie Chan action flick about a mysterious medallion that can render its wearer immortal. In that case perhaps they should have been distributed to everyone who sat through this film in order to deal with its after affect. It opens with a kid that could easily double for the tyke in The Golden Child who possesses a medallion that ends up in the hands of Chan. In the heat of action Chan is killed but the medallion allows him to resurrect. This leaves more questions than answers. Director Gordon Chan details the structure with humour but plot is lame. Nothing makes sense here. We are expected to suspend disbelief at the thought of a magic medallion. Why not just add Santa Claus into the mix? Chan has fun with the stunts and humour but the role is typical Chan. Claire Forlani seems a bit young to play his girlfriend. Lee Evans is very funny however his comic talent is deserving of better material than this. Julian Sands plays a villain that is every bit as foolish as Bozo the clown. The film's basic purpose is to highlight Chan's stunt's and physical capabilities. If that is the case then why not do an exercise video where he throws himself through a brick wall for an hour? Spiritual elements are written rather loosely generating a negative affect on the film's payoff. In the concept wears thin. Score: 2 / 10

Well film was quite funny entertaining but was not up to the mark.I was expecting bit more from Jackie.Writing was not so good rather disappointing.Watson's acting was good an funny but i have question that they mentioned that they (Jackie and Nicole) wanted Watson to join their team and they cant do any good without him even they tried hard to convince him to be part of team so can any one tell me what he added to team or investigation?You are giving him funny role at least mould story that way.Eddie found man from snake's gang and leave him on street as nothing was happened shouldn't he be arrested for further investigate?Another example snake-head and Eddie's first fight shouldn't be snake afraid of Eddie because he was half immortal and Eddie was full but we see opposite.you cant be so dumb and stupid id you are wasting so much money and talent.So i would say it will probably disappoints Jackie's fans.

I remembered the title of this film (also known as Highbinders) because of the leading actors in it, I knew as well that it was rated the lowest of the low, one out of five stars, by critics, I was intrigued to see why more than anything. Basically Hong Kong police detective Eddie Yang (Jackie Chan) is cooperating with Interpol to try and capture international criminal AJ 'Snakehead' Staul (Julian Sands), who reading ancient historical books is trying to find a "chosen one"; every thousand years a boy is chosen to bind together two halves of a legendary medallion, and whoever has this medallion will gain super strength, amazing speed and ultimately immortality. This boy is Jai (Alex Bao), and one night searching for the criminal Eddie finds him hiding, he saves the life of the boy from a fire, but Snakehead is able to kidnap the boy and takes him to Ireland, so the Hong Kong officer travels there to continue the investigation with Interpol. In Ireland, Eddie is reunited with old flame Nicole James (The Rock's Claire Forlani) who has not heard from him for months, and also Arthur Watson (Lee Evans) who has worked with previously, he is not best pleased to see the Hong Kong officer. They track Jai to a harbour and shipping yard, Jai is trapped inside one of the containers, this container is knocked into the water with Eddie and they boy trapped inside, Jai is kept alive in an inflatable tent while Eddie dies from drowning, but Jai saves his life with the medallion, Arthur is shocked to see him reappear in the morgue, and his original dead body disappears. Jai splits the medallion into two pieces, giving one half to Eddie, and he sees the powers the medallion gives when Snakehead's men come and try to recapture the boy, despite protection by Nicole he is captured again and taken to a castle hideout, and Arthur's family are threatened by the criminal's thugs also, but Arthur's Chinese wife Charlotte Watson (Christy Chung) reveals her secret as being a police operative herself. After discovering Eddie is alive, Nicole joins him and Arthur to infiltrate the castle lair, they manage to get inside, but Snakehead kills Nicole and with the medallion becomes immortal, but Eddie uses the medallion to take away his life, and Jai allows Eddie to use it to resurrect Nicole, together their super powers remain, while Arthur is frightened with Jai entering a portal to another dimension. Also starring John Rhys-Davies as Cmdr. Hammerstock-Smythe, Anthony Wong as Lester and Johann Myers as Giscard. Chan may be charming and do his own stunts as usual, but Evans is sadly annoying with his attempts to do his over the top reactions and a little of his physical humour, the story is highly clunky and full of the most predictable moments, some fight and chase sequences were okay, but I didn't laugh much, this is just a complete mess of an action comedy fantasy. Pretty poor!