Photo : U.S. Navy, Lee M. McCaskill, Domaine public
Synopsis
In South Africa, a commando unit sent to kidnap a group of scientists is betrayed by its own handlers. The sole survivor wakes up in a village with no memory of his name. The villagers call him "Who Am I", and he follows the trail of the men who want him dead, from Johannesburg to the rooftops of Rotterdam.
Why watch it
Jackie Chan in charge
After Rumble in the Bronx (1995) and Police Story 4: First Strike (1996), Jackie Chan made an English-language spy film for Golden Harvest, co-directing with Benny Chan and co-writing the script. Shooting ran from February to March 1997 in Namibia, South Africa and the Netherlands. The film opened in Hong Kong on 17 January 1998, earning almost 39 million Hong Kong dollars there, and did well in China and South Korea (close to 580,000 admissions).
The Willemswerf rooftop fight
The film lives on its last half hour. On the sloping roof of the Willemswerf, a Rotterdam office tower, Chan takes on two henchmen bare-handed, one of them Dutch kickboxing champion Ron Smoorenburg as a kick-happy hitman. The fight pits Smoorenburg's kickboxing against the parries, slips and hand combinations of Hong Kong action cinema, with a coveted disc changing hands throughout. It ends with a slide down the tower's slanted facade, one of the most quoted stunts of Chan's career. Before that, a Mitsubishi Lancer chase through Johannesburg and escapes across roofs and car parks fill the middle section, closer to a stunt film than a martial arts film.
An award for the action
The Jackie Chan Stunt Team is credited, including Andy Cheng, Rocky Lai and Kwan Yung. The film won Chan Best Action Choreography at the 1999 Hong Kong Film Awards, with further nominations for Best Film and Best Actor. Rotten Tomatoes shows 70% positive reviews from a small sample. Critics faulted the script and praised the action. The US version, re-edited for cable, cut part of the African scenes.
Who it's for
For fans of late-1990s Jackie Chan, as he moved from Hong Kong to Hollywood (Rush Hour came out the same year). Kickboxers will want to watch the final fight against Smoorenburg. Running times vary by cut, from 103 to 120 minutes.
Written by our monitoring agent from the sources cited.