‘The Medallion’ misjudges Chan’s appeal

In theaters

THE MEDALLION, directed by Gordon Chan, written by Bennett Joshua Davlin, Alfred Cheung, Gordon Chan, Paul Wheeler and Bey Logan, 90 minutes, rated

PG-13.

The new Jackie Chan movie, “The Medallion,” follows his last film, “The Tuxedo,” in that it tries to dress the actor up with gadgetry and gimmickry. In doing so, it misses the point of what makes Chan so special – he doesn’t need such embellishments to heighten his appeal.

Even at age 50, when most action heroes have either shot their last bullet or are running for governor, he remains the best special effect onscreen, a marvel of energy no computer can match, so why bother trying? What Hollywood continues to assume is that Chan needs someone or some thing to help him connect with the masses. Sometimes, those bets have paid off, as in the first editions of the “Rush Hour” and “Shanghai” movies. But lately, the trend has been to pair him with cheap special effects and gummy writing, with the end result being just that.

In its most streamlined form, “The Medallion” stars Chan as Eddie Yang, a Hong Kong detective trying to stop the evil Snakehead (Julian Sands) from stealing a young boy’s powerful medallion and thus becoming immortal. Should Snakehead become immortal, he plans to destroy the world (don’t they all?). And so it’s up to Eddie, his idiot Interpol partner, Watson (Lee Evans), and Eddie’s love interest, Nicole James (Claire Forlani), to put Snakehead’s head on a block and deliver it a few swift chops. In the process, Eddie and Nicole get a life-altering twist, not to be revealed here.

Directed nearly three years ago by Gordon Chan (no relation to Jackie) and sitting on a studio shelf ever since, “The Medallion” has its moments, but for the most part, it’s a chaotic mix that struggles to strike a balance between an American sensibility and a Hong Kong sensibility. Jammed with a mother lode of disjointed, wholly unnecessary scenes, it comes as no surprise that the movie was written by five writers – all of whom clearly had their own ideas about what direction the film should take. Too bad they didn’t all agree.

The film’s worst moments come from its buffoonish, amateurish humor, which you sense the director tossed in to appeal to Western audiences. He shouldn’t have. Likewise, its best moments come when the director remains true to his Hong Kong roots and allows Chan to break free from the confines of the script, showing off the amazing stunt work for which he’s known. There are two terrific chase scenes here, with the nimble, charismatic Chan doing some of his best work in years and proving, once again, with his fantastic ballet of kicks and flips, how unnecessary words still are in the movies.

Grade: C-

On video and DVD

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, written and directed by Michael Moore, 120 minutes, rated R.

Michael Moore’s Academy Award-winning documentary “Bowling for Columbine” finds the director of 1989’s “Roger & Me” and 1998’s “The Big One” shuffling across North America in an effort to find the answer to one question: Why does the United States have the most gun-related deaths of any developed nation in the free world? Is it our cowboy mentality that’s making us shoot each other dead in the streets? Is it the entertainment industry that’s turning some of our children into monsters? Is it big business that’s fueling our need for guns? Or could it be that we’re all a little bit edgy thanks to the news media, which, as Moore sees it, has created a culture of fear that conveniently nets them billions of dollars worth of advertising revenue each year?

From Michigan to New York, Los Angeles to Canada, Moore seeks out answers, using the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School as his own ammunition while launching into the sort of infamous confrontations and tense standoffs that have become a hallmark of his work. With cameras in tow, he queries a whole host of people -from everyday Americans to the likes of Marilyn Manson, Dick Clark and James Nichols, the creepy brother of Terry Nichols, a man who might just hop on Mars should the planet come close enough. What Moore learns from this bizarre cross-section of personalities is a mosaic that shifts between the downright hilarious to the downright disturbing.

“Bowling for Columbine” is at its best when Moore highlights the inexplicable, such as when he obtains a free rifle from a Michigan savings and loan as an incentive for opening an account. The bank, we learn, is also a licensed gun dealer, to which Moore asks: “Should a bank be a licensed gun dealer?”

That’s a fair question, which Moore plays for laughs. But what isn’t played for laughs is his controversial ambush of NRA president Charlton Heston at his Beverly Hills estate. The scene ends the movie with a bang – and brought Moore under fire himself.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.