I
warned all my roommates when I brought this film home: "I heard this
latest Jackie Chan film sucks. I'm only renting it because I heard
the fight at the end was good. So don't expect too much." I
had first heard badmouthing from the gang at Alt.Asian.Movies who really
thought it substandard. The fact that it jumped immediately to home
video over here was not a great sign either (although that doesn't necessarily
mean anything; the excellent Crime Story went straight to video just because
it was much more grim than a typical Jackie movie). As a result
of the warning, I got kidded all through the movie; I am pleased to report
that Who Am I? is actually a pretty good little film that, although not
in the Jackie Pantheon, amused and entertained the whole household.
There's a couple of possible explanations other than the posters at Alt.Asian.Movies
are mostly a bunch of hard to please extremists. For one thing, my
web research on this movie suggests that the movie was cut pretty significantly
for the American home market.
As a result of a bungled military operation, top secret agent Jackie
is left for dead in the wilds of Africa with no memory.
Taken in and nursed back to health by a tribe of African natives (refreshingly
presented with no stereotypical condescension), Jackie treks back to civilization
and finds himself caught up in a web of deceit as various secret organizations
try to do him in or find out what he knows.
Almost as in response to the plotlessness of Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I? is actually ambitiously plot driven, with characters seemingly changing allegiance from scene to scene. Even the japanese women that Jackie befriends ( the pretty and charming Mirai Yamamoto and the inhumanly cute Michelle Ferre) may not be what they seem. This manages to keep things feeling new for a Jackie Chan flick, a pleasant embellishment to the variations on all the typical-for-Jackie fight scenes in public places, chase scenes through crowded streets, frenzied stunts to keep ahold of the plot McGuffin, and the fight of an exhausted Jackie against confident and superior opponents (a thrilling rooftop battle against two excellent fighters who actually take bets on how long it will take to beat Jackie to pulp). The golden age of JC may be past, but Who Am I? is a good solid film that oughtta turn your crank and make for a pleasant evening.
Really nice site about Who Am I? that was filled with fun facts
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