The Medallion

[fajrdrako]

I went to a movie on Friday: The Medallion. Jackie Chan's latest movie.

I am not a big fan of Jackie Chan's movies, though I rather like the screen persona of Jackie Chan himself. I like him and admire his performances without necessarily liking the movies he's in - remember, I'm not a big fan of comedies.

But. I think each of his movies is better than the last. This had some charming parody of stuff I do like - James Bond, The Avengers, British spy-thrillers in general.

Bottom line: it made me laugh.

Things I liked about it:

• Jackie Chan himself, whom I always find personable, and I like his low-key brand of hero who never exhibits a high-level ego.
  
• The Irish setting. One chase scene takes place around Trinity College, involving a lot of street corners that Beulah and I recognized.
  
• The corny ancient-Eastern-medallion magic administered by a lama-like kid who barely speaks - shades of Dr. Strange!
  
• The funniest bit to my ears was a wonderful scene of gay parody where Jackie Chan as Eddie Yang is having an argument with his Irish colleague Arthur Watson (played by Lee Evans) where it sounds to everyone in the office as if they're a pair of gay lovers having a tiff. Quite hilarious.
  
• I liked the villain, Snakehead (isn't that a name out of Dick Tracy?), played with grim one-dimensionality by Julian Sands. He looked good, and had the best clothes, in a sort of Irish-comic-book way, and he lived in a great ruined castle overhanging the ocean. The stairs in the castle were Escher-like: in some scenes the super-powered characters are walking up/down the stairs from the underside. Now, I have never seen stairs anything like that in any castle, magical or otherwise, but that's okay: it made for some interesting visuals. I have, in fact, had that exact particular scenario in recurring dreams. I wonder if other people dream about stairs.
  
• I thought the women were nicely depicted, without sexism, but without making them act just like men, either.
  

Comments

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

I understand that this film is a bit different than previous ones, in that it has romance/kissing scene(s)?
I'm not into paying to see Jackie Chan films (but then, I go to few films anyway), but I do sometimes enjoy watching them on cable, and like Jackie as himself - he's a down to earth, warm, humorous and self-effacing guy. Have you seen that program he made/narrates about how all the stunts are done in his films? Interesting that you mention Julian Sands, whom I like. He has also been mentioned (and I agree) as perfect casting for the 'strange' main character I wrote to you about in the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books, Agent Pendergast. Am getting veeeery attached to this character already!

[terdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes it does - Eddie Yang actually as an affair with a fellow agent (the girl, as it happens). Yes, I agree with your assessment of Jackie Chan, and this skills are amazing. Yes, I saw the film about him doing his stunts (ouch!).

I much look up what I've seen Julian Sands in before. He has qualities I like a lot.

I also plan to search out the Pendergast books - what title should I start with?

Preston/Child and Pendergast

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten that a suggestion for Pendergast was also James Marsters (with his Spike-blonde hair), and I think he'd also be wonderful.

Not all of the Preston/Child books feature Pendergast, though he's getting to be such a popular character that hopefully he'll be in most of them to come. I'm not sure it matters whether you read them in order - my interest was piqued by a recent book. The first book they wrote together is called "Relic", and it's also the first book Pendergast is in. He's also in Reliquary, Thunderhead, Cabinet of Curiosities (the one I'm reading) and the new one out in hardback, Still Life With Crows. I would suggest being careful trying to find out too much about the character before having read the books, as it kind of "spoiled" a few things for me in the book I'm reading...I think one should make up one's own mind about whether Pendergast is all he seems... ;-) The authors have a fun, humorous and witty web site which also has bulletin boards - which again, I will steer clear of until I've read the books, as I don't want to be spoiled any more. Reading the little tidbits as they are revealed is part of the enjoyment of reading these authors.

Re: Preston/Child and Pendergast

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rundown on the Pendergast books. I've requested the first few at the library; we'll see when they come in. The later ones already have a dozen or more requests before me, so I'm bound to get the earlier ones first.

Re: Preston/Child and Pendergast

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

....I lied. I went to the bulletin boards & read a lot.... ;-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Er - apology. Just noted how odd it was that the LJ replied here from my other account because I was using the 'c' drive at work. I use Terdrako, Aerdrako and Fajrdrako, but mostly Fajrdrako.

[moonchildetoo.livejournal.com]

I were CORN-fused, she admits...