Year: 1998
Director:
Benny Chan
Starring:
Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Yamamoto Mira
Genre:
Action/martial arts
Literal title translation: 'Who Am I?'

 
 
 


Jackie Chan is a member of a crack army swat team sent to Africa. However, on completion of the mission the teams helicopter crashes and everyone but Jackie dies. Despite surviving Jackie has lost his memory and is adopted by an African tribe. One day he saves a man who is involved in a car race across Africa and finds his way back to civilization. As Jackie's memory slowly comes back to him he realises that the helicopter crash was A conspiracy and the people involved are after him as the only witness. This takes Jackie to Rotterdam where he must finally confront his enemies.

Here, Jackie has tried to include some interesting locations and the Africa sequence is very entertaining. But Jackie's character is too serious and many comedic opportunities are missed. 'Who Am I?' seems to go on for a long time and it is true that director Benny Chan did film a lot more than is shown here - maybe some more selective editing was required. The film picks up pace when the action moves to Rotterdam and is a clever and stark contrast to Africa with the rolling plains replaced by crowded backstreets and high rise buildings. Jackie continues his tradition of having running battles in different countries cities ie.Melbourne in 'Mr Nice Guy'. He makes excellent use of a pair of clogs to beat his adversaries and then carries on running and skidding around corners. He just doesn't seem to give the baddies a big enough beating as in his eighties films as this would be against his squeaky clean image. The end battle is worth the wait though, it is the best we have seen since '94's Drunken Master II with Ron Smoorenburg showing some impressive kicking. This is vintage Jackie but you can tell he is slowing down a bit as he doesn't throw himself around quite as much as usual. All this and just time for Jackie to slide down the side of the building...!

It's good to see Jackie return to a final reel fight fest and the premise and locations are extremely good. This film doesn't seem to be quite as well realised as it could have been though. In future Jackie needs to spend more time on the middle sections of his films and give us some non-stop action and decent supporting actors.


   
         
     


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