MR. NICE GUY

All PG-13 movies are not created equal. Those who were pleasantly surprised by the basically wholesome content of JACKIE CHAN’S FIRST STRIKE (no language or sex) released in 1997 may be a bit stunned by the darker violence, foul language and mild sexual innuendo in this newest release, MR. NICE GUY. To his credit, Director Samo Hung probably includes these elements to lend realism to the bad guys, but since much of the movie is comic and unrealistic, James Bond-style action, who needs it? It only serves to raise the age limit of the viewing audience and offend moral viewers. Chan himself, as the hero, remains unsullied by foul language and sexual innuendo, but he does get REALLY mad.

MR. NICE GUY opens grimly with a horrifying scene of drug lord Giancarlo (Richard Norton) holding a woman under the water of his fancy hot tub, then sending her to his “guest house” — pseudonym for a gigantic open pit, where she is thrown and buried alive. The scene shifts quickly to a very dark warehouse (where else?) where a drug deal is going down between two vicious gangs — the dark-suited Mafiosos and the grungy, tattooed and pierced Demons. While they are snarling at each other, a clever and beautiful female reporter has somehow gotten the scoop on this deal and is recording it all on video.

Fortunately, the grim opening shots (Are we watching the right movie?) are brief and cut quickly to a bright and lively cooking show set, where Chef Jackie is demonstrating his flair for noodle-making. (Ah! We ARE watching the right movie!) Unfortunately, Chef Jackie decides to walk out to the dumpster at the precise moment when the not-so-clever female reporter is being attacked by the thugs who want that video. At this point, Chan’s movie takes off on virtually non-stop chase.

While Chan exhibits his hallmark athleticism as he runs, jumps and tumbles out of harm’s way, the female reporter Diane, played by Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, must also be in training for the Olympics. She keeps up with Jackie, who defends himself to the thugs by saying, “I don’t even know her!” until finally he tells Diane, “Okay! This time, you go your way — I go mine!” The mild-mannered chef thinks his nightmare is over but doesn’t realize that Diane has his cooking video, and he has her Big Story.

The rest of the movie is short on plot but very long on fantastic stunt work. The thugs discover that Jackie, now joined by his girlfriend Miki and coworker Lakeisha, really HAS the video — only Jackie doesn’t know it. The two gangs temporarily join forces shouting, “He’s got a videotape that exposes us all!” and they kidnap Jackie’s girlfriend to barter for the tape. Director Hung intersperses some very interesting camera work in the chase sequences, climaxing when Miki is thrown through the air in slow motion, and Jackie dives in slow motion from a long way off to catch her. Perhaps, Hung makes Miki call out “Jackie!” one too many times, as the screening audience was beginning to do so too. (On the other hand, perhaps Hung is intentionally spoofing action movies here.)

Also interesting is the use of English subtitles. While this is Jackie Chan’s first movie to be shot almost entirely in English — so there is no clumsy dubbing to distract viewers — his girlfriend Miki speaks her few lines in Chinese. In one scene, Miki misunderstands Lakeisha’s English and thinks she is using the word “small” – “I know some English!” declares Miki — to refer to Miki’s breast size. Although this brought the intended laughter, some might find this conversation offensive.

There is often one scene in a movie that’s worth the price of admission. This time it is the “blue doors” fight scene. Jackie goes to meet the gangsters at an office construction site in broad daylight. Imagine a backdrop of brightly painted blue office doors set in plain gray concrete. By now, the gangsters have great respect for the fighting ability of the little chef and are sneaking up on him, en masse. Jackie leans to the left, the thugs behind him lean to the left, etc. Soon, doors are flying open and slamming shut as Jackie and the thugs surprise one another, a la The Three Stooges. They fight their way up to a room full of power tools. After Jackie avoids being sawed in half by the running table saw, he is in handyman paradise, a la MacGyver. Jackie finds excellent uses for a portable cement mixer and a plastic-tie strapping machine.

There is much to be said for a Jackie Chan movie. His stunt work is lively, creative and shows truly amazing prowess, and the action violence is nearly all bloodless. Another Chan hallmark — the final sequence of out-takes shown at the end of the movie — is great fun. The good guy wins (this time with a decided vengeance), and Chan plays a hero who is humble and moral with an effervescent humor — a real Mr. Nice Guy. While holding up a shard of a large oriental vase, Chan quips, “It’s all right. I can fix it.” Of course, he really can’t, and perhaps moral viewers can’t continue to withstand steady doses of mass destruction, foul language and sexual innuendo either, without some numbing of their God-given senses. It is definitely not, as the Bible instructs, “thinking on whatever is right, pure, lovely, admirable, or excellent.”

In the final out-takes, Chan says with a grin, “I get nervous when I speak English.” U.S. viewers would certainly love for Chan to keep trying, but maybe at the same time, to edit out some of the unnecessary and unsavory language of his fellow actors.