I Am I (Thunderbolt) Review

Jackie Chan and America didn't quite go well together, till recently. The couple of trysts that he had with Hollywood, turned out to be a huge disappointments. His appearance in Cannonball Run 2 didn't excite anybody. The Protector, dubbed in English and released there, went unnoticed. In this backdrop, this film (aka Piklik Fo) set in America for the most part, disappointments as well.

To begin with, Foh's (Jackie's) profession is not spelt out. By the looks of it, he is a car mechanic. Warner Krugerman aka Cougar (Thornston Nickel) is the bad guy who happens to be a car fanatic. Of course, he has never touched the rulebook when it comes to driving. His rash driving has the police on the tenterhooks. Foh comes to the rescue by running down Krugerman in a high-speed chase.

This sets up the two against each other. After wrecking Foh and his family, he challenges Foh to a race in Japan. Foh takes up the challenge and we are taken to Japan for the most horrendously organized race. It seems to have been reserved for the pedestrians who would like to have a crack at driving. Cars run into, over and through each other. By the end of it, even as Foh and Krugerman are stuck in the rubble, no one seems to be left to overtake them.

Somewhere in the midst of this, is Amy (Anita Yuen), a journalist who has nothing better to do than cover Foh.

The biggest letdown is the lack of comic relief. Jackie is as poker faced as he can ever be. His agility is never captured, except in a couple of scenes. The camerawork, so essential to the action scenes in such films, is funny to say the least. Performances are not to be discussed in Hong Kong movies, so I won't.

A Jackie Chan film that you wouldn't mind missing.