FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Leofwine_draca Critics and fans alike have been fairly ruthless in recent years in giving Jackie Chan's Hollywood movies a real drubbing. I'll admit that the last film I saw of his, THE TUXEDO, was a two-star effort with poor casting and choppy action sequences. Thankfully, THE MEDALLION, another film which has been pretty much panned across the globe, comes across as something of a revelation. For a start, it's a quite good movie, much like Jackie's '80s efforts, with plenty of humour and action to keep the audience from noticing the thinness of the plot. Thanks to some particularly good international casting as well as interesting locations – when was the last time we had an action film set in Dublin? Never! – this is a mildly entertaining effort, low brow but crowd-pleasing with it.The story is as thin as they come and former stuntman Bey Logan even had a hand in creating it (Logan is the guy who does all the DVD commentary tracks on martial arts movies). It involves a medallion which makes the wearer become immortal – so this is basically the film where Jackie gets to be superman. Unfortunately the CGI effects to show the magical nature of the talisman are very poor, but they do fit in with the film's comic-book style. Jackie, although starting to look like a piece of crumpled parchment, is very good here in the comedy stakes and, although his once famous stunt work is replaced by wire work and computer enhancements, he still cuts it as the clumsy but lovable hero. Jackie's opponent this time around is Julian Sands, an actor who doesn't seem to have aged much recently; Sands is wasted and doesn't even get to overact much, but its still good to see him on cinema screens again after so long.The film is action-packed from beginning to end. There are a handful of fun martial arts battles and plenty of stunts, even if they aren't the most realistic on offer. Jackie's fall from a high building is a hilarious moment and the chase through the streets of Dublin is great to watch as well. Primarily, though, this is a comedy, which sees Lee Evans being cast as Jackie's partner. Evans is a delight to watch here, despite what others may have to say. Utilising the old-fashioned slapstick kind of humour, he plays a clichéd, stuffy, stereotyped British upper-crust character with non-stop pranks, pratfalls, and gurning, and I was actively looking forward to him appearing in each scene. He's ace and his natural, non gross-out gentle comedy is a real delight.The supporting cast includes veteran Chinese bad guy Anthony Wong as a suit in a bowler hat, reminding me more of Charlie Chan than anybody else. John Rhys-Davies shows up in a minor supporting role – the likes of which he used to do in the '80s/'90s all the time - but is wasted as usual. The love interest is played by Claire Forlani who is easily more attractive than Jennifer Love Hewitt – a natural beauty, her presence is delightful every time she shows up. Generally, that's all I have to say, except for older non-critical fans to check this out, as it's a return to the old days for Jackie and a film which leaves me actively looking forward to his next.

Paul Magne Haakonsen "The Medallion" from 2003 is a typical Jackie Chan movie when exposed to the clutches of Hollywood. As much of a fan as I am of Jackie Chan, then I prefer him on his home-turf in Asia, be it Hong Kong or mainland China. There is just something more extraordinary about the production of the movies there.With that rambling out of the way, let's get on with it. "The Medallion" is a fast paced action movie with a somewhat fairly simply, but fully straight forward storyline. This is a very typical Jackie Chan movie in terms of action, fun and story. Don't get me wrong here, because that is not a bad thing. It is just something that is generic and something that we have seen many times before from Jackie Chan.However, this 2003 movie does throw two of my favorite actors against one another; that being Jackie Chan and Julian Sands. And I must admit that it was something that I had never thought would happen. So on that account, I was more than pleased with the movie.Storywise, well, "The Medallion" is adequate entertainment for what it is; a stereotypical Jackie Chan adventure/action movie. It is about a mythical medallion parted in two by a boy with divine powers. Eddie Yang (played by Jackie Chan), a police officer from Hong Kong, finds himself face to face against the villainous Snakehead (played by Julian Sands) in a race to obtain the medallion.There is a good amount of action and fighting, as you would expect from your standard Jackie Chan movie. So on this account, director Gordon Chan doesn't fail to deliver. The story is good enough, although it bears many resemblances to the 1986 "The Golden Child" movie. Personally, I think "The Medallion" is good, but it just wasn't outstanding or particularly original.The cast was doing a good job with their given roles and characters. Jackie Chan and Julian Sands were quite in their aces with their individual roles. And they were joined by some impressive actors and actresses, which includes Lee Evans, John Rhys-Davies, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong and a cameo by Sammo Hung."The Medallion" is a fun and entertaining action movie, just don't set your self up for something grand. This movie is a fairly generic Jackie Chan movie, so don't expect anything groundbreaking here.

leonblackwood Review: This movie was made during the period when Jackie Chan was trying to conquer the US, so the corny storyline and tamed down action scenes were expected. You can tell that Chan was struggling with the language throughout the movie but he still done a good job, especially alongside the crazy Lee Evans. This movie sees Chan (Eddie Yang), playing a Hong Kong detective whose trying to takedown a evil smuggler called Snakehead (Julian Sands). After obtaining a book of secrets which gives him information about a powerful medallion that gives you internal life and special powers, Snakehead goes on the hunt for the Medallion which only works with a little boy. With the help of inspector Watson (Lee Evans), Eddie tracks down Snakehead but he slips through there fingers and moves his operation to Ireland. Whilst battling against Snakehead, Chan dies but he is brought back to life by the powerful medallion. He then goes to Ireland to finish the operation with the help of Nicole (Claire Forlan) and Watson but now he has the powers from the Medallion to help him. When Snakehead gets his hand on the Medallion and the little boy, he realises that it can only work fully with both half's of the Medallion so he has to find Eddie Yang who has the other half. This leads to a big showdown between the two forces, which wasn't that impressive. Lee Evans was a weird choice as a agent because I'm used to seeing him making a fool out of himself on stage. I liked the concept of the movie but the execution wasn't that great and I expected better action scenes from Chan. I'm not a lover of Kung Fu scenes on strings, so the flying around got on my nerves a bit. With that aside, it's a mediocre, watchable movie that is funny in parts, because of Lee Evans but silly in many ways. It's definitely not in the same league as Drunken Master or Rush Hour but it's OK for an English speaking Jackie Chan movie. Average!Round-Up: Although this movie was made for a US market, it was directed by Hong Kong born, Gordon Chan who brought you movies like Fist of Legend with Jet Li, the King of Fighters, Painted Skin and Thunderbolt, which also starred Jackie Chan. I'm slowly beginning to realise that you don't know what your going to get when you watch a Jackie Chan movie but your always guaranteed some great action scenes and some decent acting. There hasn't been an actor that can top Bruce Lee, even though his acting career was so short but Jackie Chan has had a huge success in entertaining audiences around the world with his brilliant karate skills. Its just a a shame that I can't say the same about his movies which I personally find pretty bad at times.Budget: $41million Worldwide Gross: $34millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their action/comedy/fantasy movies starring Jackie Chan, Lee Evans, Claire Forlani and Julian Sands. 4/10

fearfulofspiders I love Jackie Chan, so much to the point where he inspired me (partially) to start doing karate (Tang Soo Do) and after sticking with it for three-and-a-half years, I finally achieved my black belt. In a way, Jackie is one of my all-time heroes.However, this film is probably his worst yet -- possibly ever. Every single attempt at comedy falls flat, which is a real shame, as I was expecting a lot more from the star of Shanghai Noon and The Legend of the Drunken Master. Chan's performance is lackluster, Forlani is okay, John Rhys-Davis seems bored and unenthusiastic, and Evans is total lackluster in every way.The action is mediocre, and to finally see a film where Chan didn't do the vast majority of his own stunts was sad. The lame attempts at resembling an old (corny) martial arts' film and possibly The Matrix at some points, made me cringe too much. The final battle is preposterous and made me lose a lot of hope for Chan's future career in film.All in all, with very bad acting, story, and action to match, there's just nothing to appreciate from this movie. Nothing works, except to bring another guilty pleasure into my collection. This is a film I highly recommend to anyone who likes to make their own commentary, as I can't think of any discernible reason as to why someone would have to endure this. I give it three-stars for the fact that it really is a guilty pleasure for its extreme lameness. Don't watch this.