The Medallion (2003)

Director:

Gordon Chan

Writers:

Alfred Cheung (story)
Bennett Davlin (written by) ...

Release Date:

22 August 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Action | Fantasy | Thriller

Plot:

A Hong Kong detective suffers a fatal accident involving a mysterious medallion and is transformed into an immortal warrior with superhuman powers.

Plot Keywords:

Medallion | Hong Kong | Interpol | Video Conferencing | Morgue

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Eddie Yang
Lee Evans	...	Arthur Watson
Claire Forlani	...	Nicole James
Julian Sands	...	Snakehead
John Rhys-Davies	...	Cmdr. Hammerstock-Smythe
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang	...	Lester (as Anthony Wong)
Christy Chung	...	Charlotte Watson
Johann Myers	...	Giscard
Alex Bao	...	Jai (as Alexander Bao)
Siu-Ming Lau	...	Antiquerium Dealer (as Lau Siu Ming)
Diana C. Weng	...	Undercover Woman (as Diana Weng)
Chow Pok Fu	...	High Priest
Tat Kwong Chan	...	Monk
Wai Cheung Mak	...	Monk (as Mak Wai Cheung)
Anthony Carpio	...	Guard Monk

Also Known As:

Highbinders (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action violence and some sexual humor.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:10 | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Malaysia:U | Ireland:12 | South Korea:12 | Netherlands:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39538)

Filming Locations:

Dublin Castle, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG)

Trivia:

WILHELM SCREAM: First heard from Eddie when Snakehead grabs his chest in their fight in the forest. Heard a second time when Eddie sees Snakehead's face on the medallion.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Interpol has no investigative branch/field agents. The investigative police of the European Union is called Europol. Interpol solely compiles and distributes intelligence gathered by local and federal EU member state police agencies, much like the US NSA, except the NSA has field agents to also gather information and investigate crimes.

Quotes:

[When Jackie has Giscard traped in the bins]
Giscard: Ever heard of police brutality?
Eddie Yang: Sounds like fun.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#31.1)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Mobile

Fun fantasy, and not much else

It has taken Jackie Chan about 27 years, a good 60 movies or so, and a few near death experiences for him to decide that he can start making movies that don't regularly involve certain death, thanks to CGI. The results are not so good. In fact, I'll just say it: 'The Medallion' is a terrible action movie.

Jackie plays Eddie Yang, a Hong Kong detective chasing a villain named Snakehead (those villains and their crazy names). Snakehead, like all Hong Kong villains is actually English, so when he kidnaps a boy with the power to control The Medallion, Yang follows him to Ireland to reclaim the Medallion and find the child (who just goes to prove, that even if you live in a Buddhist temple in a sewer below Hong Kong, you can still learn to speak perfect English with an English accent).

Seems like 'The Golden Child'? Why yes, yes it does. Its a fun fantasy movie for kids, but anyone wanting to watch an action movie should watch this up until a short cameo appearance by Sammo Hung and then turn it off very quickly. Now I'm not a fan of CGI action, but I assumed that with Jackie Chan starring and Sammo Hung directing the action - two action masters - could still pull of some entertaining action scenes. Apparently not, as 'The Medallion' is only marginally better than, oh, say 'Charlie's Angels 2'.

Fun for kids, but action fans should avoid entirely. I'm being generous when I give this 5/10.