by Reymundo Salao
After decades of kicking ass, the great Jackie Chan announces his retirement from being a lead star in action movies, and this time, he means it.
At the recent Cannes Film Festival, Jackie Chan announced his retirement, saying he felt “really, really tired” after those decades of doing the unthinkable in his stunt works.
The 58-year-old actor said that his latest Hollywood movie "CHINESE ZODIAC" would be the last time audiences see him in a leading action role.
If we take a look back from the 1980's up until recent times, especially here in the Philippines, there has only been one great action film icon that has put us in an immense state of awe; an icon that can easily defeat Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in ranking; and can surely kick-ass even off camera; Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan has been kicking ass, and still doing some incredible superhuman, death-defying stunts even when he's already in his fifties. But of course, one of these days, he has to retire and simply rest on his laurels.
“This (Chinese Zodieac) is my last action film,” Chan said. “I tell you, I’m not young any more. I’m really, really tired.
“And the world is too violent right now. It’s a dilemma - I like action but I don’t like violence.”
If you ask me, I do agree that action movies have been a bit nastier with its violence lately. It may be a novelty treat to see something like "Crank" once in a while, but when that style becomes a trend and spreads out into mainstream action movies as an accepted new evolution, it does put that taste of disgust to many movie aficionados.
Chan has been talking of retirement for the past couple of years but said that this time he really means it.
On the other hand, we'll be still be seeing him around in other non-lead action roles. His recent popular gigs include doing voices for Kung Fu Panda, and being the master in the recent Karate Kid remake. His acting prowess is as good as his action stunts.
Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 100 films. Younger audiences may recall Jackie Chan in movies like The Forbidden Kingdom, Shanghai Knights, and the Rush Hour movies; but he is best known for his earlier movies like Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, Dragon Lord, the first Police Story series, The Protector, and Operation Condor (original title: Armour of God 2/ Superfly) which had scenes shot here in the Philippines!
REMINISCING SUPERFLY
Armour of God 2 a.k.a. Operation Condor, a.k.a. Superfly, had an opening scene where Asian Hawk (Jackie Chan) went Powered paragliding, this was shot in Tagaytay City over Taal Lake, Cavite, Philippines. The scene where he stole the gem from the cave tribe and escaped by zorbing was shot in Mount Macolod in Cuenca, Batangas. Wow! all this time that scene put me in a state of awe, only to realize that it was shot here in our country!
The first time we watched this movie, it was entitled SUPERFLY. It was the first movie shown after REGENT theater had its renovation way back in 1992. It was on standing room; the place was jampacked. The scene opened with Jackie Chan having an Indiana Jones style action sequence where he was being chased by tribesmen. It felt very appropriate with that time because this movie opened on Dinagyang week. The sequence ends with a zoom-out far enough to see the entire island, as if it was a google map shot. For a 90's movie, that was more than amazing. And now we know that was the Philippines!
No comments:
Post a Comment