Skiptrace (2016)

Skiptrace: Directed by Renny Harlin. With Jackie Chan, Johnny Knoxville, Bingbing Fan, Eric Tsang. A detective from Hong Kong teams up with an American gambler to battle against a notorious Chinese criminal.

“Skiptrace finds Jackie Chan trying that odd Chinese-American combination yet again, but unfortunately he fails miserably this time. Johnny Knoxville fails to fire up that natural flair of comedy that Owen Wilson had so effortlessly aced in the Shanghai franchise. Unfortunately the movie falls like dominoes owing to a bland plot and an unvarying disconnect that rips apart whatever Skiptrace was trying to walk upon.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDIRECTION OF SKIPTRACE u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe direction of Skiptrace is absolutely pathetic. Renny Harlin isnu0026#39;t really sure what he wishes to show. You can see that confusion in his frames. Or maybe that element of clarity is missing from his head that clouds his judgment. Editing will compel you to shake your head. It is that bad.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHumour is quite confined, always acting contrary to our expectations. With Johnny Knoxville in the vanguard to stay as the primary entertainer of Skiptrace, expectations naturally shot up high. But Johnny made it all mediocre. You keep waiting for something funny, but then the wait becomes punishing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot is forced upon to entertain a deliberate road trip. You feel the emptiness of it all when you see nothing substantial emanate from any corner. We are always heading towards something, so thatu0026#39;s kind of good.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eChan and Knoxville create an okay chemistry though it is hard to compare their pairing up with the likes of what you have seen over the years.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNOSTALGIC OLD TIMES u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGone are those days when Jackie used to be young, and his fight scenes used to be the ogling kind. It always sends me back in time, when I try to remember all of his arresting fight sequences from the likes of Project A series, Who Am I, City Hunter, Armour of God and Police Story franchise. He still manages to entertain us nevertheless, but the quantum of combat bits in his movies has seen a gradual decline over the years. Maybe old age is doing that to him. It is in a way sad, because even when his movies didnu0026#39;t bank on a good storyline, he used to still uplift them with his jaw-dropping brawls. We miss that profusely.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNow that I think of it every Jackie Chan movie is ending up like that. Maybe for a change he should use a stunt double so that he doesnu0026#39;t hurt himself delivering those parkour like stunts, as is quite evident from his end credit scenes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTHE FINAL VERDICT u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSkiptrace makes for a passable watch, preferable when you are fine with your brain taking a holiday for a change. You cannot help but think, it is time Jackie Chan amp up his entertaining quotient, by partnering up with either Owen Wilson or Tucker again. At least that magic was working for him.”