Jackie Chan: Thanks for Watching My Movies, American Suckers
Filed under: Action, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand
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Aging martial artist Jackie Chan apparently keeps a blog, and has written the following on it, according to the AP: he's fully aware that Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour 3 all sucked. He knew they were crap when he made them, and he knows it now. (I think Richard Corliss of Time Magazine is now the last remaining person on Earth who doesn't know it -- he gave Rush Hour 3 a glowing review.) Of the first Rush Hour, Chan says "When we finished filming, I felt very disappointed because it was a movie I didn't appreciate and I did not like the action scenes involved. I felt the style of action was too Americanized and I didn't understand the American humor." Okay ... thanks for sharing. So why did he return for more of the same, after such a negative experience? Because, he says, he was offered an "irresistible" sum of money. He doesn't even bother giving a reason for the third one, apparently.
The interesting thing about all of this is that Chan seems to equate the bad humor of the Rush Hour movies with American taste, in general, as if we're a nation of people who think Rush Hour is the bar by which good taste is measured. He uses the word 'American' over and over again, when pinpointing the flaws of his various projects. Of his upcoming movie, The Forbidden Kingdom, with Jet Li, he tells us -- at least it's in advance, this time -- that the movie is no good. Why? It's "a movie made for Americans." I can't wait for the press junket for that one ...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-01-2007 @ 11:41AM
kel said...
Did you even read the blog entry, or did you just read into it? Jackie Chan doesn't dis Americans in the entry. While he clearly distinguishes between American tastes and Asian tastes when it comes to film, it isn't in a disparaging manner. Also, contrary to your post, he does give a reason why he agreed to "Rush Hour 3"
From the blog entry:
" Filming part 3 was no longer about the money. To me, it was about making another sequel for the audience around the world because in each country I travel to, someone would always ask me, “When will you film another Rush Hour?” But when I‘m in Asia, a lot of people would ask me, 'When will you film another Drunken Master?'"
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10-01-2007 @ 11:43AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
And he's wrong how? Americans aren't exactly sharp...they embraced Tom Green, American Pie and Jim Carrey. Right now Ferrell's man-child thing is the rage.
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10-01-2007 @ 12:10PM
K said...
So what's wrong with Jackie's honest opinion of how he experienced and understand as being generically American?
That's the same sort of treatment you'd give it when you see a movie from, as an example, China and say that it's "very Chinese" and generalize it, even though China has hundreds of dialects and a movie from North-Eastern China and a movie from Southern China are completely different, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference, would you? Even if you did, you would say that they're still generally Chinese, right?
Besides - money always talks.
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10-01-2007 @ 12:50PM
kevjohn said...
This is hardly the first time an actor has made a crap movie that they knew was crap just for the money. They are just rarely upfront and honest about their motivations.
Who is that actor who names his movie roles after what he uses the money for?
"That was my Montana Farm movie. That one was my Malibu Estate film. That, that was Tahiti for 6 months and my kids' college degrees."
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10-02-2007 @ 11:46AM
Patrick said...
Regarding Rush Hour movies representing American tastes... Critics may not have liked them, but that didn't stop people from forking over their hard earned cash to see them: the three movies made over 500 million dollars just in domestic tickets. That seems to indicate that, for better or worse, a large number of people did think they were good movies.
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10-04-2007 @ 8:54PM
John Buscher said...
I would like to see a movie made about Washing Machine Charlie, the World War II pilot, staring Jackie Chan as the pilot.The movie would be about Charlie's life, and titled Washing Machine Charlie.
John Buscher
217-774-5225
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