"Spoiler" describes my comments on this movie. If you haven't seen it, don't read this review.
"Jackie Chan is The Prisoner." Usually when a title has the name of an actor in it, that actor is the main character.
Not in "The Prisoner". Jackie Chan plays a tiny role, hardly showing his face in a fade-in, fade-out movie.
Here's the plotline as far as I can tell (most of it is clouded by unnecessary dialogue and boring scenes): a policeman needs to reveal the plans of some guy who is in charge of a prison. In order to do that, he gets himself into trouble and ends up in the prison to go "undercover". First of all, why did he need to get in trouble? Couldn't the police department just stick him in there? Maybe not, but we never find out.
He makes a friend, and the movie goes on in a hum-drum fashion, having little to do with helping the plot.
Somehow Jackie Chan gets into a fight with a guy because he is the best pool player around. This man wanted him to lose a billiards game, but Jackie Chan didn't, so the guy tries to kill him and his girlfriend. His girlfriend gets stabbed in the back and needs a liver transplant (???). We never hear about her again with the exception of one line toward the end. He plays one long game of poker or other card game with someone and wins a ton of money, but this guy wants the money back and tries to fight him. Jackie accidentally kills him and ends up in the same prison. What are the chances of that happening?
The plot moves on unsteadily. One guy constantly tries to escape to see his son and another loves his pet mouse, which we see only once.
Soon the card gamer's brother gets in trouble and ends up in the same prison (what are the chances of THAT happening?) so he can kill Jackie Chan. They fight and Jackie ends up killing the head commissioner or somebody like that. Like I said, everything is clouded and foggy.
Jackie and three others undergo a fake execution and must now kill some guy who we've never heard of before. There are a lot of guys in this movie.
And then they turn invincible. They take on practically an army of guards and military personnel armed with semi-automatic and automatic weapons while they have only handguns. They never miss, yet the military personnel can never hit. Suddenly mass killing ensues.
At one point, they are all running on a runway while fifty or sixty men are all firing at them. They aren't hit once until they almost reach their plane. Then they all die except the main character who blows open the big bad guy's plot.
The plot has as many holes as swiss cheese, and the storyline to go with it is lacking exciting events. Nothing fits together, and the viewer is left behind to wonder what exactly is going on. Don't get me wrong. Most Jackie Chan movies have shallow plotlines, but they make it up with the excellently choreographed fight sequences. This one just puts guns to use to make mindless killing and boring fight scenes very unoriginal and useless.
Nothing you'd expect to see in a Jackie Chan movie.
"Jackie Chan is The Prisoner." Usually when a title has the name of an actor in it, that actor is the main character.
Not in "The Prisoner". Jackie Chan plays a tiny role, hardly showing his face in a fade-in, fade-out movie.
Here's the plotline as far as I can tell (most of it is clouded by unnecessary dialogue and boring scenes): a policeman needs to reveal the plans of some guy who is in charge of a prison. In order to do that, he gets himself into trouble and ends up in the prison to go "undercover". First of all, why did he need to get in trouble? Couldn't the police department just stick him in there? Maybe not, but we never find out.
He makes a friend, and the movie goes on in a hum-drum fashion, having little to do with helping the plot.
Somehow Jackie Chan gets into a fight with a guy because he is the best pool player around. This man wanted him to lose a billiards game, but Jackie Chan didn't, so the guy tries to kill him and his girlfriend. His girlfriend gets stabbed in the back and needs a liver transplant (???). We never hear about her again with the exception of one line toward the end. He plays one long game of poker or other card game with someone and wins a ton of money, but this guy wants the money back and tries to fight him. Jackie accidentally kills him and ends up in the same prison. What are the chances of that happening?
The plot moves on unsteadily. One guy constantly tries to escape to see his son and another loves his pet mouse, which we see only once.
Soon the card gamer's brother gets in trouble and ends up in the same prison (what are the chances of THAT happening?) so he can kill Jackie Chan. They fight and Jackie ends up killing the head commissioner or somebody like that. Like I said, everything is clouded and foggy.
Jackie and three others undergo a fake execution and must now kill some guy who we've never heard of before. There are a lot of guys in this movie.
And then they turn invincible. They take on practically an army of guards and military personnel armed with semi-automatic and automatic weapons while they have only handguns. They never miss, yet the military personnel can never hit. Suddenly mass killing ensues.
At one point, they are all running on a runway while fifty or sixty men are all firing at them. They aren't hit once until they almost reach their plane. Then they all die except the main character who blows open the big bad guy's plot.
The plot has as many holes as swiss cheese, and the storyline to go with it is lacking exciting events. Nothing fits together, and the viewer is left behind to wonder what exactly is going on. Don't get me wrong. Most Jackie Chan movies have shallow plotlines, but they make it up with the excellently choreographed fight sequences. This one just puts guns to use to make mindless killing and boring fight scenes very unoriginal and useless.
Nothing you'd expect to see in a Jackie Chan movie.