User Reviews

This was the first solo Jackie Chan movie that I have seen for a long while. In "Forbidden Kingdom," he shared the star billing with Jet Li. In "Karate Kid", he even played a supporting role for Jaden Smith! Now comes word that this film "Chinese Zodiac" will already be the last action film of the iconic martial arts star. If that statement alone will not convince his fans to catch it, then I do not know what will.

I think a lot of people shared that idea, even my kids who have only seen him before in "Karate Kid". Today is the first weekend that it is showing in local theaters. We watched this in a movie theater in Chinatown, and that 3pm showing was totally SOLD OUT. It had been quite some time that I have been in a completely full theater in a showing that is not a premiere. It is truly impressive that the audience was composed of fans of all ages.

"Chinese Zodiac" recounts the exploits of a mercenary of historic relics, JC (Jackie Chan), who is searching for the twelve bronze heads of Chinese Zodiac animals which had been looted from the Summer Palace. JC leads a team who works with him, "Mission Impossible" style.

He shares his adventure as well with two plucky ladies: Katherine (a French heiress who would like to him to find her great-grandfather ship which was lost at sea), and a Chinese activist Coco (who is part of a crusade to have Western powers to return cultural treasures back to the countries from whom these were stolen during colonial times).

As with all Jackie Chan movies in the past, the main reason people go to watch it is not really the story, but Jackie's unique brand of comedy- action. This film certainly does not disappoint. It is two hours worth of exciting stunts which only Jackie can deliver. The movie opened with a long sequence wherein he was sailing down a mountain road using a body suit with roller blades all over it. The last scenes involved skydiving in order to recover the last animal head before it plummets into a volcano! There were still so many action scenes in between -- involving dogs in a maze, pirates on an island, a rival mercenary on a sofa, henchmen with photography equipment -- all as exhilarating as they were also funny.

Yes, Jackie Chan's age may be showing (he is 58 now), but he definitely still has IT! The outtakes shown over the end credits show that he was still the one doing all those dangerous stunts and demanding physical comedy routines himself. Though he was uncharacteristically playing a rogue character in this film, like all of his past movies, there are still lessons to be learned at the end, both personally as well as patriotically. Cheesy dialogs and corny acting, yes, but above all it is excellent entertainment, as can be evidenced by the enthusiastic audience response. Come on in and enjoy Jackie Chan's final show!

For a Jackie Chan movie, then he really went all out this time, putting on an adventure unlike anything he has done before. That being said, I am not saying that his previous work has been less than this movie, it is just that this movie takes Jackie Chan's breathtaking stunts and combines it with an adventure much in the likes of "Indiana Jones", and it actually works out for a nice combination, and a nice change of scenery for Jackie Chan.

As with all Jackie Chan movies, there is a hefty amount of action, martial arts, jaw-dropping stunts and comedy in this movie. And yes, it delivers on all these accounts. And he proves that despite being up in age, then he still is the undisputed master of stunts and this particular style of movies.

There is nothing much to say about this movie actually, as it is fairly what you'd expect from a Jackie Chan movie, and any fans of him will not be disappointed while watching this movie.

Jackie Chan does it again and even gives Indiana Jones a run for his money this time.

I was really surprised when I saw Shu Qi and Daniel Wu make a short cameo appearance at the end of the movie. That really was a nice touch to the movie.

The international thief JC (Jackie Chan) and his team are hired to steal two bronze heads of the Chinese Zodiac by the MP Corporation that is specialized in supply stolen relics to auctions. After many incidents, JC befriends the women Coco (Helen Yao) and Catherine (Laura Weissbecker) and together with his crew, they live intense adventures and betrayals.

"Sap ji sang ciu", a.k.a. "Chinese Zodiac", is a typical Jackie Chan Film, with a naive and funny full of action story. The beginning is breathtaking, with JC rolling and passing by an army and makes the movie worthwhile watching. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Operação Zodíaco" ("Zodiac Operation")

This is the type of Jackie Chan movie which you just need to relax and don't think too hard about the plot. It's a fun adventures movie that has the nostalgic feel of his past Armor of God films.

The movie itself is quirky and just overall fun. It is a nod to his past films with the overacting and weird dialogue. It reminds me of his late 80's-90's stuff. CZ12 is a modern version of those films.

The plot itself is quite interesting and it was hard to follow at first but as the story progressed, it made sense. All in all, the film is a modern and updated version of his past Armor of God movies. This is for today's generation who have not seen his earlier work. Older fans might be disappointed if they expect it to be like his older work. Remember, just take off your nostalgia glasses and enjoy for what it's worth.

This is a classic late-period style Jackie Chan Chinese action-adventure. Not quite as good as the Operation Condor/Armour of God movies it's supposed to be a sequel to (nor as good as Supercop/Police Story films) but every bit as good as The Accidental Spy, Who Am I?, and The Myth. And I thought all of those were quite enjoyable.

This movie shares all the great features and all of the flaws of Chan's self produced and/or directed films. They have a great sense of humor and the stunt/action sequences are quite inventive. But they are also quite cartoony--the acting is VERY broad--and there's quite a bit in it that defies any common sense. But who really cares, right? This is Chan unfiltered.

The only REAL flaw to the film is the clumsy way Chan keeps inserting his moral messages. He has characters tell us what's right and wrong in very stilted dialog instead of creating situations that demonstrate his points. (not to mention that a few of his morals seem to have been government imposed--"we are not to interfere with the social structure in any way" a protest leader incongruously says as Chan nods wisely and says "That's right!") But I think this will make a fine home video release for the US audience, once they edit out some of the more China-centric chit chat, re-dub the dialog (or at least all the English, which is horribly spoken by the international cast) and replace a couple of oddly inappropriate pop tunes).

I'll be buying it for my JC collection!

Jackie Chan is a charmer! I cannot believe he received two Guinness World Records for this action packed interesting movie.

It starts with a fine note about some relics and then Jackie and his team who are befriended by a French mademoiselle set out on an adventure to find the French lady's great grandfather's remains but Chan and his team have other plans. As the story moves forwards, things start to squirt out and everything makes sense.

The action quotient for this movie is amazing and Chan has given chance to the females, too. It was interesting and at times funny, too. The plot is not much of a shocker if you have watched other Jackie Chan movies but with a speculation that this is his last action one, I give it 7/10.

Everything else with stunts, screenplay and direction is good; music is fine and numbing during action sequences. But as a whole, it is pretty enjoyable one compared to the recently released Hollywood movies.

Bottom line: It will make a perfect weekend movie with your kids.

WATCH OUT FOR: Jackie Chan, of course!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Language: No | Sex: No | Drugs: No | Nudity: No Z Alcohol: No

People here must be smoking something. This movie is unwatchable. I could not finish it. It is boring, terribly put together. Fight scenes are fine, everything else pain to watch.

I watched this movie without seeing the reviews and enjoyed it very very much. Which is why I'm quite surprised of the low reviews it's been getting from critics.

Sure, many dialogues were corny and the plot is borderline ridiculous. But do you really go to a Jackie Chan movie for its story?

The stunts and fight scenes in this movie are simply amazing. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't watched it yet, but if you grew up watching Jackie's earlier films (80s and 90s), you're gonna be pleasantly reminded of his golden days. He's not as fast or as nimble, but it is still light years better than the typical 'hollywood' action scenes.

As mentioned, story and dialogue: meh. Think of it as a vehicle for the action that ensues. You'll get a few trademark comedy reminiscent of Jackie's earlier works, and overall it's a very good family film. But action is the hook of this movie. It's seriously so good that you'll come in with expectations of great action, and still come out thinking that was better than expected.

If you're a fan of Jackie, this is a no-brainer must-watch. If you're not a fan, give it a chance as it is still an extremely solid action movie.

Went in with a load of expectations as it was jackie's full fledged action movie after a long time ........ and sequel of a highly entertaining "Armour of God" added more zeal to the expectations ... movie starts off with a superb stunt with jackie trademark of riskiness written all over ... then movie movie moves off superfast with stunts, comedy and entertainment all through the way ... 2 and half hours runs without brakes ..... jackie is wonderful throughout the film ... though the movie misses jackieism of 80's and 90's a little bit , still the magic works .........

verdict: Jackie's show throughout - highly entertaining ... action fans don't miss it ;)

In the past 3 decades Jackie Chan has successfully developed and maintained his own kind of genre full of unbelievable action, acrobatic fights, thrilling moments, unlimited fun and decent humour entertaining all age groups ranging from the innocent kids to the intelligent old. His latest offering is also made on the similar format showcasing all the essential ingredients of a Jackie Chan film but still cannot be rated at par with his earlier classics since its not that exciting as it may seem from its short synopsis.

This time the heist specialist or treasure hunter Chan takes up an assignment to deliver the 12 bronze heads of the Chinese Zodiac, stolen from Chinese dynasty's Summer Palace centuries ago. The location of few of those heads is known but the rest need to be discovered and brought back. Chan and his crew are hired to find these 12 bronze heads and the film is all about their adventurous expedition to complete the collection.

It begins with a novel, exciting & well shot sequence where Chan is escaping from a mansion after completing his ongoing mission. It sets the mood right and you are all game for watching something very exciting and exceptional coming up in the next reels. But unfortunately, despite having some great action sequences, CZ12 doesn't turn out to be that entertaining as expected. The fun and humor element is not the same as found in Chan's other movies and the characters are very weak, foolish and forced which are not able to impress at all. Particularly the bunch of pirates and the girls are simply there to act as few silly characters in the film and nothing more.

A major negative feature of the film is the use of French and other foreign languages in it for a considerable period of time without any English subtitles on the screen, which forces you to keep watching it helplessly like a fool. After few initial good moments the screenplay becomes directionless and only aims at the thrilling actions sequences thrown in to keep the pace going. The camera-work is truly superb as usual and the background score successfully manages to excite you in all those well conceived brave scenes, especially the ones involving the sky diving and volcano sequences.

So if you are a die-hard Jackie Chan fan from decades, then this film will surely remind you of his gems such as ARMOUR OF GOD (1986) and more. But at the same time, will not give you a similar experience in the theater watching the miracle man. Yet, CZ12 might impress many young viewers not familiar with the amazing living legend called Jackie Chan. And at the age of 58 (with more than 100 films), I can't even imagine any other person in the entire globe performing such risky and unbelievable stunts all alone by himself like a rubber man.

To say it all, as a true fan of the maestro I loved watching CZ12 and its crazy sequences but as an exciting adventure project its not upto the mark if compared to Chan's earlier gems and could be a lot better (keeping in mind its interesting plot). The man is there in the entire film standing tall as always and if this is supposed to be his last major action project, then it surely deserves to be seen by all his fans as a must for this one reason alone.

Although I am not the biggest Jackie Chan fan around, for many years I have been sure to eventually catch each new movie he puts out. So when "Chinese Zodiac" came out on Blu-ray, you can be sure that I rented it. But after watching it, I have to say that my feelings are mixed about it. I will excuse the often lousy dubbing, since that is something that Chan couldn't have controlled. But I have to say that the plot is something of a mess. It's TOO fast-paced, often with important plot details unclear at the time and you have to wait until later in the movie to understand just what was going on. Also, the central characters don't have strong personalities. Second, some of the special effects are pretty weak. Now, I know that this movie didn't have a big Hollywood studio budget, but I think Chan should have worked with what he had, like he did with many of his movies a couple of decades or so ago. Third, some of the photograph is pretty weak, boasting ugly colors that are distracting.

Still, there are some positive things to be found here. The photography may be weak, but otherwise there is some skilled camera-work. The plot may be incoherent at times, but the movie doesn't have any boring or tedious moments (well, except maybe for the scene on the wrecked ship - that does go on too long.) And when it comes to martial art action and stunt sequences, the movie does delivers. Chan may be getting old and starting to slow down, but he still knows how to deliver thrills.

Weighing the good with the bad, the movie winds up being okay. If you are a Jackie Chan fan, you'll probably find the movie passable entertainment. Though odds are you won't find it one of his best. However, if you haven't seen a Jackie Chan movie before, this isn't the movie to start with. Start with something like "Police Story".

This is a tricky movie to critique. First of all, Jackie Chan has stated that this is his last time performing his own stunts in a movie. So do I measure CZ12 as a standalone film or do I position it as a final act in the long line of Jackie Chan's filmography over the last 30 years?

Secondly, what can I expect from Jackie Chan? As a final bow, what can he do to surprise me? He is long past his physical peak (in my opinion, his top physical peak was Police Story 2). After 20 years of growing up on his films, The "Jackie Chan Action Scene Formula" is forever embedded into my brain; I almost always know how his fight scenes end. In case you do not know what I'm talking about, here it is:

There's a situation where Jackie Chan is being beaten by a group of people. The fight leads to an environment/a prop.

Jackie Chan using the environment/prop, creatively defeats the entire group of people.

There's a joke at the end that comes from the environment/prop. End scene. So, did Chinese Zodiac 12 surprise me? I would say 40% yes, 60% no.

I watched a recent interview that Jackie Chan gave to a mainland show where he said that he did not like casting TV actors in his movies because they take way too much time to get through a scene of dialogue. It seems he went the other extreme, because the dramatic scenes are played out and edited way too quickly. It's like every dramatic scene was played out on fast-forward and often there is not a lot of time to digest what's going on. Even comedic moments are neutered from the lack of time to digest them. I found this to be problematic.

Narrative wise, the story takes shortcuts. Characters act out of character at times for story convenience. And seriously, can anyone really buy Jackie Chan being a heartless money-grubbing thief? I'd have an easier time buying Tom Hanks playing a bad guy than Jackie Chan.

So about the set pieces. For what he can't bring physically, Chan makes it up with scale and locales. The action set pieces are fun, some stand out more than others. My favorite was the bodyblading sequence at the beginning. That was a very tense sequence watching Jackie Chan go head first speeding down a highway. The story and action scenes in CZ12 ask the audience to recall Jackie Chan's past filmography, notably the two Armour of God movies (You can call this Armour of God 3, if you like). It even drew a few gags from it and there was one set that recalled the drug factory from Dragons Forever. This makes it impossible for me to critique it as a standalone film.

Part of the film's story is a piece of issue-tainment addressing the issue of museums withholding historical artifacts from their home countries. It's an issue that Jackie Chan seems to care a lot about and he presents it as an international issue. Although the film treats this issue rather lightly and it does ultimately get buried under the trappings of a Jackie Chan movie, it's nice to see Chan raising an issue like this in a film.

There are many personal touches like that here, it's very possible that Jackie Chan can just be a director in the future. There was one noteworthy part of the movie where Jackie Chan actually officially apologizes to his real-life wife for the time they've missed together all these years. They reportedly see each other once a year. This moved me by the end. It was not from the story of the film or from a well-earned dramatic catharsis, but because it felt like Jackie Chan was saying goodbye to me.

For anybody who's unfamiliar with Chan, it's not a great movie by conventional rules nor would it gain him any new fans. For these people, I refer you to his earlier films, check out The Drunken Master and the Police Story films.

For people who grew up on Jackie Chan movies like I did, I don't think I can ever stomach the idea of Jackie Chan saying goodbye. My earlier memories of films were of Jackie Chan movies. Watching this movie, I was moved, laughed and exhilarated, all the time thinking maybe this was the last time. If Jackie Chan really chose to retire performing action, CZ12 is a good way to go out.

Chinese Zodiac is the long-delayed third instalment of Jackie Chan's 'Asian Hawk', following on from ARMOUR OF GOD and ARMOUR OF GOD II: OPERATION CONDOR. Having just endured this ridiculous piece of international entertainment, I can only say that I wish they hadn't bothered.

In recent years, Jackie has received plenty of criticism for being a mouthpiece for the communist Chinese government. He wrote the script for this thing (as well as fulfilling about 14 other roles) and unsurprisingly the film throughout is full of anti-Western sentiment, particularly from a young and irritating Chinese girl who seems to be included merely to spew out continuous bile about how imperialism robbed China of much of its heritage.

Phew. Politics aside, Chinese Zodiac is an incredibly goofy film that lacks both the spirit and heart of Jackie's older movies. It's even a comedown from ROB-B-HOOD, which only came out a decade ago. Everyone loved Jackie in the old days for his energetic fight scenes and incredible stunts, and both are in short supply here. There are a few fun fights towards the climax, but none in the first hour, and the stunts are either wirework assisted or CGI. Not what we wanted to see. The script is diabolical, the acting from the rest of the cast is very poor, and Jackie himself seems to be on autopilot. Incredibly, Chinese Zodiac is a film that makes THE MEDALLION look like a masterwork.

Wow - even if its not one of his greatest works. JC made an action movie for 10 mil $,earned two Guinness World Records: "Most Stunts Performed by a Living Actor" and "Most Credits in One Movie" and he did that with 58 years. Even if there are bad reviews from the critics, i must say as a fan, i am not disappointed. Really proud to chose this man as a hero of my childhood. This movie is suppose to end his carer. He has outdone himself in this one. Shows that his heart is with China's heritage. Even if you don't like his naive perspective of the world, we should strive to it. That is far from reality, but we can give it a try. The last worldwide action hero. Thanks for being a roll model my hats off to you.

I love Chan, but this style of film does not appeal to me, although the action scenes are always a masterpiece, but the post credits enchanted me more than the film itself, Chan is an admirable actor, with his springy body and unbreakable... And in the end it still speaks of the fear of action scenes, for not knowing when it might be the last... So beautiful...

This movie begins with a really fun sequence with Chan covered in roller skates and has a lot of fun fights, although not as much of the Keatonesque fight humor as in some movies.

But my god, what an inept story. It will tell you everything you need to know about the sense of it when I tell you a character buys a set of four antique items, destroys three to make the remaining one unique, and is then congratulated because that item is "three times" what it was worth before. Mathematically that's a big loss, so why is he being congratulated?

Nothing in this movie makes more sense than that. Motivations are all over the map, attempts to fill in some emotional back story for the characters are perfunctory, the stuff about relic theft seems well- intentioned but unconnected the feel of the story, and one has to assume the fight scenes were designed before the story was written, as the story goes through various convolutions just to get characters in the right place for some big action scene.

I'm torn between giving this a 6 and a 7. Ultimately it's a matter of mluch action scenes I'd rate at an 8 can counterbalance story scenes that I'd give a 4, and since there are some big action-less chunks, it's possible a 6 would be best. But I'll be nice, because it did have some very good moments.

I've probably seen at least 80% of Jackie's films, new and old, plenty more than once, but I was really disappointed at this.

I watched the English dub (normally I'd prefer to watch the original language, subtitled into English) The script feels like they took every other line out at random, and the plot, such as it is, really suffers because of it. A decent scriptwriter handling the English version could have made all the difference.

It's a shame because the production values are high, and the stunts are good (if a little fake in places, due to obvious wire removal shots, which is a shame because that is what I enjoyed most about the old films)