The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

If they had used anyone but Lee Evans this would have been much better.Jackie usually overdoes his scenes but Lee Evans made a shambles out of every scene he was it. Seems as if he and the director thought they were doing Saturday Night Live instead of making a movie.The kid is cute and -- despite the age difference, the romance was OK. The story is silly, but it's Jackie Chan.There are some funny situations, but Lee ruined many of those with his extreme over-acting.

"The Medallion" is truly an all-time great film starring the legendary Jackie Chan in a pleasant action comedy that requires one main ingredient for keeping this film from making it a must see. Just take a camera, follow Jackie around with it, and let him do what he does best, beat baddies with creative martial arts, give him leeway to perform energetic stunts and most of all, enjoy the every moment he's on.Sure I may be sugar-coating the rules to directing the typical Jackie Chan but it's a lot harder than one could imagine. You have to remember a few things that make Jackie Chan the action star that he is. For one thing, his stunt work is graceful like a musical dance scene. taken in the same veins as the likes of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The other main idiosyncrasy that stands Jackie Chan out from other action stars is that his comical energy could rival that of the silent film era stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. But under the direction of Gordan Chan and his crew, they are able to see through him and have every trait of his perfectly acknowledged.Any other star, "The Medallion" would've been another fine line action film that has Julian Sands once again playing the evil dude, prancing around sporting a dark cloak complete with a hyena fur boa like did a decade ago in the film "Warlock". But what they got right was that they patented down every move and mindset that Jackie Chan possesses. First we see him at a Hong Kong restaurant feasting down an exquisite food delight, when a stray dog comes right toward him. Feeling bad for the little stray he offers his plate and orders another one for himself.Shifting between Hong Kong and Ireland, "The Medallion" tells the familiar story of a diabolical villain who wants to steal a precious medallion that holds the key to immortality along with more advanced speed, strength and agility. With his menacing blond locks and well educated demeanour, Snakehead (Sands) is a vibrant antagonist, who lives in posh Irish castle with a modern feel to it. Of course the only thing he wants more than anything is to outlive the human race and continue his mission to thrash his ancient castle more.Chan plays the role of Eddie, a Hong Kong detective assigned by Interpol to hunt down this magical medallion. He joins forces with a tough ex-girlfriend Nicole (Claire Forlani) and a bumbling, but courageous British agent named Watson (Lee Evans). The absurdity of the Watson character may not appease to the non-Western audience, but those of the Western audience will enjoy the presence of Watson's character very similar to Chris Tucker's character to the "Rush Hour" franchise. And even though the filming is American based, "The Medallion" is clearly designed for a Hong Kong audience, the direction is done by Gordon Chan and the rest of the crew make their homes primarily from Hong Kong.And because of this, Jackie Chan can say he feels like home, in front of his fellow countrymen. And it makes a difference because his people knows what he's capable of and doesn't have to be bogged down or watered down just to make an impression towards the American spectrum. Sure he always seems at ease in his surroundings, but unlike films like "Rush Hour" and "The Tuxedo", his stunts aren't part of the story, they are the story. Unlike the films where he shares the spotlight to American co-stars like Owen Wilson and Chris Tucker, he has no worries of sharing or upstaging them, because he's not the sidekick attraction, no here he is in full stardom.The action is definitely all over the place. In one scene while chasing some baddies, a person kicks over some bicycles like dominoes, and Chan just leaps over the seats similar to James Bond in "Live and Let Die" like the crocodile stream scene and it all happens in a span of five seconds compared to scene that could last five minutes.The action scenes are what its all about. What's special about it is that it never looks superficial. There's no long takes or quick cuts. It's Jackie Chan moving naturally the whole 90 minutes of this film. The comic timing adds the right spice to bring this film to life. What more can any action fan want?Forlani is a great partner for Chan. This underrated performer is not only attractive, but she's tough and intelligent to want to be on any team. She knows that he's more than just a butt-kicking hero, but a humane individual fighting against all evil and all obstacles. She knows as much as we do what's he like and how he does it.

This is not a great movie; in fact it isn't even funny when it tries to be. Jackie Chan has starred in so many great movies that one could've imagined when he'd have a flop of his own. The Medalion is just so woeful, it is difficult to explain how utterly poor this movie is. And to think that this was produced in Hong Kong as well, now that to me is a big shock.The makers pumped so much money into the CGI and special effects that they limited the amount of fight choreography and action sequences, of which weren't all that spectacular. It looked heavily disjointed and out of sorts; there was too much CGI, not enough genuine action. The story was frustrating at times, unexciting and lacked depth; the characters were either one dimensional or flat. The romance between Claire and Jackie was embarrassing to watch, it's hard to believe that they had chemistry, because it looked totally unconvincing, and may I add it was a flawed idea to hook them up, anyway. The acting was not so much the problem but rather the woeful script and tedious dialogue, it was boring to boot as well.Lee Evans does his typical one- man English routine to minimal effect. I think he is okay as a stand-up comedian, but his role in this film did him no favours whatsoever. He was wasted in the Medalian, which is unfortunate to say.In fact, this is a waste of a movie and a waste of Jackie's talents- the editing was all over the place. The premise sounded interesting for a while, but overall, it just didn't work and the end product is terrible.I loved Police Story, Drunken Master, Wheels On Meals and My Lucky Stars but this film, the Rush Hour series and The Tuxedo have been disappointing. The truth is Chan is effective when he is given the freedom to do things, but also when the story itself is good; he however is not so effective and at his best when the script is poor and Jackie doesn't get to showcase his strengths and talents. The latter is certainly the case, in reference to his American efforts and in particular to The Medalian.This is not the Jackie Chan we all know and love: as fans of this genre, we all are aware that he can do better than this. But I for one just couldn't bring myself to recommend this to any JC fan, of which I'd say to them avoid this movie at all costs

I think a lot of people hated this movie (and believe me, millions will !) and no one maybe knew that the main reason of hatred comes from this quintet's errors ! OH MY GOD the 5 writers of the screenplay absolutely didn't care for presenting a fantasy had its own solid logic, or building a good connections between the scenes, or anything we remember after watching with feeling of respecting the movie or ourselves ! Except that we watched a simpleton emaciated work.The plot is so weak. You'll hate it more when you love it in the beginning then, as we all did, feel the deception after. So it's a situation of nice idea turned into a hasty poor thing ! You'll find yourself asking questions like : did (Jackie Chan) and his girl just die at the end ?!, and to where exactly they was running ?? To heaven ? Or to cash their money for being in this ? And why they're making money out of trashy work like this and we don't ?!! To tell you the truth we are the idiots who pay money for seeing this to have nothing at all, so we are the perfect losers ! See.. This is the kind of questions this movie makes you ask yourself after watching !!Another catastrophe : the action scenes ! (Another OH MY GOD !). You know as I know as we all know that the fine action is the basic good thing you'll ever get from a (Jackie Chan)'s movie, with some brisk comedy of course. BUT HERE it's obviously spurious and excitedly provocative with all of those silly wires which they hanged (Jackie) with all the time ! They, the American producers, are just so apprehensive of anything bad would ever happen to the profiteer Asian star, totally forgetting that his bold merry jobs as one of the cinema greatest clowns are the main reason for his global success. So they misused him and haired stunts for him to ruin the man's own legend which had been based on his no need for a stunt and his realistic action ventures ! But this time, as well as most of his last American movies, the legend is nearly destroyed, the action that we always expect and deliver is irritatingly phony, and the Man is hanged by stupid weirs (hanged indeed !). So the result would be : a nice idea transformed into a fine trauma ! + a supposed to be nice action turned into fake thing + a great icon making a goof of himself (Like it's a parody of Jackie Chan by Jackie Chan !). Nevertheless this movie had 3 high points.. One is the sweet presence of (Claire Forlani). She got fascinating tender features. However the script gave her nothing to do except smiling !! Although this could be a very beautiful thing to watch, but when it repeated, it became meaningless and boring act which made us remind the old performance of the silent movies !The second point : this movie includes a real rare event maybe you'll find it in history books after (and I'm not kidding !). There is actually a kiss between the Asian actor and the non-Asian actress; this is HUGE as well as historical because there was always (and I mean ALWAYS !) this unspoken objection about a love scene or even a simple kiss between an Asian and an American or European human being !! And the examples for that are quite endless. It was strangely prohibitive and made a lot of fuss about Hollywood's real and old sense of racism. But this movie, which is produced by Hong Kong & USA, DID IT in surprising precedent, to give itself one reason to livelong in addition to its Ritzy Razzie condition ! The third and the last good thing about this movie is being less worse than another flashy yet unfruitful American movie by (Jackie Chan) also from the same time named (Tuxedo) which you must thank God if you didn't watch it till now ! P.S : when the British officer, who hides his reality as a secret agent on his wife, discovered that this very wife is another secret agent who was trained for killing, hiding that fact on him ! You'll see extraordinary resemblance with (Mr. and Mrs. Smith – 2005) ! And the similarity is just outstanding when in one scene of (The Medallion) the wife was shooting in the house and stopped to ask her husband softly with the machine gun in her hands "Are You Fine Baby ?" because there is unbelievably almost identical scene from (Mr. and Mrs. ..) of which you could watch in its trailer.. but 2 years later !.. Just ????