By Subhash K. Jha
Film: "Bleeding Steel"; Director: Leo Shang; Jackie Chan, Ouyang Nana, Show Lo; Rating: **
Nothing infuriates more than an aging star refusing to play his age. Jackie Chan is no longer agile nor funny. Goofy, yes. And as he does the protective father's act once again in this film -- we saw him do the same in his previous release -- the far superior "Foreigner" -- we see him sneak up behind the unsuspecting girl who doesn't know it's Papa Chan wielding the gun and knives to protect his daughter from furious robots.
Robots, who act better than the human actors, I may add.
This is an annoyingly formulaic farce filled with slippery chases down smooth crowded highways and sneaked furtive moments of Papa's anguish where Jackie Chan tries to look all teary-eyed and paternal. But honestly, watching Jackie Chan trying to emote is as funny as seeing Sidharth Malhotra speak in Bhojpuri. There are some things some actors should never attempt. Jackie Chan going beyond action is one of them.
This is the second release this week where a burnt-out actor fobs off the fast-fade phase in his career by kicking some serious a**.
Alas, both Gerard Butler in "Den Of Thieves" and Jackie Chan in this film are hopelessly misguided in their athletic zeal. Jackie Chan looks wheezy and out of breath even in the big stunt at Sydney's famed Opera House where he is clearly fudging the high-jumps. They have seen better days. The Opera House and the Chinese superstar.
Funnier and more agile is the young actor Show Lo who gets into the drag mode with disturbingly credible breasts, to beat the hell out of a writer.
No, not the one who wrote this tome of a travesty. Like much of Jackie Chan's works, "Bleeding Steel" relies on set-pieces of action designed as individual self-contained thrill episodes rather than a part of a larger picture. Jackie Chan tries hard to move us with his fatherly affections for young actress Ouyang Nana.
I almost expected the father and daughter to burst into a Bollywood song. Even that bit of cultural relief is denied in this perversely pompous paean to Jackie Chan's swift skills of skulduggery designed to defeat comic books demons. Sadly, the adversary here, a robotic meanie who throws around his weight like a classroom bully, hardly scares.
The robotic bully simply bores. Like everything else in this overblown, over-ripe, overeager-to-please tale of a daughter implanted with robotic wisdom and a father who refuses to grow up.
What a pair!
