I’ve seen the previews for The Medallion several times. I have liked some Jackie Chan movies, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to see this one. It looked like it would be kind of silly. I had the chance to go see it, so I went. Some things from the movie were silly, but it was entertaining. I enjoyed it and am glad I decided to go see it.
A man bought a very old book that told of two special medallions. In the year of the serpent, a boy would be born who could put the medallions together. The boy would also have special powers and be able to use the medallion to give life.
Interpol was in Hong Kong looking for someone called Snakehead. Eddie Yang, a Hong Kong police officer, was working with Interpol to find Snakehead. Eddie and Arthur Watson, the leader of the Interpol team, didn’t have the best working relationship. Some of Snakehead’s men were seen entering a temple. Watson decided they were going in even though they weren’t sure Snakehead was in there.
Snakehead was there with his men. A young boy was sitting in the temple. A monk gave him two medallions that he joined together. Snakehead found the boy and sat with him. Eddie realized something strange was going on, so he went in. Snakehead managed to get away. Watson blamed Eddie, though he had rescued the young boy, Jai. Two weeks later Eddie was involved in a mission on a ship. He discovered that Snakehead’s men kidnaped Jai. Eddie got one of the men who said the boy was being taken to Ireland.
Eddie traveled to Ireland to find the boy. When he stopped at Interpol to meet with Commander Hammerstock-Smythe, he saw Nicole, an old friend. He also saw Watson again. Watson was not happy to see Eddie again. Nicole and Eddie managed to convince Watson to work with them to find the boy and Snakehead. Eddie got some information that the boy was being brought in on a ship. They went to the docks and Eddie did find Jai. Things didn’t go exactly as planned. Jai used the medallion on Eddie.
When Eddie recovered, he had super powers. He was very strong, could run incredibly fast, and he wasn’t harmed when shot or stabbed. He realized that it was because Jai had used the medallion. He and Watson learned more about the medallion and figured out why Snakehead was after it and the boy. Snakehead continued to try to kidnap Jai and get the medallion. Eddie, Nicole, and Watson worked to protect Jai and stop Snakehead.
CAST
Jackie Chan - Eddie Yang
Lee Evans - Arthur Watson
Claire Forlani - Nicole James
Julian Sands - Snakehead
John Rhy-Davies - Commander Hammerstock-Smythe
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang - Lester
Christy Chang - Charlotte Watson
Johann Myers - Griscard
Alex Bao - Jai
Gordon Chan - Director
The Medallion was released in theaters on August 23, 2003. The movie was 89 minutes long and rated PG-13. I don’t remember there being any swearing in the movie. The movie was too violent for young children to see.
The Medallion was an action comedy, like many of Jackie Chan’s movies have been. There were also elements of fantasy involved in the movie. Eddie received super powers after Jai used the medallion. After that happened, the movie was like one that was about a super hero. Eddie did sort of fly a few times. He became very strong. In one scene, he climbed up the side of a building like Spider-Man. I think this movie was a super hero movie because of those things. Eddie even received his powers after a rather traumatic event, like many super heros in comic books received their powers. I thought that part of the movie was interesting. Those things were a bit silly at times, but it made the movie entertaining. The movie wasn’t really believable with all of that going on, but it was still enjoyable.
The Medallion was action packed. Just a few minutes into the movie Eddie started fighting with some of Snakehead’s men. There were several fights throughout the movie that were full of Chan’s martial arts moves. Even Watson and Nicole did some martial arts, though not as much as Eddie. There were one or two explosions in the movie. There was violence in some scenes, but I have seen more violent movies. The movie was too violent for young children to see. Some people were shot or injured and that was shown. There was also something a bit different that happened near the end of the movie.
There was comedy added in through all of The Medallion. A lot of the comedy was provided by Watson and his actions. Near the beginning of the movie when Interpol entered the temple, Watson kept charging into rooms that just had statues in them. Watson’s reaction to what happened to Eddie was very funny. Watson was a bit of a klutz, but he was fun to watch.
At one point in The Medallion, after Eddie arrived in Ireland, he and Nicole went to Watson’s house to try to convince him to help them track down Snakehead and Jai. Nicole then shared that Watson’s family didn’t know he was part of Interpol. They thought he was a librarian. Later in the movie it was shown that his wife Charlotte had a few secrets of her own. She had a secret stash of weapons hidden and she was very good with a gun. After that one scene that showed her using the guns, it was never mentioned why she had them. I was thinking that maybe she was part of Interpol too, but it was never said for sure. It also wasn’t explained why Snakehead was called that. He was never called anything else.
There were some special effects used at different times in The Medallion. Some of the effects looked good. Some others looked pretty bad. Even some shots that didn’t contain any special effects looked bad. The quality of the picture changed drastically in a few shots and looked horrible. There were some strange camera angels used for some shots. Some times the camera was very jerky. At other times the movie jumped to different shots so quickly it was difficult to keep up with what was going on. During some scenes it was very obvious that the film had been sped up, and it didn’t look that good. There were also some slow motion type shots in the movie too. All the speeding up and slowing down did get a little annoying.
Some things about The Medallion reminded me of The Golden Child. It is has been a long time since I’ve seen The Golden Child, but what I do remember is similar to The Medallion. Both movies have young boys with special powers. Someone was after the boys in both movies for some reason. I can’t remember why the boy was kidnaped in The Golden Child. I think there was martial arts in that movie as well.
There were several characters in The Medallion, but there really wasn’t a lot of development for any of them. Eddie was the main character, but he didn’t have much development. He and Nicole shared a past, but there wasn’t too much about that shared. I think they had worked on a case together a few months before. There seemed to be some romantic feelings between them, but it wasn’t really explored. Watson was mainly around just for comic relief. Snakehead turned up several times, but he was barely developed.
The acting in The Medallion wasn’t wonderful, but it wasn’t horrible either. There really wasn’t anything special about Jackie Chan’s performance. It was like most of his other roles. I’ve only seen Claire Forlani in one other movie, Meet Joe Black. Her role in that movie was very different from Nicole. She did fine with her role in this movie. John Rhy-Davies turned up in a few scenes as Commander Hammerstock-Smythe. I had seen him in a few movies over the years, but never really knew who he was until he was in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He looked so different from his role in those movies. I’ve seen Julian Sands in some other movies, but it has been a long time since the last time I saw him in one.
CHARACTERS
Eddie Yang - Police officer in Hong Kong. He was a good cop. He was talented at martial arts. He received super powers after things went wrong. He was freaked out at first, but he seemed to adjust quickly.
Nicole James - Interpol agent. She and Eddie shared a past together. She was a kind, caring woman. She could also do martial arts.
Arthur Watson - Interpol agent. He told his family he was a librarian. He seemed to have issues about being in control at times. He was a bit clumsy.
Jai - A young boy who had special powers.
Snakehead - A man who was determined to get the medallion and Jai. Snakehead had a lot of men working for him. He and Eddie had encountered each other before. Snakehead was not a nice person.
The Medallion was silly at times, but it was an entertaining movie. Fans of Jackie Chan or super hero movies may also enjoy the movie.
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