The Accidental Spy (2002)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Excellent, a Must See

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Review: This movie sees Chan, Buck Yuen, play an over enthusiastic salesman who struggles to get sales in a fitness store and is constantly pushed around by his boss. Whilst going out for lunch in the shopping complex were he works, he witnesses a robbery and all of a sudden, he becomes an action hero by recovering the money from the robbers and getting the culprits captured by the police. His name is then plastered all of over the media and he is tracked down by a private investigator who is looking for a rich man son whose last wish, on his death bed, is to reunite with him. After his father passes away, he is left with these random clues which point to a lot of money and a priceless formula for liquid opium. He then follows the clues which lead him to Turkey but he is hunted down by various spies who also want the priceless formula. With the help of undercover agents, he tackles through the various hit men that want to kill him for the formula and, as usual, he manages the stop the baddies and saves the day. I liked the first half of this movie because you get to see a normal side to Chan, without all of the superhero abilities but when he switches to a Bond type character, it just ends up to be your everyday action movie which we have seen Chan star in, many times before. Half of the time, he did look a bit dazed and confused through the film and it really amazed me how he had the ability to fight off the baddies after being such an average salesman in a shop. Anyway, there are some good stunts throughout the film and Chan really does push the action to the limit by running through a market naked whilst fighting off the baddies. The showdown at the end was quite impressive but when I found out that the whole film was based around a agent who wanted to catch the top dog, it all seemed a bit pointless. Anyway, it's worth a watch just to see the action scenes and a everyday Chan but it's nothing that we haven't seen before. Watchable!Round-Up: This movie was directed by Teddy Chan whose known for the 2014 movie, Kung Fu Killer starring Donnie Yen. This is the first movie that he has made with Chan and you can see that he didn't really give this movie his all by the way that he is acting throughout the film. After watching some of the movies that Chan has directed himself, like the Police Story franchise, I really did notice a difference between the two movies and the glum look on Chans face proves that he doesn't like to be directed by people who he hasn't worked with before. Don't get me wrong, he does show some true emotion through the film and the attention to detail in the action scenes were spot on but he just seemed a bit distant throughout the film. Chan was 48 when this movie was released and he still was able to pull of those amazing stunts with ease. You wouldn't believe that he was pushing towards 50 whilst watching it. Now at 61 there's no sign of him slowing down and with another Rush Hour and Karate Kid in the pipeline along with the recent release of Dragon Blade with John Cusack and Adrien Brody, he really is a true action hero.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/thriller/martial arts/comedies starring Jackie Chan, Eric Tsang. Vivian Hsu and Min Kim. 4/10

I always enjoy watching Jackie Chan on the screen. He is a very spectacular martial artist who also utilises slapstick in all of of his movies which is a throwback to the Charlie Chaplin-era. Look no further than movies such as Rumble in the Bronx (1995), Rush Hour (1998), and Shanghai Noon (2000) as his career highlights. Like all actors/actresses they all have a lot of movies that can be divided in the hit and miss category and The Accidental Spy is certainly a movie to forget for Jackie Chan.The comedy seems to be forced and I just couldn't get engaged in this movie. The entire story was just pathetic. In fact this movie was woefully bad, that it put me to sleep after 30 minutes.Unless you are a die hard Jackie Chan fan, look elsewhere.1/10.

Apparently there are two versions of "The Accidental Spy" in circulation, the most commonly found cut one (which runs about 90 minutes) and the harder to find long one (which runs about 110 minutes). This certainly offers a reasonable explanation as to why the plot of this movie in its cut form seems so disjointed. But it does not fully explain why it is so dull. The tone swings wildly from light spy comedy to serious spy drama - the movie never seems sure of itself. The fighting is unremarkable if you've seen any of Jackie's previous outings, and some of the action scenes have a "been there, done that" feel to them. The climactic "Speed"-like sequence of a tanker that must not slow down or it will explode is spectacular, but has nothing to do with the main plot. On the bright side, there is at least one amazing stunt (Jackie jumping from the roof of a building to the road below using three umbrellas as parachutes!), there is a nice international flavor (the locations include Hong Kong, Seoul and Istanbul), there are two pretty Chinese women, and of course there is always Jackie. (**)

I never understood professional critics of Jacky Chan's movies. I really think it should be ignored. Instead it should be relied on his fans like myself. I just can't understand the relatively high critics for his 'New Police Story' comparing to this one. Accidental Spy is a good refreshment after his American movies like 'Rush Hour' and 'Shanghai Noon', which are fine by themselves but quite low by Jackie's standards. They lack the little stupid things that make Jackie Chan's movie funny, and they surely lack his amazing stunts.Accidental Spy is a very funny film, having a lot of Jackie's nonsense in it. The pace is good and the stunts are incredible. Bringing us back to his Asian movies from the second half of the 90's. Accidental Spy is also has high budget and looks good. Accidental Spy has some drawbacks also ( of course comparing to his other movies and not to Oscar like one's). Unlike his other movies, where the plot is straight and simple, here the plot is a bit complicated and has unnecessary twists. This doesn't come along good with nonsense he brings to the movie. The fight choreography is also visually not as compelling as in his other movies.Overall - not typical Jackie movie in terms of plot but all the other is alike and his fans won't be disappointed. And this is much better then his later work like 'Toexido' , 'Medallion' or 'New Police Story'.