(c) 2020 CineAsia / China Film International
There's always excitement when a new Jackie film gets released. Unfortunately for Vanguard, it was a film for Chinese New Year 2020, and as the Covid Pandemic escalated the film's premiere and general worldwide release was postponed.
So knowing of the film and seeing the trailers only made us more impatient to see it. Finally getting a Cinema release before Christmas in China / Hong Kong and the USA and performing OK, but not breaking any box office records.
But I also believe box office while the pandemic is going on is probably not as it should be for any film.
As with many of the Fear Eastern films, the DVD/Bluray release followed swiftly in the East and surprisingly in the West with the UK DVD getting its release on 11th January 2021, the Bluray will follow on the 25th January.
Now like Quite a few films from the region the film's cinematic release was shot for 3D. And like all past Western releases of these films on Bluray they never release the 3D versions in the West. If you want to watch the film in 3D your need to import the Asian Bluray and have a region-free Bluray player to play it.
The last Jackie Chan film to do this was CZ12, the sections of the film which focus on 3D are filmed for that effect and don't always come across well in standard 2D. So upon finding this out I Was glad I went the DVD route as it was half the price and I don't think it would have made that much difference to me.
Vanguard is directed by Stanley Tong and this is the sixth film he has done with Jackie, Kung Fu Yoga being his last in 2017.
Compared to other recent Jackie Chan films I would say this is pretty much old school in the way it's filmed, only Kung Fu Yoga is similar because it's by the same director. Also lucky enough the UK release has not been trimmed it has the same running time as its Asian releases.
There are Pro's and Con's to the film, for fans of the Late 90's early Millennium Hong Kong action Vanguard delivers, but for fans of Jackie's recent films like The Foreigner, Railroad Tigers, or even The Knights Between Shadows of Ying and Yang where Jackie tries something different as he gets older may find Vanguard like a 90-minute action trailer.
For anybody expecting films like anything from Jackie's prime like Police Story or Armour of God please wake up the man was Sixty Six years old when he made Vanguard and will be Sixty Seven in April.
Now Vanguard also stars Yang Yang a relatively huge star in China, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Yang Yang will have all the younger female fans watching, he is famous for many TV series in China, and one we have reviewed on-site, the first season of Taekwondo Girl ( Whirlwind Girl) where he played Ruo Bai. In 2018 he starred in the first of three planned seasons of TV Fantasy drama Martial Universe.
Vanguard
is a Chinese Security company situated in London, Now I did not see
that coming. It's set around the Chinese New Year celebrations in
London's China Town.
Jackie plays the Head of Vanguard Tang Huanting with Yang Yang as one of his agents Lei Zhenyu. Also appearing as a female agent is Miya Muqi a Chinese dancer, Yoga, and Taekwondo Instructor who starred with Jackie in Kung Fu Yoga.
When a Chinese Accountant in London is approached by a terrorist organisation to finance their cause, the accountant who has informed the Police gets kidnapped in China Town while the New Year festival is on. But watching is Vanguard who through CCTV is monitoring the area and capture the Kidnapping in Progress. Vanguard is alerted and Tang gets his team to go in for the rescue.
After a daring rescue, which has some good shots of London's China Town, which I was quite surprised to see.
Now The terrorists want their finance and send a mob after the accountant's daughter who happens to be in Africa on a nature reserve.
Vanguard is sent to get to the daughter before the terrorist does in a bid to save her.
Playing out much like most Stanley Tong films, Vanguard is a globetrotting extravaganza but on a budget. With filming in London, Dubai, and other work in studio.
After getting to the accountant's daughter Fareeda with little or no time to spare the Terrorists and Vanguard agents enter into a battle where they must overcome each other and the local wildlife.
The big set-piece here is the chase onto a river which leads to a waterfall. There are some really cool scenes here and shows that as far as choreographing and setting up the action the combination of Stanley Tong and Jackie Chan and his stunt team do come up with fresh content.
But it's also here where it nearly all came to an end. when performing a stunt on a Jet Ski for the Water Fall scene, which I will add is done by CGI as no one in the world could do it as it was shown in the film.
The piece in question was filmed upriver to show Tang and Mi Ya who are in a chase with terrorists navigate the waterfall.
What seemed a simple stunt for Jackie, much like the Armour of God one. it all went awry when the Jet ski capsizes and Jackie and his colleague go under, but Jackie doesn't come back up.
The end credits show the crew rush to rescue Jackie who seems to be under the water for ages. He must have great lungs I tell ya. You also see how close Jackie thought he was to the end in the outtakes as he is brought ashore looking slightly disheveled and very cold and wet.
After this, the film shifts to the far east as Tang and his team have to confront the Terrorist leader and it's here that the film takes a slightly darker tone in places. And the action hots up in a full-scale mini-war on terrorism as Tang and his team go head to head with not just fists but Machine Guns, Rocket launchers, and whatever.
You can see where the money was spent on the film because the action comes thick and fast.
But remember it's not just Jackie but Yang Yang who gets to shine and he does do his own stunts to a degree. , this is also shown on the outtakes.
It does seem that Jackie's role was more towards the beginning of the film with Yang Yang getting the later half of the film.
The story shifts once again as we head to Dubai in what becomes like a showcase for the worlds most expensive cars and a chance for the crew and cast to have some fun, but this is also where much CGI is used as they were not going to risk millions of pounds worth of cars.
But Unlike say the Fast and Furious the special effects are lacking also the choice of colours for some of the cars do cause the screen to look odd at times, but these were real cars they shot and you can see even in the outtakes it must have been hard to eliminate the glare, a strange choice, it's a bit like the old adage, don't wear a dog tooth jacket or suit on camera as it looks really odd.
The CGI sections looked like they need more work in post-production than they got, but I guess budget is a budget and as it is recorded that Jackie earned around $12 Million for his role I guess that was a sizeable amount of the budget there.
But then he did nearly drown, so I give him that.
Media Co Ltd
China Film Co Ltd
Tencent Pictures Culture
Media Company Limited
Shanghai Lix
Entertainment Co Ltd
Epitome Capitol Ltd
Shenzhen Media Film and Television Company
CineAsia
Credits
Year: 2020
Director : Stanley Tong
Producer : Stanley Tong / Barbie Tung
Written By : Stanley Tong
Starring :
Jackie Chan / Fady Zaky / Yang Yang / Miya Muqi / Ai Lun
Running Time : 108 Minutes
Language : Mandarin / English / Arabic
Production Company : China Film International
Media Co Ltd
China Film Co Ltd
Tencent Pictures Culture
Media Company Limited
Shanghai Lix
Entertainment Co Ltd
Epitome Capitol Ltd
Shenzhen Media Film and Television Company
Publisher : CineAsia
As
an action film to pass just over 90 minutes, and it's just over 90's
minutes without the credits and outtakes. Vanguard is a fun action
film. The fight action from Jackie, Yang Yang, Miya Muqi, and the JC
stunt team is excellent. They just seem to get all the fight action
right. Even Yang Yang gets to shine in some really complex scenes,
there are no long drawn out fights, it's all small segments of action
from all the cast intertwined. But this is pretty much a trademark of
Stanley Tong's action film work. You either love it or don't.
Many will state that Jackie does not get to do anything in the last action scene, which is a shame but I guess it's not just about Jackie anymore but about giving a springboard to these new stars, which I for one am all for.
I would rather see Jackie and his Stunt Teamwork with the new talent and have Jackie do what he can than have a film where Jackie goes around in a wheelchair hitting people with a walking stick.
First and foremost Vanguard is full of action and yes the story is little more than fodder to bolster the next action scene, but if you are a Jackie Chan fan and know of Stanley Tong then your know what to expect. Is it the best film he has done in recent years? , no I don't think so, I feel the likes of The Foreigner, Railroad Tigers were exceptionally good.
I mean there's still a couple of Jackie's films i have yet to see that were filmed in the past few years like Skip Trace and the more recent Namyia. I do like that Jackie experiments with different directors like Ding Sheng, Renny Harlin, Martin Campbell, and Leo Zhang. They give opportunity for Jackie to diversify. But I always look forward to Jackie's collaborations with Stanley Tong because I know the type of film I am going to get before I load up the DVD.
My only gripe with Vanguard and it's a small one is the basis of the story of which is run of the mill has a lot of similarities in its premise to the Chinese TV series Hot Girl ( which we recently reviewed ), which is about an elite protection unit that undertakes various missions. It's also worth noting that Jackie Chan had worked on a film with the lead of that series, Dilraba Dilmurat.
Vanguard won't win any awards and Unfortunately, none of Jackie's films in the last five or six years have.
But look past the story which is pretty much run-of-the-mill action fodder and some poor choice in some of the CGI post-production and Vanguard is enjoyable, and yes I would watch it again as I'm sure there are bits I missed.
The last film that Jackie got awards for was in 2012 and that was CZ12. And that was a film Jackie starred in, Produced, and Directed. Proving once again that only Jackie Chan can direct Jackie Chan and fully get it right.
Of note, Jackie is Producing and Directing a story which he has written called The Diary, but he will not be starring in this movie, though I would like to see it just to see Jackie try something new.
Review By Sertes Nake
Date of Review: 14-01-2021
