Vanguard (2020) Jackie Chan

[Mikezilla3k]

Directed by Stanley Tong, it was delayed due to the pandemic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw1u9PIbbt8

An accountant is threatened by the world's deadliest mercenary organization and Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for him.

Anyone else interested in this?

[CyberpunkCentral]

Of course. I'm a big Jackie Chan fan, so I always look into his work.

[morris_schaffer]

Looks energetic and with some flair and originality to its action scenes. It's also not afraid to acknowledge Chan's getting up there in years. Still, some CGI looks dodgy, particularly how quickly some cars seem to dash around, looks like they're gliding across the concrete.

[CaptainYoda]

Looks pretty good. I am always ready for another Jackie Chan movie.

The CGI cars are pretty weak, but a lot of these Hong Kong films have sup-par CGI. The action looks great though.

[singhcr]

I too am down for more Jackie, but man that CG looks really bad. If I feel that way watching it on a low quality YT video on my computer, I can only imagine how much that would stick out watching it on my TV let alone on a large cinema screen. That kind of stuff really takes me out of the movie unfortunately.

[Himmel]

'Vanguard' Nabbed by Gravitas Ventures for North America

Gravitas Ventures has picked up the North American rights to Jackie Chan's latest action film, Vanguard.

Directed by Stanley Tong, a wide theatrical release of Vanguard in the U.S. and Canada, including drive-ins and Imax theaters, is planned for Nov. 20, 2020, a dated vacated by the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, after MGM pushed that tentpole to 2021.

[Markgway]

A Chinese movie with bad CGI? Say it ain't so!

[Zivouhr]

Saw Vanguard on Sunday at the movie theaters. Only 3 people in attendance including me, so no worry about the theater being too crowded during the day time.

Entertaining film and I'll say almost non-stop action in each new scene. The only part that got boring was when they were sneaking in to an enemy base for about 10 minutes before another action scene started.

So lots of action, but this was very light on Jackie Chan's stunts and martial arts. He's a co-star in this film along with the other heroes, as part of the Vanguard team who has to rescue a daughter and father who has lots of money the enemies want. That's what drives the entire film, as the villains try to capture the girl as the Vanguard team transports her throughout the world. I'll say Jackie Chan does some arm martial arts, but almost no kicking which is disappointing considering he's only in his 60s. With his hair not gray, he still looks like he's in his 50s.

The CGI Lion looked very CGI despite convincing textures. The movement looked animated, but was as well done as one could expect for an animator compared to a real lion.

Stanley Tong was also the director of Rumble in the Bronx and Supercop, so you can expect that kind of relentless action and chases in Vanguard too.

Vanguard quick review:
Action and Camera: 8/10 Good action that is easy enough to follow due to good choreography and camera angles, editing.
Story: 7/10 It mostly serves the action but the basic plot works for a Chan film.
Acting: 6/10 Nothing amazing.
Pacing: 9/10. Very fast paced action film. It rarely rests from the action which I like to see.
Special Effects: 6/10 The cars move too fast at times like in fast forward motion, so they feel less weighted to the ground, and the animals motions aren't convincing enough. Lions, Hyenas, but decent enough.
Martial Arts: 7/10 Plenty of martial arts but nothing amazing.
Gun battles: 8/10 Plenty of good gun shoot outs behind cover. Lots of machine guns too. The Gatling gun was cool.
Vehicle Chases: 8/10 Lots of vehicle chases in cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, etc. There is a scene with jets that was neat.
Jackie Chan Stunts: 4/10 Hardly any Chan stunts but he was in the action.
Overall: 8/10 Entertaining action film from Jackie Chan.

Recommended? Yes.

The film is 60% mostly subtitled foreign language, but then there's about 40% that is spoken in English by the enemies mostly, and sometimes by Chan and others.

[Mikezilla3k]

Poll's up.

[cinemaphile]

Here's what I put on Letterboxd (where a lot of people were trashing it) last Thursday:

Let me preface this by saying people need to watch Jackie Chan's older films - The Drunken Masters, Police Stories, Project A's, Armour of Gods, Rumble in the Bronx, Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I, etc...

I feel like the bulk of the Letterboxd people rating this SO low are people who only know Chan from his American blockbusters (Rush Hour, Shanghai Noon, etc). Because most of his films, even the ones from his prime with his BEST action, are exactly like this film - wooden acting, bad dialogue (often badly dubbed), a bare-bones story, but with big impressive action set pieces spread throughout. And the thing is, those older films (pretty much anything pre-Rush Hour), flawed as they are, are all far better than anything he did in America.

And modern Chan films have an even bigger hurdle - his age. Look, this movie is just like all of Jackie Chan's films from the past decade. The scenes actually featuring Jackie are few and far between, and the ones where he actually takes a substantial part in any action are even more sparse. Jackie just can't do what he used to, but he still works hard to do what he can and surrounds himself with others who can carry the action. So most of his modern films are like him heading up some team of younger people who get the bulk of the fight scenes and stunts.

Here, the action itself is actually fine. There's plenty of it, much of it very much in the complicated, acrobatic style of other Chan films. The story is... whatever. It's just there to string together one action scene to the next. But that's par for the course with true Jackie Chan films.

It's not great, but it's not awful by any means. Sure, it's nothing that I would normally seek out - I'd rather rewatch his 80's and 90's films. And it would never have even gotten a theatrical release in normal times. But it was a fine diversion, and gave me one last movie in a theater before they all close down again starting tomorrow.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by cinemaphile

Here's what I put on Letterboxd (where a lot of people were trashing it) last Thursday:

Good review. All your theaters are closing down? That stinks.

The Croods 2 (animated) starts this Friday from the look of my theaters at Cinemark. Regal is shut down forever maybe.

I liked Croods 1, so I'll support Croods 2 even though it's not being shown in 3D which stinks.

But yes, good points about Jackie Chan being an older genius Martial artist with probably one too many broken bones to really kick ass like before.

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Good review. All your theaters are closing down? That stinks.

The Croods 2 (animated) starts this Friday from the look of my theaters at Cinemark. Regal is shut down forever maybe.

I liked Croods 1, so I'll support Croods 2 even though it's not being shown in 3D which stinks.

But yes, good points about Jackie Chan being an older genius Martial artist with probably one too many broken bones to really kick ass like before.

yeah as of last Friday the whole state shut em down at least through end of year.

[Captain N]

Good reviews, and I'm glad to see this is getting a nice bluray release. Probably will pick it up.

[Zivouhr]

This is a fun action film with some Jackie Chan action/fighting, though he is a main character, he takes a back seat to the action compared to his younger team. Lots of action though for sure. And varied too throughout.

Stanley Tong the director, puts together some great Jackie Chan movies IMO.

Super Cop
Rumble in the Bronx
First Strike

Super Cop 2 stars Michelle Yeoh again, but Jackie only plays a cameo role.

And I have to rewatch:
Kung Fu Yoga
Vanguard

He's working on an anime next, City Hunter apparently.

To say Jackie Chan has starred in a lot of movies is an understatement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Chan_filmography

2017's Bleeding Steel is one of his recent hits, with a sci fi action spin. Same year, Chan was in Kung Fu Yoga and The Foreigner.

[Captain N]

To those who bought this, could you tell us about the English track? Is there a full English dub on this disc? I'd appreciate the help given the bluray.com page states there is a full English track, but some Amazon reviews complain there isn't one.

Thanks!

[Menteith]

Which version is the preferred one? HK or US? Any differences?

[chen lung]

The film was a bit saccharin in spots; the CGI and dubbing didn’t help either, but I’ve seen worse.

I rented the Cine Asia Blu-ray, but the subtitles are a bit pants because of presentation (too fast) and grammar issues. Pity an additional SDH set wasn’t included to cover the English dialogue.

[Benoit Blanc]

I can never understand why people bump threads that are over a year old. Let the dead stay dead.

[chen lung]

Who asked you?