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Kung Fu Yoga Movie Review

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The Friday, we have film Kung Fu Yoga releasing along with the clash of bigwigs in B Town. The film is a 2017 action-adventure comedy film directed by Stanley Tong. The film is a Chinese-Indian co-production of Taihe Entertainment (China) and Shinework Pictures (China). The film was released in China on January 28, 2017 and is scheduled for release in India on February 3, 2017. The film is featuring original music composed by Nathan Wang and additional music composed by Komail and Shivaan. The film is released in two languages – Hindi & Chinese for obvious reasons. The run time for the film is 140 minutes, time to dig in deep to catch the crux of the film as under:

Plot

Jack (Jackie Chan), a world-renowned archaeology professor, and his team are on a grand quest to locate a lost ancient Indian treasure when they are ambushed by a team of mercenaries and left for dead. Using his vast knowledge of history and kung fu, Jack leads his team on a race around the world to beat the mercenaries to the treasure and save an ancient culture. So, what really happens next is interesting to catch up with.

Review

Jackie Chan is one of the rare action film stars to grapple—and sometimes successfully adjust—to his old age. Movies like “Little Big Soldier,” “Police Story: Lockdown,” and “Chinese Zodiac” acknowledge Chan’s limitations as a performer whose body has been through every conceivable punishment in order to nail the next big scene. “Kung Fu Yoga,” is certainly his latest star vehicle, re-teams him with writer/director Stanley Tong, the filmmaker who helmed classic Chan films like “Supercop” and “Rumble in the Bronx.” But “Kung Fu Yoga” doesn’t feel like a young man’s film. Normally that would be a cause for celebration, but in this case, Chan’s latest doesn’t just address, but rather shows his age. Unlike “Chinese Zodiac,” the third and final entry in Chan’s stunt-intensive, “Indiana Jones”-style “Armour of God” films, “Kung Fu Yoga” is bogged down by pretty much everything but Jackie Chan.

It’s a tribute to Chinese-Indian cultural relations! It’s a showcase for (seriously unimpressive) co-stars! It’s an (unconvincing) homage to the majesty of nature! It’s a showcase for (boring-looking) computer-generated zoo animals! All you can say is wait, isn’t this a Jackie Chan film? Despite its subtext about the economic rivalry between China and India, the film, written and directed by Mr. Chan’s frequent collaborator Stanley Tong (“Supercop,” “Rumble in the Bronx”), mostly affords Mr. Chan the opportunity to mug, share a car chase scene with a lion (seemingly with a digital assist) and thwart assailants in a pallid variation on his acrobatics of old. A lively closing dance sequence, after an earnest, underwhelming climax, pays affectionate tribute to Bollywood production numbers. But you won’t find Mr. Chan’s customary bloopers over the closing credits. For Mr. Chan, the era for elaborate body stunts, be they botched or successfully executed, seems to have ended.

Kung Fu Yoga Last Word

Some of the scenes devoted to futuristic technologies that have zero bearing on the plot? Of course it doesn’t. However, the absence of necessity or consistency has its appeal; it guarantees that the movie stays unpredictable even as it pilfers shamelessly, piling cliché upon cliché, but rarely in a way that makes a lick of sense. It’s the cinematic equivalent of those of knock-off action figures with a green Spiderman body, Wolverine claws, and a picture of Shrek on the packaging. Overall the picture doesn’t seem too rosy, which has somewhere given bleak ratings for the movie. The film is yet to hit the theatres in India, but has already released in China.

Rating – 2.0

Manoj L

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