Bleeding Steel (2017) Review

"Bleeding Steel" Theatrical Poster

“Bleeding Steel” Theatrical Poster

Director: Leo Zhang
Cast: Jackie Chan, Show Lo, Nana Ou-Yang, Callan Mulvey, Tess Haubrich, Erica Xia-hou, Damien Garvey, Kaitlyn Boyé, Isabelle Wojciechowska, Olga Miller
Running Time: 110 min.

By Paul Bramhall

To say that Jackie Chan has had a busy couple of years could well be construed as the understatement of the century. With starring roles in Skiptrace, Railroad Tigers, Kung Fu Yoga, The Foreigner, and now his latest with Bleeding Steel, the last time one of action cinemas most enduring icons was this busy was 1985. Over 30 years on, and Chan certainly no longer has the gift of youth on his side, but as a man who’s spent almost his whole life dedicated to thrilling audiences, it’s understandable that old habits die hard. While Chan’s enthusiasm doesn’t seem to have diminished for appearing onscreen, the quality of the productions he chooses to appear in varies greatly. While The Foreigner was arguably his best role in over a decade, Kung Fu Yoga was a career low.

Bleeding Steel sees Chan’s first excursion into the realms of science fiction (notwithstanding his role as producer on Reset from earlier in the year), in a Mainland Chinese production that has him paired with director Leo Zhang, here helming his sophomore feature after his 2012 debut Chrysanthemum to the Beast, which starred Jaycee Chan. So we have an aged action star, in a movie made by an inexperienced director, in a genre that’s still largely unexplored in Mainland cinema. What can possibly go wrong? As you may expect, the answer is, practically everything. Bleeding Steel falls into that niche market, all be it one that has a rapidly increasing catalogue of titles, that we’ll call – The Incompetent in Every Way Mainland Blockbuster. It was Switch that essentially set the bar for this genre back in 2013, but it’s since been joined by the likes of Bounty Hunters and Chan’s own Kung Fu Yoga.

The plot of Bleeding Steel is equal parts incomprehensible and idiotic, so to even attempt a summary seems like a fruitless task, but the in-a-nutshell version goes something like this. A scientist is attempting to make the perfect human weapon, called a Bioroid, but is murdered by one of his former subjects. Through various incomprehensible events, before the scientist dies he transfers his research and memories into Jackie Chan’s daughter, who has leukaemia. The transfer makes her lose her own memories, so she grows up in an orphanage. But of course Chan is always watching over her, in a variety of creepy ways, the latest of which (13 years after the death of the scientist – not that you’d know as he hasn’t changed a bit) has him working in her university canteen. Oh, and the orphanage she’s sent to is in Sydney, Australia, because, why not?

In that regard, you could say that Bleeding Steel completes Chan’s Australia Trilogy. First Strike took place in the Gold Coast, Mr. Nice Guy took place in Melbourne, and in 2017 he’s finally made it to Sydney. It’s just a shame it has to be in this disastrous mess. Bleeding Steel is a confused beast from the get go. Despite being set in 2020, the futuristic vision is poorly defined to say the least, and seems more like it’s operating in its own bizarre alternate reality. This is personified particularly by the Australian cast members, who all appear to be having a laugh at the director’s expense, by hamming up their accents to hilariously exaggerated levels. Lines like “Sir, we’ve found the transvestite” are delivered completely poker faced, and even the subtitles get in on the act, with one particular standout reading “Rick is a dick.” As an unintentional comedy, Bleeding Steel is gold.

The character design is equally bewildering. The failed subject dresses like an emo version of an unmasked Darth Vader, before he ends up half blown to pieces and re-appears fitted out like a Borg from Star Trek (complete with some brain on show for extra impact). The lead villainess runs around in a PVC cape and outfit that looks like a Matrix reject (and for good reason). The bad guys dress like an Asylum version of the Robocop reboot. We get a spiritual medium that wears a Native American headdress, a dwarf played by a cast member credited as Sammy the Dwarf, and a magician that looks like David Copperfield mixed with Jack Sparrow. I could go on, but it’s already painful to recall.

The more Bleeding Steel progresses, the more it begins to feel like Zhang is making it up as he goes along, as the tone varies wildly from scene to scene, and plot twists occur with little attention paid to if they actually make sense. Even the quieter scenes quickly turn into cringe inducing moments of bewilderment. When Chan’s daughter, played in present day by Nana Ou-Yang (last seen in Mission Milano), innocently bumps into another student on her way to lunch, it quickly descends into a catfight with the pair of them rolling all over the floor. Played out to a script which has insults of speaking Chinglish being thrown around, and the bizarre praise of Ou-Yang’s punch in the face to the other student making her a credit to China, ultimately all you can do is raise an eyebrow.

Chan himself frequently takes a back seat to the pairing of Ou-Yang and Show Lo (a recent Stephen Chow regular, appearing in the likes of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons and The Mermaid), who plays a thief that takes an apparent liking to Ou-Yang. Lo has learnt well from working with Chow, as he delivers the couple of genuine laughs to be derived from Bleeding Steel’s surprisingly humourless runtime. These very brief moments of respite are short lived though, as he’s equally lumbered with painfully self-aware jokes, which see him referencing Jackie Chan by name not once, but twice.

Of course with Chan headlining proceedings, action is a prerequisite, and while it happens frequently it never feels remarkable. The biggest set piece takes place during the opening, when the special forces agents protecting the scientist are ambushed, leading to a series of exploding cars and bodies flying through the air every which way, preventing the credits from finishing until we’re already 15 minutes in. The more grounded action though simply sees Chan rehashing the same routine we’ve seen him perform for over 30 years, with even a mid-way showdown that takes place on top of the iconic Sydney Opera House feeling perfunctory and dull.

The finale in particular is a hoot, as it turns out that the Borg/Bioroid (played by Australian actor Callan Mulvey from Beyond Skyline) has spent the last 13 years living in a sterile room housed in a (presumably) permanently airborne spaceship. At least I think it was a spaceship, in truth it’s more of a rip-off of the floating bases from the Avengers franchise. In it Chan, Lo, and Erica Xia-Hou team up to take on both Mulvey and the cape wearing Tess Haubrich (Alien: Covenant) in a completely generic and uninspired set piece. Containing one of the most inconsequential arm dismemberments I’ve ever witnessed, a heart being bare handedly ripped out of someone’s chest, and Chan being strangled by a completely naked Mulvey, it’s impossible to do justice to with words. Don’t get me started on the sky diving escape they all have to do.

Despite the absurdity of Bleeding Steel, or perhaps because of it, in the end I still found myself enjoying it more than Kung Fu Yoga, all be it the enjoyment was definitely of a morbid variety. While Stanley Tong’s latest effort was consistently infuriating, Bleeding Steel kept me glued to the screen simply to see what it had up its sleeve next. Whenever you thought it couldn’t get any worse, a random dwarf would appear, or a magician would sacrifice himself for no reason whatsoever, or Chan would start crying. It’s that special level of incompetence which is most commonly referred to as “so bad it’s good”, and Bleeding Steel achieves that level almost effortlessly. If you’re a Jackie Chan fan like myself, regardless of the reviews, fate predestines us to still watch it. Just be warned that when the end credits roll, the only thing likely to be bleeding is your brain.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3.5/10



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13 Responses to Bleeding Steel (2017) Review

  1. Dan says:

    Not the slightest bit surprising. Even the trailers made this one look like a dud. Jackie only has a few action movies left in him, and I hope he goes out on a high note and avoids dreck like this in whatever films he has left. He should know better by now than to get involved in projects like Kung-Fu Yoga, Bleeding Steel, 1911 etc… Stick to stuff like The Foreigner.

    • Paul Bramhall says:

      I honestly believe it’s too late for Chan to go out on a high note at this point. Lest we forget he declared ‘CZ12’ to be his last big action movie back in 2012, but at least since then he’s admitted he now plans to make action movies into his 70’s. The biggest problem is the environment he’s making them in, it’s no longer Hong Kong or Hollywood that bring in the big bucks, it’s Mainland China. As movies like ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ & ‘Bleeding Steel’ show, as a film industry it still has a long way to go until it reaches the maturity required to make even a half decent movie. However with the strict censorship laws and good guys always win policy, it’s debatable if it’ll ever get there.

      • Kiril Valkov says:

        A very generous rating from your side – I would personally give -4/10 this was the most dull, excruciatingly stupid, pointless and unnecessary piece of film from Chan’s filmography ever made (or at least up to this point). It is a complete and utter mess from start to finish and I still think that Jackie was brainwashed to star in such shit. After his remarkable performance in The Foreigner, here he hits the bottom hard and would rate it down below alongside The Tuxedo, Spy next door, Fantasy Mission Force, Kung Fu Yoga and all his pre-Snake in the eagle’s shadow antics…

        • JJ Bona says:

          Pre-Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow antics. Does this mean you didn’t like New Fists of Fury?

          • Kiril Valkov says:

            What’s there to like in that particular film? Jackie in the shoes of Bruce Lee, looking ridiculous under the delusional attitude of Lo Wei? No thank you, imo the only films with any artistic merits from that period were Seasonal Films collaborations, Spiritual Kung Fu & Fearless Hyena. After that Golden Harvest came along and we all seen what happened to Jackie’s career 🙂

            • JJ Bona says:

              But you can’t deny the film’s finale fights were awesome – and how can you not like *spoiler* the entire school getting gunned down, ending their so-called victory in a freeze frame! Classic stuff!

        • Ano ang natutunan nyo sa bleeding steel nong pinapanood nyo plzz paki anwser ang sagot ko

  2. DragonClaws says:

    Oh man, I recenlty sat down to watch Robin B.Hood, would you say Bleeding Steel is worse, or better? than the soiled nappy dodging antics in that movie?.

    Good review dude, must be hard to tick all of the Chinese movie guideline boxes, and still make a decent movie. That said, some movie would be bad, regadless of their pandering to the mainland.

    • Paul Bramhall says:

      Hey DragonClaws, actually I haven’t seen ‘Rob-B-Hood’ since it was released back in ’06! But I do remember kind of enjoying it. There’s a heap of legendary HK cinema talent in there (Michael Hui, Ku Feng etc.), & it was nice to see Chan & Yuen Biao back onscreen together (plus the baby in the washing machine gag felt like it came straight out of a 90’s HK flick).

      With that being said, I also distinctly felt that it was the first time Mainland policies really affected a Jackie Chan movie. Sure, with Benny Chan directing we already got a ridiculously OTT dramatic finale that streched believability, but then the overly long tagged on scene with Chan & co. in prison just reeked of only being there to pass the Mainland censors.

  3. DragonClaws says:

    Yuen Baio presence was one of the positives, it just looked like Chan and co wanted to make Daddy Day Care 2.

    I wont be in a rush to watch Bleeding Steel, which probably means it’ll be out in the U.K on BR/DVD, quicker than The Foriegner.

    • Paul Bramhall says:

      Good one! The tragedy of your comment of course is that it’s probably true…& when it does get released, it’ll likely have a dumb re-title like ‘Police Story: Lockdown 2020’.

      Ironically, some reviewers have (correctly) pointed out that the high point of the movie is the song that plays over the end credits, which has Chan singing his famous ‘Police Story’ theme in Mandarin. As much of a sign of his unwavering dedication to the Mainland as we’re ever likely to get. As for me though, I figured it the best part of a movie is the song playing over the end credits, it’s probably best not to mention it.

  4. Andrew Hernandez says:

    Bleeding Steel was playing in Maryland theaters a few weeks ago. I’m glad I skipped out on it.

  5. Nancy Williams says:

    I loved the entire movie, strange as it might have been. But I’m totally pissed off by the ending, mainly because i didnt get it! Did Nancy find Leeson? Or was he in another world? And who the hell was he talking to? And why refer to “Jackie Chan” in such a strange way? And who set up the damned dinner date for him, anyway? Where the Hell was Leeson and how/why was he having dinner with Jackie Chan? I just didnt get that last scene AT ALL!

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