The Medallion | Blu-ray (88 Films)
On November 13, 2023, 88 Films is releasing the Blu-ray (Region B) for Jackie Chan’s The Medallion, a 2003 English-language Hong Kong film from Gordon Chan (Fist of Legend) and choreographer Sammo Hung (Ip Man).
Official details:
After high-kicking Hong Kong cop Eddie Yang (Jackie Chan) dies in the line of duty, he finds himself reanimated by an ancient mystic talisman, now with superpowers at his disposal! His return stuns his former girlfriend Nicole James (Claire Forlani) and partner Arthur Watson (Lee Evans). The trio must rejoin forces to take on a similarly supernaturally enhanced villain, Snakehead (Julian Sands) and his right- hand man Calvin (Scott Adkins).
The film also stars Anthony Wong (Visible Secret), Christy Chung (Tai Chi Boxer), John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Edison Chen (Twins Effect) and Nicholas Tse (Raging Fire).
Features:
- Limited Edition “metallic” Slipcase
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
- 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Surround Audio
- 2.0 English LPCM Stereo Audio
- Audio commentary by producer Bill Borden and editor Don Brocho
- Alternate Ending
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14 Deleted Scenes
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Theatrical Trailer
This title will soon be available at The Goodie Emporium, a U.S.-based online store that currently has many Import Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest/martial arts DVD/Blu-ray movies in-stock – with New titles being added regularly!
Watch a clip plus the film’s classic Trailer below:
One of the worst Jackie Chan of the 00’s. 88 Films is making my budget happy again.
should have made this a double pack with the tuxedo with 80 days around the world as a bonus feature
I’m sure Dreamworks would have something to say about, Disney owns the rights for Around The World in 80 Days so you can forget 88 owning those rights.
Is this movie that bad?? lol Compared to what JC has been releasing lately, it seems like it has some redeeming factors.
It is THAT bad. One of Jackie’s all-time worst imo.
Even for today’s standards?
I’ll say so. It ranks right up there with Tuxedo and his more recent Stanley Tong films.
The dumbasses who did the commentary said all kinds of stupid stuff like not knowing who Nic Tse and Anthony Wong are, (saying things like “That guy’s an upcoming action star,” or “That guy’s an award winning actor.) lying about Claire Forlani doing 90% of her fight scenes even though the double’s face isn’t hidden, and not explaining why the movie came out the way it was or what the intention was.
The DVD commentary on the original release made me appreciate that terrible people made this film.
I ain’t even mad anymore.
Give us an example.
Jesus Fucking Christ, is this a poorly timed April Fool’s joke?
This film was a huge piece of shit. The fight scenes were poorly filmed and edited, and the undercranking was a joke. The movie’s humor was awful with Lee Evans playing a Seltzer and Friedberg parody of himself, Jackie looking like an idiot, Nikki Berwick and Claire Forlani’s stunt double fighting to the sounds of a cat screeching, and nonsensical dubbing throughout because the distributors thought we couldn’t understand Chinese dialects.
These are the same extras as on the American DVD. The audio commentary was done by idiots who didn’t even know the names of the other Asian actors and had zero understanding of what makes a good movie. I only listened to it out of a sick curiosity, but it was still too much.
88 have a huge black mark on their catalogue.
To be fair, it makes a great drink coaster.
LOL! “same old Roper”
The good news? 88 Films only has the license for 1 year, so it shouldn’t be around that long (and who knows, a few years from now there’ll probably be people looking for the super rare 2023 release of ‘The Medallion’ and willing to pay through the nose for it!). Plus, 88 have upgraded Scott Adkins’ role from ‘henchman’ and given him an actual name! 🙂
It’s pretty bad, but you’re right in that this was terrible in say 2005(?) however after seeing Jackie Chan in things like Skiptrace, Rush Hour 3 and the abominable Spy Next Door. Indeed, my retrospect changed on The Protector, Mr Nice Guy,The Tuxedo,Gorgeous and City Hunter by comparison. He’s not the only one like this, for I grew to appreciate Knock Off, Nowhere To Run and Cyborg after watching Van Damme in Pound Of Flesh, Welcome To The Jungle,Kill Em All and the god awful Kickboxer Vengeance. Same with Dolph Lundgren, Michael Dudikoff and Don Wilson.
In fact, I grew appreciation for Matrix 2-3 after that utterly unwatchable Resurrection. It’s just how things go as we age. Indeed, I probably would appreciate the old school Chuck Norris films after the last couple years of nostalgia bait crapfests like Indiana Jones 5, Disney Star Wars and did I say how much I hate Matrix 4?
That said I did enjoy The Foreigner and Shinjuku Incident so he still has that.
I can understand the mentality or watching a movie and it wasn’t enjoyable, but years later the same actor or director is making worse films and that earlier one seems not so bad by comparison.
But I consider this a case of “pick your poison.” Chan making shitty movies recently doesn’t make his shitty movies from the past “better.” One could argue that shit is worse than vomit, or some other variation of that analogy, but no matter what you pick, you’re getting something bad.
In fact, I would argue that Chan’s recent films with Stanley Tong are just like Tuxedo and Medallion in that they were all made with no quality control or craftsmanship. Some people also say of those movies “You can’t judge them like his classics!” Of course not, but they still have to be good.
The real issue is that our beloved action stars are old. So, they’re kinda just cashing in. To be fair I did like Castle Falls,The Bouncer,The Foreigner and hmm… I’m drawing blanks. The truth is, their best days are gone. We’ll always have Police Story 1-3,Crime Story, Drunken Master 1-2,Wheels On Meals and Dragons Forever. Same with JCVD,Dolph,Norris and even Dudikoff (Avenging Force is still awesome, Midnight Ride and American Ninja 1 are a lot of fun and I still have a soft spot for American Ninja 2 and his Western he made)
The second factor is these things aren’t made with money anymore. Like yes American Ninja 2 is to coin a phrase low budget as hell, but the money was spent in stunts, locales and sets. Nowadays the cameras, the sets and special effects are cheap in a way that have little charm. The worst offender are the Seagal flicks obviously. However they’re made as product and it shows. When they made say Delta Force 2 (which is still awful) it was made with good intentions to entertain. Even that Dolph Lundgren flick Cover-Up that you liked, had a budget and the Good Friday climax was made with the absolute best they could afford. Which is why the final fight is good, even if I think it’s blah otherwise. Basically you had real people with real stunts and now you have green screen nonsense.
Finally the movies are made so quickly as to make profit instead of actually trying to make something fun and entertaining, or you know artistic. It’s why I get the temptation of picking poison, I can’t quite go with that. Simply because one awfulness is organic and the other awfulness is processed. Basically it’s like eating at a ma and pa pizza place vs eating the crap they serve you at Little Caesars.
Let’s be honest, ALL movies are cash grabs. I do agree that these stars who are way past their prime, but that doesn’t excuse a lot of the BS they’ve been pumping out. The root core of the problem is the filmmaking talent behind some of these films. Like you said, The Foreigner is good example of something solid to come out of an older Jackie Chan. Rambo 4 was pretty good too. But for every 1 good film these guys do, they have shitty teams behind their several next films. You can spot the laziness and lack of passion from the creatives a mile away.
Not all of that applies here. Jackie Chan isn’t (yet) making movies with Seagal budgets. Of the points made, movies being made quickly is the most relevant.
Every movie is a cash grab in the sense that there’s a reason why it’s called “show business,” and people with clout get to take as much time as they need to make a good movie. Often times, that doesn’t happen though. Or people with clout don’t care.
As said before, older action stars don’t need to be in films with wall to wall action and doing all the things they did many years ago. The movies just need to be good in their own right.
I agree with you guys on the show business and cash grab angle, and I think we agree on most of this. J.J makes the best point about said films being lazy and passionless and how you can tell. It’s literally so obvious.
It used to be that over the hill stars ended up in terrible, yet often lively films that provided much unintentional comedy. I’m thinking guys like Cameron Mitchell, David Carradine and Joe Don Baker (the latter is literally the prototype for Seagal, minus the stunt doubles) their movies were made cheaply and we’re incredibly terrible, and yet they were inspired in their awfulness. It’s hard to pinpoint what I’m saying is now lacking.
You have to see Deadly Prey, for the cutting off the arm and beating the guy with it. I don’t know it just felt like they were trying harder back in the day, and a lot of craziness was in the films.
I also wonder if maybe Chan and co do the shit films to fund their personal projects. Cause I’ll say it again Castle Falls and The Bouncer were pretty darn good.