Movie Review http://www.elsegundousd.com/eshs/be2003/octarticles/webpages/movier...

Movie Review: The Tuxedo By: Richard Wilk

The Tuxedo is the latest movie starring action superstar Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. In this movie Jackie plays Jimmy Tong, a New York cab driver who becomes the chauffer for the suave-English-billionaire-super-spy, Clark Devlin played by Jason Isaacs. When Devlin is hospitalized due to an assassination attempt, Jimmy Tong does the one thing that his boss told him not to do…he puts on Devlin’s billion-dollar tuxedo. Now, this is no normal tuxedo, it is actually a billion dollar super-suit that turns the clumsy Tong into a super “James Bondish” action hero. After a series of events, a rookie spy mistakes Tong for Devlin, and they are both thrown into an average action plot involving a bad guy with an elaborate plan for taking over the world’s economy. This movie had the makings of a good action movie: cool fighting scenes, Jackie Chan, nice explosions, Jackie Chan, sexy co-star, Jackie Chan, a totally forgettable bad-guy, and a cameo appearance by the king of soul, James Brown. It is also pretty funny, in a “Rush Hourish” way. Even though this movie is pretty good it is seriously lacking in a number of ways: no plot, poor acting, lack of character development, and though Chan and Hewitt had some stage charisma, it was not very strong when compared to that of Chris Tucker and Chan from Rush Hour , or even that of Owen Wilson and Chan in Shanghai Noon . Like most action movies, this one was made for the amusement of the average Joe and Jane. It’s for proletariat masses to enjoy. To enjoy this move one must put his or her brain on autopilot, and just sit back and let the mind numbing action take over. If one were to intellectualize this movie too much she will end up with a splitting headache, and probably be incoherent for days on end. So, the trick, boys and girls, is not to try to analyze the plot of action movies, just kick back and let the good times roll. But for those of us who cannot do such a preposterous thing, go watch a deep intellectual movie like, well, I can’t think of one, but I’m sure it’s probably collecting dust in your local video store. Compared to other action movies, The Tuxedo is pretty average. The special effects are cool, but they’ve been done, over, and over, and over again. The action scenes are pretty cool as well, but are childish when compared to those in The Matrix . The humorous aspect of this movie is fair, and I’d compare it to Rush Hour in its general generic humor, and amusing situations. The general flow of the movie is very similar to Chan’s other action movies as well, such as Operation Condor , and Rumble in the Bronx . Taking all of this into consideration this movie is not so bad, and average plot is a nice change compared to all the latest movies coming out which are even more mindless and dull compared to this one. This was a pretty reasonable movie that has some funny moments, some nice action, and some good special effects. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is looking to burn an hour and a half, this movie is not for people looking to think, learn, or do something productive. And if all else fails, one can always go see this movie to brag to their friends that they have seen every Jackie Chan movie made. On a scale of one to ten, I’d give action an eight, humor a seven, acting a four, special effects an eight, and general fun level a 6. If you liked Chan’s other movies, you will like this one, if you hate Chan’s movies, this one is not much of a change, and you will hate this one too. But taking all into consideration, this movie proves that it is not the man who makes the suit, but the suit that makes the man.

1 of 1 6/30/2008 2:45 PM