In
today’s go-go Shanghai, transporting valuable art should be a high-growth
business. Unfortunately, Danny Stratton’s company suffers when they lose a Van
Gogh in the prologue. However, they will have a chance for redemption when his
closest competitor is killed in a car bombing. The whole living-and-breathing
thing will definitely give him a competitive advantage, but he wants some payback
to go with his comeback in Charles Martin’s British-Chinese co-pro S.M.A.R.T. Chase (trailer here), which opens today
in New York.
One
minute, Stratton is riding high in the back of an armored car and before you
know it, he is doing demeaning bodyguard work for club kids. His core group
stayed with his company (Security Management Action Recovery Team): the
grizzled hardnose, Mach Ren, the martial arts specialist J. Jae An, and the
drone flying computer geek teen, Ding Dong Tang. Alas, Stratton’s sort of fiancée,
Ling Mo (Mach’s niece) throws him over, because she gets sick of his self-pity.
Yet, she helps him get back in the game with a contract to transport a priceless
vase. When the gang that stole the Van Gogh takes a run at the vase, Stratton
goes off script, deciding to play for all the marbles.
As
far as action movie premises go, this one is perfectly fine, but Martin and
screenwriter Kevin Bernhardt never take it far enough. The producers really
should have brought in a moonlighter from Jonnie To’s Milkway Image to punch it
up. Instead, all of the action scenes have a rather competent blandness to them.
Still,
it is great fun to watch Simon Yam play a slightly unhinged character like
Mach, even when he is half-asleep, which seems to be the case here. Orlando
Bloom is better than you might expect as Stratton, but that bleach-blond look
is such a mistake. Even though An is not much of a character, Hannah Quinlivan shows
all kinds of future potential as she struts through the film. Yet, the honors
for effort and execution go to Jing Liang, who vamps it up as villainess Tara Yen,
whose fingers nails are the most memorable aspect of the film. On the other
hand, Martin unforgivably squanders Shi Yanneng/Xing Yu and his real deal
Shaolin chops as Long Fei, Yen’s chief henchman.
Given
the terrific supporting cast, S.M.A.R.T.
Chase (a.k.a. The Shanghai Job,
a.k.a. S.M.A.R.T.: Dragon and Phoenix,
a.k.a. Smart Chase: Fire & Earth) really ought to be several times better
than it is, especially since Bloom isn’t so bad as a martial arts lead. You also
have to wonder if the compulsively busy Yam still remembers filming S.M.A.R.T. Whatever. It feels like it
was deliberately made to be a time killer to watch on international flights. Not
really recommended, but just sort of eh, S.M.A.R.T.
Chase opens today (8/31) in New York, at the Cinema Village.
