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Matt Glasby

The history of Sino-American co-productions is littered with Hollywood blockbusters that include ill-thought-out Asian elements designed to appeal to Chinese audiences.
So it’s no wonder the makers of Skiptrace, a buddy cop film pairing Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville from Jackass, were keen to try something new.
Their plan? To match a Hollywood director and star with a Chinese cast and crew for a co-production that would play well in Asia and America. The results? Mixed to say the least.
Finnish-born Renny Harlin made Hollywood blockbusters such as Die Hard 2 (1990) and Cliffhanger (1992) until mega-bomb Cutthroat Island (1996) saw him relegated to the lower leagues.


While scouting Asian locations for a Genghis Khan biopic, he found that, as he told Forbes, “China left a mark on me”.
When 9/11 forced the cancellation of his next project – Nosebleed, a Jackie Chan movie set in the World Trade Center – the director decided to head east. “I put all my chips on red and spun the wheel,” he said.
Why US-China co-production The 355 failed to deliver, despite all-star cast
Although Skiptrace would see Harlin charting new territory, at least the plot would feel familiar – it’s exactly the kind of jokey action film he was making in the 1990s.
While hunting a gangster called The Matador, Hong Kong detective Benny Chan (Chan) sees his partner Yung (Eric Tsang Chi-wai) murdered.
Vowing to look after Yung’s daughter, Samantha (Fan Bingbing), Chan becomes embroiled with American gambler Connor Watts (Knoxville), who has cheated corrupt casino owner Victor Wong (Winston Chao), also Samantha’s boss.
When Wong kidnaps Samantha, Chan is forced to bring Watts to him – the only problem is, he’s been snatched by Russian gangsters.

Cue a trip from Russia to Hong Kong, in which the mismatched pair slowly begin to bond – like Midnight Run (1988) relocated to Mongolia.
The title refers to a tracking device that allows Wong’s henchmen to catch up with them at inopportune moments.
After nearly 40 years in the business, Harlin knows what he’s doing. Compared to a lot of Chinese movies, Skiptrace is reasonably well directed; Chan and Knoxville have charisma to spare; and there are some fun set pieces, such as a raid set in the stilt-house village of Tai O in Hong Kong that sees the houses falling like dominoes into the sea.
But the culture clash that gives the film its spark also threatens to scupper it. The script, by Jay Longino and BenDavid Grabinski, often feels like it’s been translated by bots.

“You want justice for your partner – I understand that – but your obsession with this case has taken a toll on you personally,” warns angry police chief Captain Tang (Michael Wong Man-tak).
The eye-catching locations could have been chosen by the Chinese tourist board, with the pair coming across a Kongming lantern festival and Monihei Mud Carnival. “Are you on Wikipedia all the time?” Watts asks Chan as they interrupt another narratively convenient gathering.
The awkward cultural cross-pollination climaxes in the deeply strange moment when, after a bout of drinking in a Mongolian village, Chan busts out a version of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” accompanied by traditional instruments.

“I never would have figured you for an Adele fan,” says Watts with an admirably straight face. “‘Rolling in the Deep’ is a classic,” offers Chan, as if to say, case closed.
“I thought this would be an awesome kind of East-meets-West-meets-Mongolia-meets-rest-of-the-world kind of scene,” Harlin told Slash Film. By the time Watts returns the favour by singing Chan’s 1991 hit “Please Understand My Heart”, all bets are off.
Fittingly, the release was just as lopsided as the film. In China, it grossed US$62.2 million on its first weekend, becoming Chan’s biggest ever opening. In America, however, it made US$1,792 on limited release, then slunk off to streaming.

It may have been a mixed blessing for its producers, but for Harlin it was the beginning of a lucrative second act, directing Chinese-language films such as Legend of the Ancient Sword (2018) in China.
“In China, you can do anything,” he said. “In China, nothing is impossible.”
Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook


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American cinema

How Jackie Chan vehicle Skiptrace, a 2016 US-China co-production by Hollywood director Renny Harlin, put the clash in culture clash

Jackie Chan as Benny Chan and Johnny Knoxville as US gambler Connor Watts in a still from US-China co-production Skiptrace (2016). Photo: Intercontinental Film Distributors

Fan Bingbing as Samantha (left), the daughter of Jackie Chan’s partner, and Johnny Knoxville as American gambler Connor Watts (right) in a still from “Skiptrace”.

Film director Renny Harlin in Hong Kong in 2019. Photo: Edmond So

Jackie Chan as Hong Kong detective Benny Chan in a still from “Skiptrace”.

Fan Bingbing in a still from “Skiptrace”.

From Park Seo-joon to Steven Yeun and Ke Huy Quan, all the Asian stars in Marvel Cinematic Universe films and TV shows

South Korean actor Park Seo-Joon in a still from “The Marvels”. Park is the latest in a long line of actors and actresses of Asian descent to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Photo: YouTube/@Marvel

(From left): Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Dave Bautista as Drax, and Karen Gillan as Nebula in a still from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”. Photo: Marvel Studios

Fan Bingbing in a still from “Iron Man 3”. Photo: Walt Disney Studios

Benedict Cumberbatch (left) as Doctor Strange and Benedict Wong as Wong in a still from “Avengers: Infinity War”. Photo: Marvel Studios

Tony Leung (left) as Wenwu and Fala Chen as Ying Li in a still from “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”. Photo: Marvel Studios

(From left) Awkwafina as Katy, Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon, and Simu Liu as Shang-Chi in a still from “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”. Photo: Marvel Studios

Gemma Chan as Sersi in a still from “Eternals”. Photo: Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios

(From left) Tom Holland as Peter Parker, Zendaya as Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson, and Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds in a still from “Spider-Man: No Way Home”.

Was Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, a US-Mexico co-production set in Hong Kong, really a show of Hollywood power?

A still from a scene in Hong Kong in Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim”. The film, inspired by Godzilla movies, was criticised by some in China for its geopolitical undertones, but the director argued that it was simply popcorn entertainment. Photo: Warner Bros

Charlie Hunnam (left) and Rinko Kikuchi in a still from “Pacific Rim”. Photo: Warner Bros

A still from “Pacific Rim”. Photo: Warner Bros

Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro signs posters from “Pacific Rim” in Los Angeles, California, in 2013. Photo: EPA/Michael Nelson

Why Brad Pitt was banned from China after 1997 movie Seven Years in Tibet

Brad Pitt as mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in a still from Seven Years in Tibet (1997), directed by Jean-Jacque Annaud. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo.

Brad Pitt in a still from Seven Years in Tibet (1997), directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Seven Years in Tibet director Jean-Jacques Annaud (left) and star Brad Pitt (centre), and members of the Tibetan Association of Southern California, at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on October 6, 1997. Photo: Reuters

Brad Pitt (right) as Heinrich Harrer receives a blessing from Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk as the Dalai Lama in a still from Seven Years in Tibet. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo

Brad Pitt (left) as Heinrich Harrer and David Thewlis as fellow Austrian mountaineer Peter Aufschnaiter in a still from Seven Years in Tibet. Photo: Columbia/Tristar Photo

Brad Pitt poses for a selfie with Chinese fans as he arrives at a premiere of the film Allied in Shanghai, China on November 14, 2016. Photo: AP

Why Milla Jovovich movie Ultraviolet, a US film shot in China, went so horribly wrong

Milla Jovovich in a still from the 2006 movie Ultraviolet, a US-China co-production that rips off sci-fi standards such as Total Recall, The Matrix and Minority Report.

Milla Jovovich (left) and Cameron Bright in a still from Ultraviolet.

Milla Jovovich in a still from Ultraviolet.

(From left) Ultraviolet director Kurt Wimmer, Charles Wang of producer Salon Films, and John Tsang, then Hong Kong secretary of commerce, industry and technology, in 2004. Photo: SCMP

Why this dragon didn’t roar: starring Sam Neill, first Chinese-Australian film co-production The Dragon Pearl was a flop

Sam Neill in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

A still from The Dragon Pearl (2011). In order to appease China and get approval for the film, the character of the dragon was changed and the script rewritten weeks before filming began. 

Li Linjin as Ling (left) and Jordan Chan as Wu Dong in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Sam Neill as Chris Chase (left) and Robert Mammone as Philip Dukas in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Louis Corbett and Li Linjin in a still from The Dragon Pearl.

Lifestyle

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Arts & Culture

Culture

Film & TV

Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing pair up with Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame in this buddy-cop film that attempted to court US and Chinese audiences
Chan’s Hong Kong detective sings an Adele song to Knoxville’s character, who later responds with the Jackie Chan hit Please Understand My Heart


Jackie Chan, Fan Bingbing and Johnny Knoxville teamed up for Die Hard 2 director Renny Harlin’s buddy-cop film, which was let down by a robotic script, and bombed in the US upon release.


How Jackie Chan vehicle Skiptrace, a 2016 US-China co-production by Hollywood director Renny Harlin, put the clash in culture clash

Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing pair up with Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame in this buddy-cop film that attempted to court US and Chinese audiences Chan’s Hong Kong detective sings an Adele song to Knoxville’s character, who later responds with the Jackie Chan hit Please Understand My Heart

Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing pair up with Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame in this buddy-cop film that attempted to court US and Chinese audiences

Chan’s Hong Kong detective sings an Adele song to Knoxville’s character, who later responds with the Jackie Chan hit Please Understand My Heart