Movie Review: 'Vanguard' Shows Jackie Chan's Still Got Some Action Star Left

Vanguard is Jackie Chan’s long awaited reunion with his Rumble in the Bronx and Super-Cop director Stanley Tong. The two made monster hits back in the nineties before Jackie found success in the United States with the Rush Hour movies. Jackie has since seen his American fortunes dwindle as he has advanced in age. A return to Tong and a well funded Chinese production is quite a smart and, it turns out, successful move.

Vanguard stars Jackie Chan as Tang Huanting, the owner-operator of the high end security company, Vanguard. At Vanguard Tang oversees a team of ex-military operatives who protect multi-million dollar clients around the world. The plot kicks in when one of Tang’s clients is kidnapped by terrorists in the midst of a celebration of the Chinese New Year in London. Three of Vanguard’s top operatives, Lei (Yang Yang), Kaixuan (Ai Lun), and Miya (Mu Qimaya), manage to rescue the client but his secret remains dangerous.

Unable to capture the client, the terrorists turn their attention to the client’s daughter, Fareeda (Xu Ruohan). Fareeda is an animal rights activist working to thwart hunters in Africa. When the terrorists team with the hunters, Tang will have to lead his team in a violent assault to keep Fareeda free from harm. Unfortunately, things do not go to plan. Lei and Fareeda fall in love at first sight but are also kidnapped in the process and taken to a remote Middle Eastern village to be held for ransom.

Once again, a violent assault ensues with the technologically superior forces of Vanguard battling the guerrilla tactics of the terrorists on the terrorist home turf, a labyrinthine desert fortress wherein the entire village is made up of terrorists, future terrorists or the wives of terrorists. All of this leads to wild action involving martial arts and weapons of mass destruction as the team battles in every corner of the village.

There is one more change of destination in Vanguard but I will leave you to discover the final dot on the international map that makes up the final leg of this travelogue action flick. Vanguard goes big on international locations from London to the jungle to the Middle East with the final location a go big or go home spot that provides a terrific setting for big, silly, stupid action.

Vanguard is terrific fun with Jackie Chan showing he can still do a few of the old Jackie Chan moves. The special effects may be doing some of the heavy lifting but the sixty-something Chan still has some hops, some timing and the determination to be both funny, charismatic and physical on screen. The action in Vanguard is the kind of over the top, fast paced, silliness that made Chan an international sensation in the nineties.

Chan’s young co-stars are equally game with each getting a stand out moment of big dumb action reminiscent of classic Jackie Chan moments. Yang Yang gets some of the most fun at the end of the movie while racing around the exotic final location in a Ferrari made of gold chasing down the final big bad guy of the movie. Yang Yang’s romance angle may be awkward and rushed but Vanguard is about big silly action and not character stuff, so it doesn’t really matter how underwritten the romance is.

Vanguard is wildly silly and fast paced. The martial arts scenes are fun and exciting and the gun play is elaborate, over the top, and nonsensical. I especially enjoyed the African jungle sequence in the second act which features a fight aboard a series of boats, jet skis and a standout Jeep Boat that sadly meets a violent end. The sequence is funny, O.T.T nonsense and I giggled like a little kid watching it.

Vanguard is in limited theatrical release as of November 20th and will be available for streaming rental in December.