Do you remember when Renny Harlin made a good film? Ah, memories. Boy, that was a while ago, huh? What’s that? No, this isn’t one, either. But Skiptrace almost, sorta, kinda, if-you-squint-and-tilt-your-head-askew, reminded me at times that the man was once capable of making me care … maybe.
I’ve been saddened lately that age seems to have caught up, finally, with Jackie Chan. He doesn’t fight as much as he used to; when he does, the stuntwork isn’t as elaborate. And a handful of his projects in recent years have been actual movies and not just excuses for extended kung fu. Yes, Jackie Chan for the acting. Next, I’m going relax with a non-alcoholic beer, some unpopped kernels, and a book cover. Now hand me that remote control without the batteries. Skiptrace may not be a great ride, but at least Renny Harlin understood the point of a Jackie Chan film is to get Jackie into inescapable prop-filled skirmishes.
Teamed up with Jackie this time around is a guy who also knows a great deal about the difference between “acting” and “entertainment,” Johnny Knoxville. Ironically, it is Johnny, not Jackie, who seems to be showing age in this film, but that is besides the point. Bennie Chan (Jackie), really, “Bennie?” Anyway, Bennie Chan is a Honk Kong cop on the trail of The Matador. “The” is English, “Matador” is Spanish, and the villain is Chinese, but whatever; I’m sure this sounded good in pre-production. The Matador killed Bennie’s partner years ago, a pain Bennie has never lived down, much like his name. Meanwhile, the Russian mob is after small-time con artist Conner Watts (Knoxville). In the process of temporarily escaping the mob in a ritzy Macao casino, Watts witnesses a murder that might be tied to The Matador. The mob then catches Watts and takes him to Russia.
I love how a film like this goes to great lengths to explain The Matador’s business along with police speculation, but they don’t come close to explaining how you kidnap an American man in Macao and fly him to another country (presumably against his will). It doesn’t matter, of course. The plot in a Jackie Chan film generally holds as much water as a tea strainer. For the sake of having a plot, Bennie faces down the Russian mob to play Midnight Run with Watts lengthwise across the largest continent on the planet.
If you 
set Midnight Run is Asia, does that make it Midday Run? Hmmmm. And the fastest vehicle these two have in their travels is a second-hand tuk-tuk, which normally would put the time estimate on crossing Asia at roughly 35 years, but this is a movie. Belief will be suspended.
I can’t say I’m wild about Knoxville doing anything outside of his Jackass routine, but Chan needed a partner much like Robert De Niro needed Charles Grodin in Midnight Run. Two moments I truly enjoyed were 1) Jackie battling some badass Natasha (Eve Torres) in a Russian kitsch factory, arming himself with a consistently receding Matroyshka doll while tied-up Knoxville hangs from a hook. 2) When Jackie leads a sing-along of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” among a nomadic Mongolian tribe. These two moments weren’t enough for me, and I doubt they would be enough for others, but I can say Renny Harlin’s film is a return to battling Jackie, not acting Jackie. There are worse things. Many, many, many worse things.
Jackie and Jackass went out for a walk
Across Asia one day
Quibble and quabble and plenty of squawk
Neither knew their own way
A mighty cliff, and kung fu mischief
As trackers followed them nigh
I remember this trick, that Butch/Sundance flick
But then it was Uruguay
To impede their path, The Matador’s wrath
And a cruelty almost unique
Yet successful their bent, they crossed continent
In hardly the length of a week
Rated PG-13, 107 Minutes
D: Renny Harlin
W: Jay Longino, BenDavid Grabinski
Genre: Asian style Midnight Run
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The can’t sleep at 3 a.m. crowd
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Those who don’t lack for entertainment
