RIDE ON (LONGMA JINGSHERR)

(director/writer: Larry Yang; cinematographer: Sun Ming; editor: Super Zhang; music: Lao Zai; cast: Jackie Chan (Lao Luo), Liu Haocun (Bao), Kevin Guo (Mickey), Wu Jing (Yuanjie), Andy On (Dami); Runtime: 126; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Yuan Nong, Belle Lau, Zhang Huixia, Victoria Hon, Fu Ruoqing; Well Go Entertainment; 2023-China-in Mandarin with English subtitles)

“An incredibly bad Jackie Chan film.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

An incredibly bad Jackie Chan film directed and written for the now 69-year-old by Larry Yang (“Adoring”/”My Other Home”). It’s filled with dumb slapstick comedy, as it tries to get by with a clumsily written and sentimental story about the relationship between father-daughter and father-horse.

Chan plays a former washed up Hong Kong legendary stuntman named Lao Luo, living in China, who is chased by debt collectors and is struggling to economically survive by doing tourist photos and mascot appearances for small businesses with the horse Red Hare he raised and trained.

Though idle for years, he gets an offer to be in a movie with Red Hare. But he’s involved in a legal battle over his ownership of the horse. He thereby asks his estranged law school student daughter Bao (Liu Haocun) for help. But she turns to her lawyer boyfriend Mickey (Kevin Guo) for help, as the strained relationship between them is reconciled. We learn of their sad backstory, as it’s a tear- jerker that tugs at our hearts in a low-brow way.

Nothing is interesting about the film, except it’s a Jackie Chan film. He now is no longer able to carry out his once thrilling fight scenes and embarrasses himself in this awful clunky film.

 

REVIEWED ON 4/9/2023  GRADE: D