Jackie Chan’s (成龍)’s sure-to-be crowd pleaser, CZ12 <十二生肖>, will be released on December 12, just in time for the holidays. The movie took more than a year to film at worldwide locations. For those who keep count, this is Jackie Chan’s 101st movie. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film. The story will revolve around Jackie Chan who plays Jackie, a.k.a. Asian Hawk, a treasure hunter for hire. The artifacts involve bronze-cast heads of the statues looted by the French from the Old Summer Palace in 1860s. These statues of the Chinese Zodiacs are considered to be China’s national treasure. Of the 12 zodiacs, 4 remain missing. Originally, Jackie joins the hunt for a large reward offered by a relic collector. However, during the course, Jackie falls in love with Coco (Yao Xingtong), the daughter of a Chinese artifacts expert. Coco convinces Jackie to recover the relics for the country’s sake instead of the rewards. As the producer, leading actor and director of the movie, Jackie had to juggle multiple roles. Most of the action in the movie required his involvement, and many times he performed his own stunts as well. In one scene, Jackie had to perform an acrobatic stunt on the roof of an eight-story French mansion. The scene involved him running on the roof to avoid being captured. He even sat on the ledge of the balcony which was many feet off the ground. Naturally, the crew and cast were amazed by his daring performance. One trademark of a Jackie Chan movie is the international setting of the story; shots of the countries were selected to reflect the beauty of the location. In the artifact-stealing scene, Jackie was attracted by the immense beauty of the French countryside that he decided to take his time out there to enjoy the view. Jackie loves France, the people, the food, and the wine. Jackie said, “I have worked with many nice Frenchman before, and I enjoy working in France.” For those who miss Jackie’s treasure hunt movies such as Operation Condor <飛鷹計劃> and Armour of God <龍兄虎弟>, CZ12 is not to be missed. CZ12 Trailer
What a wonderful day to release this movie to celebrate his 101 movie (no pun intended). I hope this is in English. That or English + Cantonese (for that Coco girl that Jackie will fall in love with, but judging from the name, doubt it would be, instead it may be in Mandarin). Love this type of action movie! Go Jackie!
