It's a stunning moment, but the other characters, apparently not easily impressed, just raise their eyebrows and move on. Evans's wife (another Hong Kong favorite, Christy Chung), apparently a simple Anglo-Asian homemaker, suddenly reveals her own refined martial arts skills as well as a secret closet full of high-tech weaponry. Traces of vanished subplots remain, as when Mr.

The story line doesn't make much sense, perhaps because ''The Medallion'' was reduced to a brisk 89 minutes from 116 shortly before its release. Chan is helped in his quest by a British supporting cast: Claire Forlani, Lee Evans and John Rhys-Davies, playing Interpol agents.īut as soon as the medallion appears, so do the digital maneuverings - speeded-up movement, composite images, objects and people morphing into supernatural thingamajigs - that undercut the genuine thrills of the genuine action. It has been snatched by the international villain Snakehead (Julian Sands, in a highly campy performance), as has the boy (Alexander Bao) who is its rightful possessor. Chan, as a Hong Kong police inspector, traveling to Ireland in search of the title object, a talisman that confers infinite strength and immortality on its possessor. Chan can still fly through the air with the best of them. Chan a couple of virtuoso sequences, beautifully framed and edited, showing that at 50 Mr. Chan since their shared childhood in a training school for Peking Opera performers, still believes in actual martial artists practicing actual martial arts, as opposed to the digitally enhanced high jinks of ''The Matrix'' and its ilk. Hung, a martial arts star in his own right and a friend of Mr. A Hong Kong production filmed in English by the veteran Hong Kong director Gordon Chan (''Fist of Legend''), the film, which opens today in New York and Los Angeles, is intended for an international public but still retains some Hong Kong street credibility, thanks largely to the expert action sequences staged by Sammo Hung. ''The Medallion'' is a moderately successful attempt to bring Mr. Chan now has his Hollywood career (a third ''Rush Hour'' is already in the works), aimed at an international English-language audience, and his Hong Kong career, producing Chinese-language films for the Asian market (like ''The Accidental Spy'' in 2001). Jackie Chan's career bifurcated around the time ''Rush Hour'' (1998) made him a star in American movies as well as in Asia, where he has been immensely popular for more than 20 years.

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