Skiptrace (2016)

By 2016, Jackie Chan had long since earned a place among cinema's most recognisable figures, a performer whose career stretches back to the early 1970s Hong Kong film industry and whose reputation rests on a genuinely extraordinary commitment to performing his own stunts. Films like Rumble in the Bronx and Police Story 4: First Strike cemented his status as an action comedian unlike any other, a man who treats every set as both a gymnasium and a playground. By the mid-2010s, however, the industry landscape around him had shifted considerably. China's domestic box office had grown into one of the most powerful markets on earth, and co-productions between Chinese, Hong Kong and American studios had become a commercially attractive proposition for all parties involved. Skiptrace arrived in that context: a globe-trotting action comedy produced across three studios (JC Group International, InterTitle Films and Cider Mill Pictures), filmed across locations including Russia, Mongolia and Hong Kong, and pitched squarely at audiences on both sides of the Pacific.

The film was directed by Renny Harlin, the Finnish-born filmmaker whose career peaked with a run of polished but unremarkable Hollywood blockbusters in the 1990s. Harlin brought a workmanlike efficiency to large-scale action productions, and on paper a buddy comedy featuring Chan and Johnny Knoxville, the American stuntman and television personality best known for the Jackass franchise, had the ingredients of a crowd-pleasing summer release. The supporting cast includes Fan Bingbing, one of the most prominent actresses in Chinese cinema at the time, alongside Hong Kong veteran Eric Tsang Chi-Wai and former WWE Diva Eve Torres. The pairing of Chan and Knoxville was clearly designed to replicate the cross-cultural buddy dynamic that had served Chan so well opposite Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour series, a formula that had proven both profitable and popular with Western audiences.

Chan's longevity in this kind of material is worth pausing on. He has sustained a career across more than four decades by combining genuine athletic ability with an instinct for physical comedy that is genuinely rare, a quality you can trace all the way back to early supporting appearances in films like Hand of Death. Knoxville, by contrast, built his following through a very different tradition, one rooted in anarchic American stunt culture rather than choreographed martial arts, which makes the pairing an interesting, if slightly uneasy, proposition from the outset. Whether the two energies click is the central question hanging over the film.

Skiptrace (2016) pairs the legendary Jackie Chan with Jonny Knoxville in a mismatched buddy-cop adventure that, on paper, sounds like a recipe for chaotic fun. Chan plays a Hong Kong detective tracking a notorious gambler across continents, while Knoxville plays a loud, scamming American tour guide who gets caught in the crossfire. The promise of Chan’s gravity meeting Knoxville’s goofball energy is tempting, especially if you’re nostalgic for Rush Hour-style banter. And sure, there are flashes of it. Chan delivers his usual breathtaking stunt work (at least toned down) and charm, and Knoxville leans into the comic relief with his trademark slapstick and cowardly bravado. A few action sequences show flashes of the inventiveness classic Chan films thrive on. But beyond the stunts, Skiptrace feels flat. The chemistry between the leads never fully ignites. The humour leans too hard on Knoxville’s tired prankster shtick, the plot is forgettable, and the pacing drags despite its globe-trotting scope. It’s all very by-the-numbers: chase, fight, joke, repeat. It’s not offensive or badly made, just utterly average. A serviceable time-killer with one great martial artist and one guy trying to ride his coattails. Watchable if you’re flipping channels at 3 a.m., but nowhere near essential. A missed opportunity for real spark. Chan deserves better. So does Knoxville. But mostly, so do we.

For me, that sense of a missed opportunity is the thing that lingers longest. I have a fair amount of goodwill for Chan in almost anything, and there are moments here where you catch glimpses of what a sharper, better-written version of this film might have been. But goodwill only carries you so far when the script keeps getting in the way. If you are after action comedies with a bit more snap and ambition, you might find more to enjoy in some of Chan's earlier work, or indeed in something like A Bittersweet Life, which at least commits fully to what it wants to be. Skiptrace, by contrast, never quite decides. It is the cinematic equivalent of a meal that fills you up without you being able to remember a single bite of it the following morning.

Rating: ★★½  | Year: 2016  | Watched: 2025-10-16

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Skiptrace (2016) on YouTube

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Related on Movies With Macca

More with Jackie Chan: Hand of Death (1976) · Rumble in the Bronx (1995) · Gorgeous (1999) · Shanghai Noon (2000)
More from China: Men in Black: International (2019) · New Police Story (2004) · Police Story: Lockdown (2013) · Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)