Wo shi shei (1998)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Directors:

Benny Chan
Jackie Chan

Writers:

Jackie Chan (writer)
Susan Chan (writer)

Release Date:

17 January 1998 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Comedy | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Fight now. Ask questions later.

Plot:

A secret agent loses his memory after falling from a crashing helicopter. He is then chased by a number of other agency operatives, but he has no idea why.

Plot Keywords:

Rotterdam | Helicopter | Secret Agent | Memory Loss | Amnesia

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Jackie Chan	...	Who Am I?
Michelle Ferre	...	Christine Stark
Mirai Yamamoto	...	Yuki
Ron Smerczak	...	Morgan
Ed Nelson	...	General Sherman
Tom Pompert	...	CIA Chairman
Glory Simon	...	CIA Secretary
Fred van Ditmarsch	...	Airforce
Fritz Krommenhoek	...	Navy
Dick Rienstra	...	Army
Rinaldo van Ommeren	...	Army Assistant
Pim Daane	...	Marine
Jeremiah Flemming	...	Marine Assistant
Neil Berger	...	Secretary
Dik Brinksma	...	NAT Security Officer

Also Known As:

Jackie Chan's Who Am I? (USA) (cable TV title)
Who Am I?

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for martial arts action violence.

Runtime:

120 min | USA:108 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Germany:12 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Trivia:

In the rooftop fight scene, 'Bradly James Allan' doubled for Ron Smoorenburg's footwork.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Jacki runs up the hill on top of the rocks and screams, "Who am I?" you can see a member of the crew underneath the bridge area. When the chopper shot starts to move around you can see him look up at the camera and move back under the bridge trying to hide.

Quotes:

Morgan's hitman: Game's over, let's finish him!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Jackie Chan: My Stunts (1999) (V)

Soundtrack:

Friendship

Good – but the last 20 minutes are great!

Jackie Chan is a special operative, part of an elite military unit who are employed to capture a group of scientist working on a potent force that can be a power source or a weapon of mass destruction. After the job the group is betrayed and their helicopter forced to crash – Jackie is the only survivor. He comes too much later in an African village having lost his memory. When he has regained full strength he begins to try and find who he is – however his ex-employers are also keen to ensure he knows nothing and that they can complete their work.

The story here is solid – not much more can be said than that. It works quite well as a thriller plot but it wouldn't stand up by itself. Happily we have two things saving the plot. The first is the strand of physical comedy that runs through Chan's work – here we have plenty of little jokes scattered around, e.g. Chan is fighting one man and uses the man's tie against him, another man waits to fight Chan but pointedly removes his tie first! The second (and more important) aspect is the fight scenes. For much of the film the action seems to be toned down – indeed there are only 4 or 5 main scenes in the movie where Chan lets rip. However all of these are good, however the final roof top fight (in fact the whole last 20 minutes) is excellent and worth watching the film for.

As always the film doesn't worry about details rather it focuses on choreography. This means we have bad support actors….and we do! It means that things like realism and continuity go out the window…..a car slides on it's side, spins and then turns over again – however seconds later it has no scratches anywhere! And some of the early special effects are a little ropy. Although these are minor problems.

Chan is excellent in the lead and is a real wonder to watch – I wish I could move like him now…never mind when I'm his age. His ability at both martial arts and comedy helps this film immensely. It is hard to fault him for effort.

Overall this is a good Chan movie – it has the same faults as all his movies do, but it's funny, has some good action scenes and ends with a really good conclusion. Well worth watching.