The Accidental Spy Details

Sports equipment salesman Jackie Chan becomes the pawn in a hunt for missing phials of ultra-addictive opium in this pedestrian action adventure. Notable for its horrendous dubbing, this is one of Chan's least exciting projects. Though there's no denying his amazing physical abilities, the plot is patchy, the obligatory slapstick inappropriate, and the fight sequences tediously repetitive. In re-editing for a Western market after the post-11 September anthrax scare, the distributor not only changed the story (originally the phials contained a lethal lung cancer virus) but also destroyed the actors' performances with laughable, wooden English voices and corny new dialogue. This detracts from the tale's darker and emotional elements, wasting tragic heroine Vivian Hsu and making Chan seem a total buffoon.