WO SHI SHEI (WHO AM I)?

China, 1998, 108 minutes, Colour.
Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Ron Smerczak, Ed Nelson.
Directed by Benny Chan, Jackie Chan.

Wo Shi Shei is a typical Jackie Chan action thriller. It also has many touches of comedy. It was released the same year as the original Rush Hour which was a box office success around the whole world.

The film was partly written by Jackie Chan who also co-directed and choreographed the action sequences.

The film is set in Africa and in Holland – with city scenes of Pretoria as well as of Rotterdam. The plot is slight. Jackie Chan is part of a commando group who abduct three scientists – but are betrayed and by chance, Jackie Chan survives only to lose his memory and live with Africans in their village. Eventually he emerges, is the target of the villains (led by CIA general Ed Nelson). He encounters a persistent young woman who wants to interview him – who turns out to be the real CIA.

The important thing is the action: there are some amusing car chases, some acrobatics from Chan as well as a culminating confrontation between himself and two thugs.

Nothing particularly new – but Jackie Chan is always exuberant.

1.Jackie Chan as a popular world figure? Character? Serious, comic? Action and martial arts?

2.The African settings, the desert, the village, Pretoria? The sophisticated scenes in hotels and streets? The comparisons with Rotterdam, cafés and restaurants? The tall buildings, roofs? The musical score?

3.The title, amnesia? Identity? The hero’s search for who he was?

4.The character, with the commandos, the initial raid? The taking of the scientists? The helicopter, the betrayal, the hero falling out? The others being killed? His being found by the Africans, the lack of language for communication, taken to the village? His becoming part of their life?

5.His eventually moving out, encountering the driver and his sister, going back to Pretoria? Finding himself the target of so many people? His search for his identity? The chases? The hospital, the sister and her help? Christine and her wanting an interview? Persistent? Her being handcuffed to the car? Their all being in the car – the chase, even the car on its side?

6.The transition to Rotterdam? Christine giving the information, the café, the thugs coming to find him? The chases? His thinking Christine was betraying him?

7.The villains, the retired general, the greed for the formula, the samples from the asteroid? The three scientists and their desperation? The test – and the overload, the blackouts and the explosions in Pretoria?

8.The general, his character, the go-between with the disc, the CIA man and his betrayal, the thugs? The meeting in the building? The hero and his transferring the five hundred million to save the children? The repercussions?

9.The fight on the roof, the acrobatics, going down the side of the building?

10.Meeting Christine and the happy ending – and finding out who he was?