Of course Jackie Chan and a horse are a perfect comedic duo
25.10.2023 - 18:51
/ polygon.com
/ John Cena
/ Jackie Chan
From the late 1970s through the early 2000s, Jackie Chan established himself as one of the all-time great movie stars in a string of terrific action comedies, from Drunken Master to Project A to Wheels on Meals toPolice Story. His output has been a bit more serious lately: Recent years have seen the action legend starring in movies like the espionage thriller Vanguard, the revenge thriller The Foreigner, and the fantasy epic Iron Mask — all of which are various shades of dull and forgettable.
In 2023, he’s doing things a bit differently. Hidden Strike, which was in production for about half a decade, appropriately served as a bit of a transition film for this latest period of Chan’s career. Half serious action, half buddy comedy with John Cena, it’s a solid enough straight-to-streaming action movie that shines more when it leans into the comedy pairing of its two stars. After that came the impishly funny Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, where Chan shines as the voice of the Turts’ caring rat dad, Splinter.
And Chan completes his 2023 trilogy with Ride On, which hit theaters in limited release in April, and is now out on digital and on home video. This latest comedy leans even further into the slapstick martial arts movies that made Chan an international household name in the first place. And this time, his co-star is a horse.
While Ride On doesn’t reach the frantic, joyful highs of Chan’s best collaborations with childhood friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, it’s still an enjoyable comedic entry in the career of one of the all-time great movie stars. It’s a throwback to a bygone era of Hong Kong and action-comedy filmmaking, end-credits blooper/stunt reel and all.
In Ride On, Chan essentially plays an alternate-universe version of himself, an aging stuntman named Luo Zhilong. “Master Luo,” as his many disciples lovingly call him, was once the greatest stuntman in Hong Kong, but he never made it as a movie star. All of Chan’s greatest movies still happened in this universe, but in this world, he was solely a stuntman.
Long removed from the movie industry, Luo now spends his days quietly working odd jobs with his beloved horse, Red Hare. Luo treats Red Hare like a son, and calls him his “last disciple” in the field of stunt work. Their relationship is the highlight of the movie, with slapstick gags and a great rapport. Ride On opens with Red Hare dragging Master Luo out of bed in the morning with his teeth, pulling him up by the nape of his neck.
That relationship is where the movie shines — Chan and the horse performer, Chitu, have terrific chemistry, and they clearly had a blast working together. Chan’s sweet and sincere performance is a perfect fit for a buddy comedy with an animal co-star,