6= THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FILM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER3, 2002
'Tuxedo' fits Chan, spoofs spy-movie genre
Contributed art
A high-tech tuxedo transforms a simple taxi driver, Jackie Chan, into a Bond-esque superhero in his latest movie, The Tuxedo.
Jackie Chan's mild-mannered persona is a perfect fit for The Tuxedo.
In The Tuxedo Chan plays a James Bond-like character named Jimmy Tong, a New York City taxi driver. Tong is hired as a chauffeur for Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs), an international spy. When his boss sustains a severe head wound in a freak skateboard-bombing attack he puts on his boss's high-tech tuxedo. Tong was just a driver, but now he has sworn to avenge Devlin's attack.
FILM
The tux's electrodes immediately calibrate the suit to fit his body. There is an accompanying watch that controls the action the tux takes. It spans from demolish mode to booty shaking. Now he looks like Bond, and the suit electronically makes Tong act like Bond. But, even though he is now able to assemble and use a sniper rifle in a matter of seconds, he is still just as unconfident and reserved as he was before.
The dichotomy between being a super hero and being a normal man sets The Tuxedo apart from other spy films. So often spy movies turn out to be jokes because they try to live up to the ultra-suave character that the Bond movies have established. This movie seems to be tailored to offer the thrill of espionage while having fun with a fish-out-of-water story.
Peter Black
pblack@kansan.com
The Tuxedo still has a few snags. It's hung up on pandering to the typical formula of a spy using secret weapons to catch a sinister villain hell-bent on dominating the world by launching some deranged scheme. And there's the bosomy heroine who is an expert in some advanced branch of science. But The Tuxedo plays with this and forms the movie perfectly around Jennifer Love Hewitt's curvy body.
Her character, Del Blaine, seems to be a microbiologist and a water expert, which leads her to being paired with and mistaking Tong for Clark Devlin. However, instead of using her intelligence, she lets
'The Tuxedo' ★★1/2 (out of four)
Starring Jackie Chan, Jennifer Love Hewitt PG-13 for action, violence, sexual content and language Playing at South Wind 12, 3433 Iowa St.
her breasts do most of the talking. They get the duo into concerts, parties and seduce the villain.
In the middle of trying to seduce the villain's mistress, James Tong tries to keep his pants on rather than follow in Bond's footsteps and sleep with the woman first and worry about his assignment second. Why is Tong so unwilling to strip down? Shedding the tuxedo would strip away all of his spylike know-how and would expose an unconfident and shy self.
Perhaps the filmmakers are trying to say that we can surround ourselves with as many gadgets and falsehoods as we want, but once those are taken away all we have is what is inside of us. Stripped down, The Tuxedo is an enjoyable take on a genre that has been worn thin.
-Edited by Chris Wintering