Who Am I (1998)

A secret agent is the only survivor of a mysterious incident, and wakes up with amnesia. After being nursed back to health by an African tribe, he returns to the city in search of the answers. Who is he? What happened to him? Whatever it was, it's not over yet, because after his return, the man is beset by armed killers. Together with new companions, he must fight back and uncover this conspiracy before it's too late...

Who Am I is both a normal action film and a pretty weird one, in both good and bad ways. For a start, it's a good movie. It's a little long, yeah, but it gets the job done and delivers some ass-kicking fun. Mission accomplished! That is the main draw for Jackie Chan films, after all!

The prologue shows an ultra cool special forces team pull off a Mission Impossible style heist. And given their lack of jurisdiction, you wonder how scrupulous they are! But they prove to be victims of subterfuge and double crossing, leaving only one tenacious member as a survivor, albeit scarred with amnesia.

The story is confusing to some, but it's not too hard to follow. There's a rock found with strange properties, and everyone's after it. Admittedly this lack of detail is why it's confusing to some. I do think the film doesn't really explore it as much as would be ideal, with the data disc becoming little more than a MacGuffin. This is a shame, and makes scenes like the big lab explosion pretty pointless, and I suppose the rock's energy could have even played some fiery part in the finale. But overall it's not that big a deal. As a thingummy to facilitate action, it does a good job.

Something I found neat is the film's connection with tribal Africa. Jackie isn't just nursed back to health by  but also learns their language and immerses himself into their culture, even donning some Himba style braids and dye. It's really cool seeing such diversity showcased. And it's not just for show either, as this connection is important for Jackie, and not only does he promise to return, he does by the end!

Who Am I is most commonly available in English, but the Chinese one is a few minutes longer, containing a few extra scenes. These sound good, although I get why they were cut (nice as it'd be seeing Jackie explain the whole numbing medicine thing to Yuki and properly introduce himself, we get what happened anyway). The most interesting change however is we see much of the big reveals in the first few minutes! In the Chinese version these scenes don't play out till a dramatic flashback halfway through, but here they just play out chronologically. I can understand how this would rub some people up the wrong way, but I think it works. It would honestly be pretty annoying if we spend the whole movie wondering who this guy is, and the answer ends up being..."He's just a random secret service agent", with no real depth. So I think knowing all this going in is better, and it gives us enough context to know what the hell's even going on.

While not a full-on comedy, there's enough of that Jackie Chan style physical humour on display here, as well as a sense of innocence. One of the funniest (and kinda endearing!) moments is the Thank you after an unlikely rescue. Then there's how Jackie disposes of the villains' money (I sure hope that charity believes in sharing!).

The lead character is likeable, and his plight endears him to us. I like that while it's important to him, his identity isn't important to us. We know going in that he's a special forces agent. This allows us to focus more on the events the movie is showing.

He does soon find himself a name, after the tribe mistakenly think he's called Whoami. It's a bit weird that he sticks with this as a name, and everyone else is more than willing to oblige. They couldn't all just call him...Barry? The weirdest thing though is we the viewer do find out his name, and in a very casual way too. What is it?-Jackie Chan! Wow, really stretching the imagination there!

Jackie gets two sidekicks, both female, which I thought was neat! Bouncy racecar driver Yuki is adorable and motormouthed, and while she's probably the kind of person you'd wanna strangle after a while, I'd wanna hang out with her! She exits the film before the final act, which is a shame but makes sense since she is only a driver.

The villains are pretty generic, but not terribly so. They exist to oppose the hero and be cartoonishly evil. Second-in-command Morgan is the most developed one, and I really liked two of his scenes. One is when Jackie's calling him, and he's all calm and collected, but the moment Jackie says he's not in Africa anymore but Rotterdam, Morgan's face suddenly changes, and you can tell he's shitting himself. The second scene is where he allllmost convinces Jackie he's a double agent, and successfully gets a gun...or so he thinks.

The acting in Who Am I is one of its more bizarre qualities. The dubbing is odd. Not only is it mismatched, both in sound quality and characters, but the performances are bad in an unnatural and stilted way, like they're trying to speak English for the first time. As the films goes on, this is phased out, and a lot of the local African and Dutch cast members speak with their own voices.

Onto the good, Jackie is good as usual, although even he can't scream "WHO AM IIIIII????" to the heavens without it coming off as cheesy! The two female leads are strong in a way too. Mirai Yamamoto may be weirdly voiced, but both she and her US dub actor are cute as a button! Michelle Ferre meanwhile is an interesting case, in that she wasn't an actress at all, but a journalist! She was interviewing Chan for another project when he found her intriguing and cast her in his new picture. I've gotta say, this paid off! I agree, she does have an interesting look to her, and holds her own pretty well! It helps that she's dubbed into English, so she doesn't have to worry about lack of experience. This would be pretty much her only performance on film, and I bet she went back to work with a great "Guess what I did on the weekend!" story!

This brings me to an interesting point-What nationality is this film? Who Am I is produced by the Chinese, yet in English, with an international cast (as well as a plot that never actually goes to China). So does this actually make it an American film? Or Dutch or African?

The action in Who Am I is really good in general, but when it gets great it's some of the best in Chan's career! The stunt he pulls off in the climax is staggering and one of the dumbest any actor has ever done. He must have big balls or no brains! The rest of the stunt crew do admirably too (although Morgan gets a pretty obvious stunt double one scene).

There's a decent amount of vehicular action here, with a race early on, as well as some later car chases. I liked how it interacts with the scenery, like crashing into a cart of melons which stay stuck on the hood the rest of the way. The police and hotel escapes each have impressive stunts. Then there's a uniquely Dutch scene, where a now shoeless Jackie must don clogs to stop his enemies, as well as make a quick getaway.

The climax is a real gauntlet, where Jackie must fight enemy after enemy as he struggles to escape the villains' HQ. This culminates in a fight against a tough duo, who decline to just use a gun, and even time each-other and fight one-on-one! They specialise in arm and leg combat respectively. It's a great fight, highlighting both styles and it's at its best when combined with the environment. It does feel a bit like a cartoon at times, which is good, except the number of hits these guys take starts getting a bit ridiculous! You almost stop feeling it.

I really got a kick out of the final chase, where after a whole movie of being kicked around, and a 20 minute final battle where Jackie has to fight off a private army all by himself, now he has all the help he needs. It's cathartic to watch just how much there is (even if you wonder what the hell took them so long!), and how screwed the final villain is.

The location work in Who Am I is fantastic! Filming was done in both South Africa and Rotterdam. Not only do they make for pretty locations (not to mention varied, with both the modern cities of Africa, and the tribal veldt, as well as Dutch landmarks like the Willemswerf building and Cube Houses), but there's also an interesting deeper connection. The Netherlands is where a lot of the white settlers in South Africa descend from. Others have drawn their own conclusions from the film about identity and national regrets, etc, making a nation collectively wonder who they are. While I'm not sure how much is intentional, it's fascinating to think about, and fits the movie well.

While the majority of this film's visuals are of the ass-kicking variety, there is some digital effects work here. And it's...exactly of the calibre 1998 could best deliver! The meteor bits look rubbery and fake, while the explosions are cool and very plentiful, though a bit...hazy? Still, it was a developing technology, and it's not awful.

And the music here is pretty standard stuff. Fun 90s action tracks, with a few good beats. The song that plays over the end is just weird though! It sounds like a karaoke rehearsal, with a few good bits, but more weird ones, and odd breathing noises.

Who Am I has some flaws, which might either add or detract from the experience, but overall it's a fun time, with some truly spectacular action and stuntwork...