Rob-B-Hood Review

Synopsis:

The film is an action comedy about three robbers who kidnap a baby. For this film, Chan wanted to play a full-fledged villain, but Chinese censors rejected the original script. So, In the movie, Chan portrays a gambling addict who kidnaps the grandson of a tycoon for ransom, but ends up as a hero trying to protect the child from the mob.

The film follows a group of thieves made up of Thongs (Chan), Octopus (Louis Koo), and Landlord (Michael Hui). They steal for different reasons. Thongs is a compulsive gambler who faces debt collectors at his door. Octopus spends his fortunes to court a rich girl. Landlord does not spend his loot, but saves all of it and keeps it in a safe in his house. After Landlord's house was broke into and all his savings stolen, he was desperate to regain his fortune and accepted a job offer that will pay him in huge sums. At the same time Thongs and Octopus were both in desperate need of money again, and they went for the job without knowing the details. Only after breaking in did they know that Landlord was asked to steal a baby, and return it to the baby's alleged grandfather, who is also the head of a Triad. When they were on the way to hand over the baby, they ran through a police road block, resulting in a car crash. Landlord was hospitalized and kept in police custody because of the accident, while Thongs and Octopus was forced to take care of the baby, deciding that it will be best to hold on to their prize before the Landlord is released. They faced challenges from all fronts, including the Triads, Thongs' creditors, Octopus wife and of course, the baby they've stolen.

Mini-Review:

I will have to admit, I got Rob-B-Hood to see what Jackie Chan still had left. The action scenes where OK, but you can tell he's in his upper 50's. He just doesn't seem as fast and you could tell they sped the film up to make up for it. He does do some cool stunts, but the age is definitely showing.

Now, the movie itself needs you to leave your parenting ways at home. If there wasn't a doll used for most scenes, shaken baby syndrome would have occured many times in the film. Starting with right after the baby is born, he is snatched by a disgruntled ex-boyfriend of the mother, and is shaken around as he eludes the authorities and parents. Then, he is dropped about 2 stories before JC barely catches him on the side of an escalator. You see the "baby" hit the side of the escalator. He then slides out of his clothes and falls another story to waiting nurse’s arms. This is the first 10 minutes. There are many other instances, which will make most parents cringe.

The movie itself was just OK. It starts off with 2 burglars Thongs (Jackie Chan) & Octopus (Louis Koo). Thongs (not sure if the translation was correct on this 0_o) has a gambling problem, and Octopus is a womanizer that's married. It's your typical story of, bad men > steal baby > become better people by end of film.

The movie had it's moments that made you feel good, cringe (see above) and some OK action scenes (car chase scene with baby carriage stuck to back of armored car is pretty out there), but overall the film was pretty goofy. It wasn't a complete waste of time.

And yes Trey, there is a nice baby montage in it for you. I don't remember a baby powder scene, but it did have peeing in the face and dirty diaper to the face. There were actually 3 dirty (I do mean dirty) diapers to the face in the film. How many Hollywood films do we get that?

Rating: Rental

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