I want his Tailor!

My new post is a film review for The Tuxedo....

Jimmy Tong works as a taxi driver but he is offered a new job by one of his passenger which he instantly accepts. He is to be a chauffeur to Clark Devlin. He starts his job and hits it off with Devlin and soon they are good friends. Devlin does not like the suit which Jimmy is wearing so buys him a new one. Unbeknown to Jimmy Devlin works as a super spy for the CIA. After their car gets blown up by a bomb Devlin is left in a coma and it falls to Jimmy to take his place.

He dons the Tuxedo which Devlin wears and discovers that it has super powers. Jimmy meets with fellow agent Del and they start trying to investigate the goings on at a water plant and the criminals behind it. Jimmy is not doing very well as a super spy but can he and Del work together to bring own the criminals and find out their master plan?

I had heard small things about this film and as there was nothing else on the TV I decided to give it a watch. I found it was quite entertaining and the story was good but there did not seem to be anything original about the film and it all seemed to have been done before. I did think it was a good film for teenagers and if a few of the nasty scenes had been cut then this would have been ideal for children.

Jacki Chan played the lead role of Jimmy and he did an average JOB. There were times when I struggled to understand what he was saying and this is due to his thick accent. He did a great job of looking like a spy in the tuxedo and he also worked very well with the action and fighting scenes. He seemed very at ease with the fighting and stunts and I have to give him a lot of credit for this aspect of his character. There was no real connection between him and Del and I felt there could have been more between them to make the story slightly more believable. The role of Del was played by Jennifer Love Hewitt and she was slightly better in her role. She came across as slightly naive at the start of the film and it was good to watch her grow as the story developed. She fitted well into her character and I was able to warm to her.

We did have some good support roles in the film and I did like the role of Devlin, he was played by Jason Isaacs, he was strong and suave and suited the spy role he had. Other actors in the film included, Ritchie Coster and Debi Mazir. They all played quite different roles and bought as little bit of depth to the film.

The setting fort eh film was America in the present day and I found this to be a good setting and it suited the story very well. The fact we had a lot of high tech equipment and computers made the story more believable and I think a good job was done with the props and sets. The costumes were also good and I did like the tuxedo Jacki Chan wore, it was a lovely material and cut and looked very smart. The technology was not overly far fetched and it did all look realistic and believable and I think the teenage market will be able to understand what it is they are looking at.

There is a lot of action in the film and it was all to a very high standard. I am lead to believe from hubby that Jacki Chan does all of his own stunts and if this is the case he did a super job with them. He made all the fights look very real and not choreographed and he did work well with the gymnastic moves which the suit got him to do, he did make some of them look slightly robotic but as he was being controlled by the suit I did think it was a good inclusion. We do have one or two quite nasty scenes in the film which I felt were of a good high standard when being created but for me they looked horrid, it involved a body being completely drained or water and shrivelling up and I did not find this enjoyable to see. I think if this would have been slightly less in your face then this could have been a film which appealed to the slightly younger audience, say children over the age of 8.

The soundtrack was good and very mixed but it was nothing special and not one which I would go out and buy. It did all fit well with the film and the story though.

I am only reviewing the film so there are no bonus features for me to speak about. The DVD can be bought for under £5 now and I do think this is a fair price even though I would not be willing to pay for it. The running time of the film is 98 minutes and I found this to be a good length with the story moving at a steady pace from start to finish. The rate is a 12A and I felt that if the fighting would have been dulled down and a few scenes removed then this would have made a great children’s film but as it is a certainly agree with the rate.

I am happy to give this film a good 3 stars and a recommendation. I enjoyed the story and the acting was good. I think I would have liked to have been able to understand more of what the lead actor was saying and more of a connection between Chan and Hewitt to have given this a higher rate. A watch able film with a good story but I would wait for it to come on the TV again and not waste money on the DVD.