By Anna Mai

The asexual Asian male prevails at the movies. While he can fight two dozen men with his bare hands, rescue a beautiful damsel in distress, and save the world, the Asian male still walks away without a kiss or a love scene by the end of the movie.

Film poster for "The Medallion" Courtesy of Jackiechanzone.virtualave.net

But Jackie Chan is working to challenge this stereotype in the upcoming film "The Medallion" in which he has his first onscreen kiss with British actress Claire Forlani ("Antitrust, "Meet Joe Black") to prove that Asian men can be both lovers and fighters.

The actor explains, "I always have a girlfriend but no kissing-that's a Jackie Chan movie. But things are changing slowly. My fans are growing with me. I'm an adult, and now slowly we have a love scene in my movies. Now, if they write a love scene, it's okay with me. Even in America, the screenwriters see my movies and say 'no love scene.' And if there is one, the studio cuts it! (Source: Empire Online)

In the film, Chan stars as Hong Kong cop, Eddie Yang, who is killed in the line of duty in an accident involving a mysterious medallion that transforms him into a highbinder.

The term "highbinder" comes from Irish mythology and refers to a person who dies and is resurrected with new supernatural abilities that can be used for either good or evil.

As he is learning how to use his new powers, Eddie teams up with an Irish police inspector (Lee Evans) and a female investigator (Forlani) to figure out the secret behind the medallion and face down the evil highbinders who want it back.

After the film, originally titled "Highbinders" was picked up by Colombia for release to a North American audience, the title was changed to "The Medallion." The film has also been shortened to 87 minutes and many of the comedic scenes were deleted so that all the action scenes could make the cut.

"I hoped there would be a new way of bringing Hong Kong movies to the American market. This way of production, honestly, is actually a way of taking orders from others…I believe through our Cantonese way, Hong Kong movies or Chinese mainland movies could be made much better. Someday we can show our movies with the original features to the American market," Hong Kong director Gordon Chan told Nanfang Daily about the changes to the film.

The film will continue in the tradition of martial arts action flicks that add to the stereotype of Asians as fighting machines. At least there is a hint of sexuality to the male lead, unless that too gets cut from the final copy before the release.

Costing $35 million U.S. dollars to make, "The Medallion" is the most expensive Hong Kong production ever.

The film is scheduled for wide release August 22, 2003.

Also, look for a review of "The Medallion" in the August 29th issue of Asia Pacific Arts!

August 15, 2003