The last Jackie Chan film I thought he was really great in was Police Story 2013, although it's not really a "typical" jackie chan film as it's quite melodramatic rather than comedic. Still, he's in decent shape back then, and the younger generation he has in the ensemble are competent, so the stunt work is excellent in imo.

A lot of his crossover Western releases shifted their focus to just a small number of high profile set pieces (think the bamboo scaffolding scene in Rush Hour 2). While impressive, this meant less time was spent on intricately choreographed fight sequences, which is what I personally really dig, and Police Story 2015 is the last one I remember with a healthy balance of the two

“An incursion occurs when the boundary between two universes erodes, and they collide, destroying one or both entirely."

^^^Just ^^a ^^little ^^multiverse ^^humor

Fives have lives,

Fours have chores,

Threes have fleas,

Twos have blues,

and Ones don't get a rhyme because they're garbage.

I remember being really into this movie when I was in college. I think there was something I connected with, feeling numb and disengaged from the world with a lot of bottled up emotions that your family really doesn't understand or refuses to engage with. I was obsessed with the soundtrack and gushed about the movie whenever asked

I came back to it a little later, older and better adjusted emotionally. I think there's still something there very honest and true at the heart of the story, but I see some cracks now I didn't notice before. Some shots seem to exist for their own sake, and while they're beautiful, they don't quite feel organically incorporated into the film. Similarly, there are some needle drops that last maybe two seconds and feel out of context; thinking specifically of the Colin Hay lyrics while the camera flies up awkwardly to a top-down shot; another example: the Theivery Corporation slo-mo walk seems to exist to look cool but doesn't connect with anything before or after it.

Likewise some ideas seem to be thrown out but never elaborated on, or if so then only superficially. There's a strong undercurrent about Mark, his aspirations/potential, and his relationship with Andrew, but we don't get a payoff for any of it. We learn about Sam's epilepsy, but it's never followed up on, making it seem like it was just context for the helmet scene.

The ending was always a mixed bag for me, but leaning away from enjoyment as I age. Of course I cheered when I was younger when they stay together, but having been through my own relationship experiences now, it seems a little too neat and Hollywood. It fits the film's message of "Live your life now! Chase your joy!" but at the expense of its subtler lesson of "make time to process your trauma before it damages the relationship around you" as exemplified by the father.

Still, there's a lot to like about the film. Jim Parston's scene is great. Peter Sarsgaard's Mark is believably chill but smarmy, yet friendly enough that you accept him anyway. The "getting pulled over by an old high school acquaintence" scene is hilarious. And the scene with Braff and Ian Holm is cathartic; very well done by both actors.

All in all I still found it enjoyable, but some of the critiques are valid (if sometimes overblown).

But those beans are so adorable! And marketable!