Widely promoted by Jackie Chan as a Guinness world record setting piece that would be his last major action film, 2012's CZ12 has recently been released on US home video by Universal under the title Chinese Zodiac. Even with some thirteen minutes shaved off of its' original running time, this is still a film that manages to overstay its' welcome, being more of a whimper than an exclamation point on Jackie's illustrious career.

Most of the cut footage contains political themes. However, even in the abridged cut and with most of the Mandarin dialogue dubbed over, the pro-Mainland Chinese message is clear -- even though apparently Jackie isn't above taking money from western companies to fund the production.

Of course, product placement has been standard operating procedure in films from all over the world for many years. For instance, notice how everyone, both heroes and villains, in James Bond movie always has Sony phones. And Chinese/Hong Kong pictures are especially brazen in onscreen schilling. But it is another matter entirely to assail western-style capitalism while making sure the label on a Budweiser bottle is always facing towards the audience, as Jackie himself does during the beginning moments of one of CZ12 action setpieces.

Speaking of the action, the movie begins with a fun sequence with Jackie in a rollerblade suit, where he chalks up a few more stunts to add up to his Guinness award for most stunts completed by a living actor -- though one has to wonder how many of these were tweaked by CGI or doubles. Those elements certainly rear their heads during the second act's main action sequence, which is punctuated by a ridiculous looking log ride that looks like something from a cheap SyFy network film. Things do bounce back during the finale in an extended fight scene has a lot of Jackie's trademark acrobatic and prop-heavy antics.

As good as the action is -- and for coming from someone that is 60 years old and has decades of injuries, it's pretty damn good -- it can't counter the fact that the rest of CZ12 isn't that compelling. Jackie's other Guinness award for this film was for most onscreen credits. He has fifteen, including composer, art director, and lighting. So, obviously this really is a "Jackie Chan picture" in every sense of the phrase. But for how talented Jackie is, his best work always seemed to occur when he had someone as a counterweight -- someone who could tell him to move on, which the middle act, which bogs down in dopey comedy and Mainland pandering, desperately needed to do.

RATING: 6

Notes:

• Though this was originally supposed to be the third in the Armour of God (aka Operation Condor) films, it is not a direct sequel, as Jackie plays a different character. Universal's product description that is listed on sites like YouTube and Amazon says Jackie plays Asian Hawk (the character from Armour of God) but in both the Chinese and English versions, his character's name is JC.
• The film features several notable cameos, including Jackie's wife, Joan Lin, who plays his wife in the movie. It is the first time they have appeared onscreen together and was Lin's first film work since 1982 after she became pregnant with their son, Jaycee.
• The English dub on the Universal DVD is a strange one. Some of the Mandarin dialogue is left intact, and lines spoken in other languages, such as French and Russian, were also left as-is. As a whole, the DVD is bare bones, with no extras and just a couple of menu screens.
• The uncut version of the film can be bought legitimately from many online retailers, including YesAsia.