Vanguard (2020)

I can’t say “Vanguard” is boring, because like someone waving a toy in front of a baby’s face, its color and movement make it distracting. As well as expensive (though why so many of the CGI effects are so bad given what this movie must have cost, I have no idea). But it is senseless and ridiculous, even by the most lightweight fantasy-action-movie standards. It really feels like they said “OK, we have about a dozen ideas here for generic ripoffs of other movies…hey, let’s cram them all into ONE movie, and stick Jackie Chan on top!” From one scene to the next, this film has no idea what it wants to be–so it tries everything, badly. I laughed out loud at some things that were meant to be taken seriously.

I’m not sure bloodthirsty terrorists need to be heavily featured in a movie geared towards 10-year-olds, but that seems the approximate age group targeted here. Yet at the same time “Vanguard” isn’t exactly a family film–or anything else, for more than a few minutes at a time. What it is, is a mess. A loud, expensive, busy mess that does Jackie no favors, or any of the younger cast members either.

Please note that if you click on their names, every single “user” here who gave “Vanguard” ten stars has mysteriously never reviewed another film, and only been on IMBD for a month. This movie flopped even in China, but Chinese bots sure are working overtime to try to push it here.

Review by ofumalow