JACKIE Chan martial arts movies can be pretty much what they say on the can - Jackie Chan doing martial arts in a movie, and not a lot else.

The Medallion is packed with plenty of impressive martial arts sequences with Chan admirably proving that being almost 50 is no bar to his stunning agility.

But, unfortunately, with all the attention going to high kicks and acrobatic leaps, other aspects of the film seem to have fallen by the wayside - like the plot.

The film's loose story - about a chosen boy with mystical powers who is under threat from an uber-baddie and whom Chan must save - is fairly tired and generic in the first place.

But to make matters worse, whole chunks of plot development have been left out as if it's up to us to fill in the blanks or, more likely, because the plot itself is pretty irrelevant.

Agent Arthur Watson's (Lee Evans) wife Charlotte (Christy Chung) spends most of the film being a normal person then suddenly reveals that she has an arsenal of weapons hidden in the airing cupboard and is a proficient martial arts expert, although quite why this is the case is never actually touched on.

Baddie Snakehead (Julian Sands) is another puzzle. He seems to have all sorts of superpowers for no apparent reason, including telekinesis or super-magnetic hands.

And quite what powers the magical medallion is able to endow seems to be a bit shaky.

For most of the film it emphasises what you have - making Eddie (Chan) super fast, super strong etc, but by the end of the film, those powers have expanded to being able to defy gravity - nifty.

Chan is joined in this film by love interest Claire Forlani and sidekick Lee Evans, who can't resist squeezing in some of his supposedly-hilarious physical comedy which may leave many audience members fairly cold.

That's not to say this film is all bad. There are some very exciting action sequences and if you like martial arts films it will hit at least some of the right buttons. Just don't go expecting Oscar-winning stuff.

I give it: 4/10

SALLY

CHURCHWARD