Director: Stanley Tong
Writer: Stanley Tong (Screenplay)
Starring: Jackie Chan, Yang Yang, Lun Ai, Miya Muqi, Rouhan Xu, Jackson Lou
Plot: Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for an accountant after he is targeted by the world’s deadliest mercenary organization.
Tagline – Protection beyond frontiers
Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Vanguard starts when the vengeful Omar (Hourani) hires the world’s deadliest mercenaries to get revenge on him, looking to kidnap his daughter Fareeda (Xu), a secret security company known as Vanguard led by Tang Huating (Chan) go in search of her to keep her alive with the team of Lei Zhenyu (Yang) and Mi Ya (Muqi).
The Vanguard team get to use their skills to save the day once again, proving they are better as a team than ever on their own, to stop the weapons of mass destruction falling into the wrong hands.
Thoughts on Vanguard
Characters & Performances – Tang Huating runs Vanguard, he will not leave a team member behind or refuses to get involved in the hands on approach is required, his connections from around the world will help him travel between countries. He is a mix of what we have seen in a Bossley from Charlie’s Angels and Grant Tracy from Thunderbirds. Jackie Chan gets moments of conflict, where his comedy timing works with his serious combat well. Lei Zhenyu, Zhang Kaixuan and Mi Ya are the three most trusted agents that will work together to fight for what is right, protect people and save the world, each brings a different skill that will give them the advantage in battle. Yang Yang, Lun Ai and Miya Muqi are great together, they have the chemistry to work together and don’t hold back in the fight scenes. Omar is the terrorist who is out for revenge after his terrorist father is killed by the military, he clashes with Vanguard trying to get the upper hand in his revenge plan.
Story – The story here follows an elite group of security agents that clash with a terrorist who has taken one of their clients hostage in an attempt to get his hands on weapons of mass destruction. This is a secret agent story like we have seen before, it has elements of Charlie’s Angels (without just being a women team), Thunderbirds, by having a team that have different specialist skills and the old fashion James Bond series. It does all come together nicely for an entertaining film that will be easy to watch, with most of the twists in the story coming from them needing to figure out how to save somebody after the latest clash.
Themes – Vanguard does have plenty of action, mixing the martial skills of Chan and his team, we travel around the world like all super spies, but we do have some bad special effects when it comes to the lions involved in the film.
Final Thoughts – Vanguard is a fun super spy movie with crazy over the top sequences.
