Fans of spectacular martial arts action will be served tonight with “Reluctant Spy” on RTL Nitro. Among others: the Klopper aces Jackie Chan and Scott Adkins! However, we recommend the Blu-ray version, which is over 20 (!) minutes longer.
RTL Nitro is showing “Reluctant Spy” on April 6, 2022, at 8:15 p.m. And basically, we would definitely make a recommendation for all martial arts fans at this point. Directed by regular collaborator Teddy Chan, genre legend Jackie Chan once again fires off a spectacular, varied firework of action that is still wonderfully entertaining even after 20 years. Coupled with a classic, if not very original, agent story that takes us around the world, it makes for a carefree, wonderfully entertaining film evening on RTL Nitro – albeit with some drawbacks. And not too tight.
Only the well-known international version is shown on TV, which is missing more than 20 (!) minutes. Of course, this edited version also has plenty of show value and was also the only version that was ever released in this country for many, many years – but that’s not the case anymore. And that’s exactly why we would advise against the TV broadcast today and recommend the home cinema evaluation. Koch Media finally brought the unabridged Hong Kong original version to Germany in November 2020 and not only released the film in Germany for the first time on Blu-ray but also for the first time in full length:
The Blu-ray of “Reluctant Spy” combines both versions of the film and on top of that comes in a chic collector’s edition (media book), which is currently also available at a particularly low price in the course of the current Easter offers.
This is “Reluctant Spy”
“Reluctant Spy” isn’t just a special Jackie Chan film because it’s finally available in the original version, which is 23 minutes longer in total, in which the globetrotter adventure seems even bigger. The film, which incidentally also features a number of other outstanding martial arts artists such as Scott Adkins (“Ip Man 3”, “John Wick 4”) and Bradley James Allan (“Under Control”, “Mr. Nice Guy”), who died in 2021. expected, Chan remained loyal to his native Hong Kong after he had already made his breakthrough in Hollywood. This was followed by films like “Rush Hour 2”, “The Tuxedo” and “Shanghai Knights” before he more or less ended his guest appearance in the dream factory – and gradually returned to Hong Kong.
In “Reluctant Spy” Chan awaits you as Buck Yuen, who leads a rather unspectacular existence as a salesman in a sports shop – until one day he becomes aware of a crime, intervenes, and suddenly gets caught between the fronts between gangsters and authorities. And before he knows it, he’s on an explosive hunt that will take him from China to South Korea to Istanbul.
