Vanguard

Vanguard (2020) is a globe-trotting action movie from Stanley Tong, starring Jackie Chan, that you can watch online on iFILM. Vanguard is a covert security outfit that takes the jobs nobody else will touch. When an international mercenary syndicate kidnaps a wealthy businessman, this is the crew sent in to get him back.

The film never sits still. It bounces from a shootout in London to a speedboat chase through canals, a firefight in a Dubai high-rise, a run-in with lions on the African savanna and a finale up in the snowbound mountains. Chan here is more the commander than the main fist, handing the heavy stunt work to younger players like Yang Yang, Ai Lun and Miya Muqi. The plot mostly exists to fling everyone to the next exotic location.

Tong and Chan have been making movies together since Police Story 3, and Vanguard is their big, loud, deliberately glossy ride, heavy on CGI and national pride. It's for viewers who put on a Jackie Chan picture for the motion and the scale, not the plausibility. Stream Vanguard (2020) online on iFILM.