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The Medallion () is a 2003 buddy film action comedy directed by Hong Kong film director Gordon Chan, who also wrote the screenplay with Bennett Joshua Davlin, Bey Logan, Paul Wheeler, and Alfred Cheung, who also produced.
The film stars Jackie Chan, Lee Evans, Claire Forlani, and Julian Sands. It was much less successful than Chan's other American films such as the Rush Hour film series, Shanghai Noon and its sequel, Shanghai Knights. The film was theatrically released on 15 August 2003 in Hong Kong and 22 August 2003 in the United States by TriStar Pictures. However, on the home media release, it was released by Screen Gems.
In the story, Eddie (Jackie Chan) is a Hong Kong police officer hired by Interpol to capture a crime lord known as Snakehead (Sands) and stop him from kidnapping a chosen boy with special powers and a medallion that gives superhuman power and immortality.
Much of the film features supernatural and mystical themes, though it is filled with action and comedy. The film received negative reviews from critics. Even though the film's United States box office result was strong enough for Sony/TriStar Pictures to make profit, the film Box-office bomb, and only grossed $34.3 million in worldwide box office against $35‒41 million production budget.
In Ireland, Eddie was assigned to help Interpol with the investigation, much to Watson's annoyance. Eddie also reunites with his girlfriend, a British Interpol agent named Nicole James. By chance, Eddie later encounters and apprehends one of Snakehead's top men, who confesses Jai gets held in the harbor. Eddie, Watson, and Nicole move to rescue Jai, defeating several Snakehead agents. Eddie and Jai end up trapped inside a container, which is knocked into the water by one of Snakehead's men before they can be released. Eddie keeps Jai alive by finding an inflatable tent and securely putting Jai inside, but Eddie suddenly dies from drowning. After being saved, Jai uses his medallion on Eddie's body.
In the morgue, Watson grieves over Eddie's body and prepares to say his last words, but Eddie appears beside him. Eddie finds out that Jai used the medallion to bring him back to life, and his former body vanishes into dust. Jai splits the medallion into its two halves, giving one of them to Eddie. Snakehead's men appear in the hospital to recapture Jai, and during the fight, Eddie discovers the medallion has also granted him superhuman strength and immortality.
Nicole looks after Jai, but he is captured again by Snakehead. At his castle hideout, Snakehead forces Jai to activate the medallion so he can gain its power with only one-half of it; Snakehead only gains superhuman strength and remains mortal. To steal the other half, Snakehead and his men attack Watson's family. Watson's Chinese wife reveals herself to be a police operative like him, much to Watson's surprise, as he kept his job secret from his family. Together, they fight off the attack from Snakehead's men.
Eddie, Watson, and Nicole learn the location of Snakehead's castle lair and go to finish him once and for all. The operation runs smoothly, but Snakehead kills Nicole and becomes immortal. He and Eddie engage in a vicious fight until Eddie uses the medallion to take away the life it gave, leading to the serpent and fish from the medallion appearing and bringing Snakehead, which traps him in the medallion. Jai allows Eddie to use the medallion to resurrect Nicole, who gains super-strength and immortality. The two then run in superhuman speed into the distance as Jai enters another dimension through a portal, scaring Watson.
According to the editors' commentary, The Medallion wasn't American-made. However, Columbia-TriStar bought the distribution and editing rights worldwide except in Japan, France, and Hong Kong (but these three countries retain the American cut of the film, the only cut ever made). The original cut was meant to be around 108 minutes. The plot of the film explained Snakehead's crime syndicate of People smuggling, the deaths that occurred from it, and his desire to create an army of Highbinders to aid his organization. These details were all cut to focus on the medallion. As a result of several scene cuts, some original dialogue was overdubbed, including a small amount of Cantonese dialogue.
Over 20 minutes of these can be viewed on the U.S. DVD. Among these scenes are where Eddie prevents Nicole's death, an extended fight sequence between Eddie and Snakehead's men, and an alternate ending to the chase sequence between Eddie and Giscard.
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