It's got to the stage where Jackie Chan films are made solely for Jackie Chan fans - the plots and other cast members my change but there's no attempt to broaden the appeal.

The only thing you have to know is is it a good or bad Jackie Chan film? So, no the bad news is it's a pretty average Jackie Chan film.

Here the one deviation here is that Jackie assumes supernatural powers (but he seemed to have miraculous powers of survival in his other movies anyway).

He plays Eddie Yang, a Hong Kong police officer who travels to Ireland (where Interpol apparently has its HQ is) to track down a mystic boy and his omnipotent medallion.

The youngster has fallen into the clutches of Julian Sands' evil mastermind bent on world domination (why they just can't settle for a nice house and a pension is anybody's guess).

In Dublin, Yang reacquaints himself with reluctant colleague Arthur Watson (Evans) a bizarre collision between Basil Fawlty and Lewis Collins of The Professionals infamy.

He also renews his relationship with Nicole (James), the girl he dumped and who now is head of liaison between Interpol (Dublin branch) and south-east Asian operations (don't titter).

You get pretty much what you expect - a plot with all the complexity of a primary school nativity play and a lot of high kicks.

The action is up to scratch, especially a dockside ruck where a container holding Yang and the boy tumbles into the water (although it's pretty obvious Chan is using a stunt double).

Where the film really backfires is the dialogue: in one excruciating scene Watson delivers double entendres hinting he and Yang may be gay in a scene that wouldn't pass muster in the Dick Emery Show.

Still, Chan's legions of fans probably won't be disappointed while the rest of us will have to seek our kicks elsewhere.

Tim Evans