Who Am I? 4K UHD Review

For around 15 minutes of its 120-minute runtime, Who Am I? is the best thing Jackie Chan ever did, a perfect cap to his near perfect streak of movies throughout the 1990s in his prime. Unfortunately, that still leaves 105-minutes. Few of those minutes are good.

Who Am I? teeters dangerously close to terrible. With the aesthetics of a lifeless, direct-to-video feature, from the gratingly awful performances and atrocious digital explosions, Who Am I? is insufferable to watch. All of its potential, including Chan’s amnesiac encounter with a Nambian tribe, have no energy to speak of. Even a chase through the desert, which in-movie is a rally race, doesn’t live up to expectations, and looks so covered in dust, it’s difficult to see let alone appreciate.

A few brief moments early in Who Am I? offer reprieves

It’s appropriate – post Rush Hour, not even the films made in Chan’s native Hong Kong left a lasting impression. Genuine duds like The Tuxedo skewed toward westernized action tropes that failed to ignite the international box office. Chan’s films tried, even desperately, to recapture the fame that Rush Hour gave him. It was not to be.

A few brief moments early in Who Am I? offer reprieves, like the absurdist, cartoon-esque setup of a chase running through a moving crew lifting furniture to upper floors. There, Chan narrowly dodges multiple falling pieces in a sequence that no doubt pays homage to Buster Keaton. A preceding fight with wooden clogs has some genuine joy too. It’s everything else that’s the problem.

Miserable as Who Am I? is to watch, from the amnesia storyline, the kooky CIA agents, and even the weird energy-producing meteorite that sets things in motion, Who Am I? still sends Chan’s career prime out properly. Against Bradley Allan, Chan performs the greatest kick fight ever committed to film, on a roof in the middle of Amsterdam. It’s breathtaking choreography, among the most rapid-fire brawls Chan ever took part in. It’s funny, it’s intense, it’s unforgettable. And Chan wasn’t done.

Standing atop the Rotterdam building, Chan looks down a glass facade, then jumps. No nets. He slides helplessly as cameras capture a ridiculously dangerous, borderline suicidal stunt, bringing himself to a near-death stop that has more tension in a matter of seconds than the rest of Who Am I? does in totality.

Initial impressions of the debut of Who Am I? in 4K is that of rather pale color. Flesh tones look sun faded, as does the overall palette. There’s limited energy in the saturation, leaving Who Am I? appearing flattened, as if bathed in blues. The same carries over into the black levels, also dulled, but not lifeless. Contrast lifts the imagery, albeit marginally, Dolby Vision doesn’t appear to be doing much for this master (one exception being fire that glows exceptionally bold).

Luckily, it’s decently sharp. Certainly not approaching the best movies in Arrow’s Jackie Chan Breakout Hits set (oddly, the earliest one, Drunken Master II, is the best), but Who Am I? still finds texture to resolve. Grain is minimal, letting facial definition breathe and the environments are exceptionally pure. That said, Who Am I has the firmness of a 2K scan as opposed to the 4K master Arrow advertises, but that’s going entirely by eye alone.

Three tracks, all in English, but sharing the language with Xhosa and Cantonese. Both 5.1 and stereo options are available. The default mix is an aggressive surround track in terms of bass, too much so. The same goes for the other 5.1 track (which includes Cantonese). Everything causes the subwoofer to rumble from footsteps to explosions. It’s overbearing, swallowing the rest of the audio elements at its peak.

On the plus side, it’s a remarkably wide surround track. Ambiance is constant, and helicopters transition between speakers flawlessly. Action maintains a consistent stereo and surround presence wherever it’s logical to do so. Voices split the soundstage accurately.

Critic James Mudge handles the commentary this round. That’s followed by the sixth part of a documentary spread across the Jackie Chan’s Breakout Hits set. Mudge returns for a multi-interview feature discussing Chan’s career post-Who Am I?. An archival featurette joins outtakes and trailers on the Hong Kong cut. For the international cut’s disc, Arrow adds interviews with second unit director Ray Wong and actor Gloria Simon.

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.