Rob-B-Hood stars Jackie Chan, Louis Koo and Michael Hui as a trio of theives who have pulled off many successful heists. However, Jackie gambles away his share of the money, while Louis fritters his cash on his mistress. Michael actually stows away his money in a safe, but after he is robbed, he enlists the other two for one last big job, the kidnapping of a Triad boss' baby. During the getaway, things go awry, and Jackie and Louis must take care of the baby for a week until payment can be arranged.

The above plot doesn't really sound like a typical Jackie Chan movie, and Rob-B-Hood is definitely not that. It takes over an hour for the film's first real action sequence to appear, and the stuff presented here has obviously been tweaked with wires and CGI. Don't get me wrong -- the action in Rob-B-Hood isn't bad, but it pretty far removed from the scenes Jackie produced during the 1980's. Instead, the movie concentrates more on comedy, rather than action.

Jackie is well-known for his comedic skills, so he handles these parts well -- but things would have been funnier if the jokes weren't so obvious. Rob-B-Hood subscribes to the notion that all men are incapable of even feeding a baby, and so we're treated to the same kinds of jokes that have been around since Ricky and Fred tried to change Little Ricky's diaper back in the 1950's. The dramatic scenes are handled a bit better, especially those Jackie has with his father (Ku Feng), but they verge into over-acting and melodramatics at times, which tends to take away from their impact. Despite this, one can see that Jackie is truly trying to become a better actor, since that seems to be the main weapon in his filmic aresenal nowadays.

Despite having one of the worst titles ever, Rob-B-Hood is actually a pretty good action/comedy picture. Its' main problem is that it stars Jackie Chan and this is about as far removed from "a Jackie Chan film" as he's ever produced, so many people have discounted the movie from that fact alone. But those more adventurous viewers who are willing to take a chance on something different from Jackie will probably find themselves pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's not the next Drunken Master or Police Story, but as Jackie is in his fifties now, can we really expect those types of films from him now? He seems to be settling into movies where the story, not the action, is the main focus -- and if his projects continue to have the quality of Rob-B-Hood, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]