What does Will Smith and Jackie Chan have in common?
I’m not ashamed to admit that I was a nineties child, and as such there were certain things growing up that were universally ‘cool’ during that era.
Of course it’s easy to look back on things from your childhood with a level of fondness that they probably don’t deserve, but then again, with the rise of smart devices and social media, we know for a certainty that sometimes new isn’t always better.
The question is, can we be totally objective about the things that we have nostalgia for? The answer is no. Definitely not. Nostalgia is a much more powerful force than I could have ever imagined it to be.
But when I look back at some of my favorite movies from when I was younger, I noticed that there was something in some of those older movies that are sorely lacking from today’s cookie-cutter entertainment that we slog through every year.
I mean, how many terrible Transformers installments do we have to suffer through? Like, seriously.
While there were a good deal many serious films from the nineties era, like The Fugitive for example, there were also many movies from that time that also had a sense of lightheartedness as well.
For instance, why did Will Smith become such an unexpectedly great actor? Was it because he was naturally talented? Kinda, but even the most hardcore Smith fan will probably admit that he didn’t start off as a “great” actor. He eased into that role. But what he did start off as was a fun actor. Whether or not his movies were total crap, it was at least fun watching Smith having fun on the silver screen.
One of the things that was most evident about this fact was the after credits music videos he did for several of his earlier films, most notably the original Men In Black.
While it’s cheesy by today’s standards…well, probably by any standard if we’re being completely honest, there is one thing that is undeniable about it. It was extremely entertaining and in its own way, iconic.
The music video provided a cinematic slice of entertainment that enhanced the appeal of the movie and made it just that much more memorable. It wasn’t a continuation of the story, but rather a side-by-side piece of entertainment that gave us the best of both worlds in the world of Will Smith: the actor and the rapper.
I imagine that when most people think back on Men In Black, it’s not uncommon for one of the first thing to pop into people’s heads is the catchy, “Here come the Men In Black,” chorus.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Jackie Chan had already been doing his thing for well over a decade, but one of his most memorable movies was Jackie Chan’s First Strike which provided us with the iconic ‘ladder’ fight sequence that pushed the limits of what was possible for athletic entertainment.
But one of the things that stands out about Jackie Chan movies isn’t the thrilling and often hilarious fight sequences, it’s the outtakes and bloopers he puts at the end of most of his movies that highlights his athletic shenanigans.
These bloopers are funny because while the filmmakers make the action sequences in his movies look streamlined and flawless, the bloopers give us a small taste of everything that can go wrong while filming these complex and dangerous scenes.
Of course these reels are never heavy handed and are always buoyed by Chan’s sense of positivity and classic humor.
As a modern audience, we’re not unfamiliar with the concept of post-credit sequences that were made popular by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But while these post-credit scenes are often great, as is the case with the shawarma scene at the tail-end of The Avengers, there’s always the not-so-great ones like the stupid Howard the Duck scene at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy.
But make no mistake, love them or hate them, these modern post-credit scenes are not the same as what Will Smith or Jackie Chan churned out back in the day to accentuate their movies.
While the superhero movies utilize the post-credit sequence, they’re additions to the story, not additions to the movie outside of the story.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-credit scenes add to the story at large, Smith and Chan’s post-credit scenes have nothing to do with the story whatsoever, and that’s important. Instead of extending the story, the blooper reel or the music video stood in stark contrast to the film itself.
What this did is highlight the fact that the movie itself is a product, not a be-all-end-all that’s meant to be taken super seriously. Whether it was Smith’s cheesy yet memorable music videos or Chan’s bloopers that showcased how many times he tried to kill himself, these post-credit additions gave the films character and made them endearing to audiences.
Will Smith and Jackie Chan weren’t merely actors, they were icons who knew how to have fun with the projects they worked on.
It allowed us to see these entertainment figures outside of the fictionalized universes they were creating and made these actors more relatable and lovable.
This sense of self-awareness has largely disappeared from modern cinema and desperately needs a comeback in the overly serious climate we find ourselves in today. I’m not saying that every film needs to have some amusing post-credit scene, what I am saying is that filmmakers and entertainers should find unique ways to bring their field of entertainment into full focus by doing things that are out of the ordinary.
While even Will Smith and Jackie Chan have fallen from their early movie stardom, it’s sometimes good to look back and take a few lessons from the past.
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