What Yamakasi fails to do is achieve a level of audience involvement with the characters and action -- the secret of Chan's more successful films. Chan invites laughter against himself and sympathy for his character. The seven yamakasi, though non-professional actors, do well enough, but they are hampered by a threadbare plot and the lack of any situations in which they can establish character or even makes themselves distinct from the group.
Despite the intense physicality that the film tries to achieve, Yamakasi's Robin Hoods end up looking more like sports-wear fashion models, with little significance beyond a kind of cool and chic.
The background to Yamakasi is, in fact, more interesting than the movie. Yamakasi is a word that originated from the African Zairoise language, meaning strong spirit, strong body, strong man. Ten years ago, the seven young men in the film formed a group and pledged to spend their time together honing their physical skills. To do this they created a game in which they had to reach a specific destination traveling only in a straight line, meaning they had to cross many obstacles. To avoid controversy, they always practiced late at night or in the early morning. They practiced six hours a day, and did not smoke or drink. The group came to the media's attention after they saved a man trapped in an elevator. Four of them were then invited by Luc Besson to act in Taxi 2, and the purpose of making Yamakasi was to show off their superb physical skills and also promote the yamakasi spirit.
While the action leaves audiences awestruck and delighted, the yamakasi spirit, like the plot, is too illusive to be found.
Film Notes:
Yamakasi
Directed by: Ariel Zeitoun
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rated: 9
Starring: Chau Belle Dinh (Baseball), Williams Belle (L'Araignee), Malik Diouf (La Belette), Yann Hnautra (Zicmu), Guylain N'Guba-boyeke (Rocket), Charles Perriers (Sitting Bull), Laurent Piermontesi (Tango)
In French with Chinese and English subtitles
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