He’s one of the most recognizable names in the world, synonymous with kicking, punching and groaning in pain. Jackie Chan plays Jackie Chan in Panda Plan, the latest action-comedy vehicle for the global superstar. He made his name with his death-defying stunts in Project A and Police Story, became a Hollywood household name with Rumble in the Bronx and Rush Hour, and now he’s 70 years old and kicking as much as he has for decades. He plays himself in his new film, in which he must protect a baby panda he’s adopted from hired guns sent to retrieve it.

Panda Plan is Jackie Chan’s best film in years. While it’s hard not to enjoy Chan’s stuff, it’s no secret that films like Vanguard, Hidden Strike, and Viy 2: Journey to China weren’t the best entries in his filmography. This film has better action, better comedy, and better Jackie. First of all, it’s always fun to see actors play themselves in a film. Whether it’s Bruce Willis in Ocean’s Twelve, Bill Murray in Zombieland, or Keanu Reeves in Always Be My Maybe, this tool allows actors to play with their celebrity status.

Jackie pulls this off wonderfully here, with a premise similar to The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent , in which Nicolas Cage played himself as he’s forced on a dangerous mission. The opening action sequence is very well choreographed, and we then zoom out to discover that it’s a fictional scene for a movie Jackie is filming. He’s arguing against the idea that one person can realistically fight so many people, something he’s done countless times in his career. He also wants to make a romance movie, something he once complained to Conan O’Brien that Hollywood would never let him do.

As Jackie prepares to adopt a baby panda, the film offers its first surprise: comedy. Most of the humor in Jackie’s films comes from the physical comedy he provides in his action scenes. While this film has that, much of the dialogue also manages to be hilarious. It’s a wonderfully funny film that gives Jackie the chance to become a global superstar. One of the funniest running gags in the film is that when we meet our villains, some of them are fans of Jackie Chan, which adds a lot of humor when they fight him.