Shanghai Noon (2000)

Starring: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu
Director: Tom Dey
Rating: PG-13

Studio: Touchstone Pictures

Review Posted: 5.26.00

Spoilers: Minor

Reviewed by Dan Peters

"Shanghai Noon Is Full of Kicks And Laughs"

Jackie Chan is best known for his countless martial arts films. They include Operation Condor, Mr. Nice Guy, and the recent The Legend of Drunken Master. Then in 1998, he decided to make more of a comedy than an action film with Rush Hour. Now's he back in this type of thing with Shanghai Noon, a more of a western comedy than an action film.

The movie starts off in Imperial China in 1881. Princess Pei-Pei (Lucy Liu) is being forced to marry this prince that she calls "a toad". So she wants to get out of China and head to America with her English teacher (Jason Connery). But things don't go as expected because it turns out it was a scheme by Lo Fong (Roger Yuan), a traitor who runs a quarry with Chinese slaves working for him. So he holds the princess for a ransom of 100,000 gold pieces.

So along with the interpreter, the emperor chooses three of the bravest imperial guards. But Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) insists on going because it was his fault that the princess got away and he feels it's his duty to get her back. So he goes along with them.

On the train to Carson City, a gang of outlaws led by Roy O'Bannen (Owen Wilson) rob the passengers. But unfortunately, Wallace (Walter Goggins), the new guy in the gang, gets a little carried away and shoots and kills the interpreter.

All this ends up separating Chon Wang from the rest of his group and so he sets out to find the princess himself. He meets Roy again and they get each other into some trouble. So the two decide to pair up and save the princess while trying to avoid Marshall Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley).

The film has some good laughs, mostly because of the awesome chemistry between Chan and Wilson. I don't think they could've picked a better partner duo for this movie than them. Wilson is a nice guy but you just can't trust him and Chan has the moves.

There are some nice action scenes but not the typical action scenes you would find in a lot of Chan's films. Most of the scenes are played for laughs and most of them end up working well.

The performances are pretty good. Chan has some pretty cool moves (for a guy in his mid-40s) and shows some emotion in some of his scenes which you don't see that often from Chan. Owen Wilson is hilarious as Chan's partner and the most funny lines come from him. Roger Yuan was well cast as the villain along with Xander Berkeley and Walter Goggins. Lucy Liu didn't have much screen time (which is probably a good thing) so I can't comment on her.

So what's exactly wrong with Shanghai Noon? Like I said, most of the jokes work but the ones that didn't really pulled the movie down. Other than that, there are some minor unevenness.

If you're looking for a typical Jackie Chan movie, you would be disappointed here. This is mostly a comedy and most of the action scenes are played for laughs and I'm sure that's not what they would want. But if you're looking for some laughs, you'll get a kick out of Shanghai Noon. And as a side note, the outtakes at the end provide a few laughs along with the movie but they're just acting goof-ups instead of any bone cracking.

Rating: 3 out of 4

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