Shanghai Noon (2000)

A sort of "buddy cop" pairing of Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, that makes fun of most of the western stereotypes and is a rollercoaster of adventures and laughs! Some great stunt work from Jackie as usual and the whole movie is pretty action packed as well so there's hardly a dull moment. Very very funny!

If you make the assumption that this is going to be a funny, wild movie, then you are absolutely correct.The movie is centered on the adventures of an imperial guard of the Qing dynasty in the late 19th century who travels to the new world with his uncle and some other Imperial guards in hopes of rescuing a Manchu princess. Jackie as an Imperial guard could have been quite interesting: An imperial guard who holds the utmost loyalty to the emperor, but doesn't mind going out of his way to serve, even if it means disobeying his dismissive superiors. It is very unfortunate that we did not see more of Jackie in the forbidden city, as the intrigue and plotting that occurred in the forbidden city is a subject that could have very easily created an interesting opening with a lot more action and comedy. Instead, the movie uses Jackie's role as an imperial guard simply as a way of explaining why the plot progresses in the first place, and nothing more. This results in a shallow opening for the movie.After the opening, the plot shifts the focus towards Owen. Owen's character is portrayed as an incompetent, naive bandit who loves money and women. Owen does his role amazingly, but his role may not have been the best role to include to begin with. The main reason he is even really alive is because he is ridiculously lucky (a villain later asks Owen's character how he's even been able to stay alive, which I also must ask). The fact that Owen's character is essentially useless results in a character that feels very forced and underwhelming. He practically gets carried around by Jackie's character throughout the entire movie until he ends up saving Jackie's life because Jackie's character, for whatever reason, decided that it was a good idea to publicly kowtow to the princess in the middle of the villain's compound -- while the villain was there, of all things. The only reason this ever happened, I assume, was to allow a transition so that Owen's character would finally become useful for something.Jackie's choreography is wonderful, and in addition, some of the other actors perform solid choreography. The imperial guards, the princess, and the traitor all did very well. Unfortunately, the entertainment provided by this action is all undermined by several things in particular. Saying the gun fights and standoffs are disappointing is an understatement. They simply could not have been any more underwhelming. This is part of the more broad problem that they handled Owen's fight scenes very poorly. They also split up the action scenes too much, which only intensified the problems I just mentioned. It was very annoying having to switch from watching Owen's character standing there sweating nervously to watching Jackie go ham on some guys with chain whip techniques every 6 or 7 seconds. I was essentially just waiting for Owen's clips to end so I could keep watching Jackie fight, and that sometimes made me feel like I was only watching half of a movie. As I said before, they should have handled Owen's fight scenes much better.But I've been talking about things that some other people might not care about. If you're just looking for a funny movie, then there are many people who would love this. I was originally recommended this movie by friends who were praising the comedic value of the movie, and I can't disagree with them. In short, the comedy is present, but the action is sometimes very lacking. Sadly, this ended up not being anything too special. I still think that it is a 7/10 because it would be a shame to overlook the comedy elements, as well as the efforts of Jackie and some of the other actors.

Imperial guard Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) is in love with Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu). She runs away from an arranged marriage but instead she's taken for ransom to America by traitor Lo Fong. Three guards are sent to pay the ransom and Chon Wang begs to join the expedition. In Nevada, they encounter train robber Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) and his gang. Wang and O'Bannon are forced together when Wallace takes over the gang and later O'Bannon is found cheating at cards.Killing the uncle is probably not a good way to start the partnership. There are plenty of ways to better start the duo on their path together. That's really my only complaint. The comedy is sometimes broad like a hilarious Blazing Saddles scene. Jackie Chan is hilarious. Owen Wilson brings out his devilish charms. The old west is a great place for Jackie Chan to discover new props for his action scenes. The guys are a great comedy duo and there are plenty of big laughs.

I can't really rate or comment on this film negatively, even though it's a movie almost completely devoid of originality and ideas. Basically this is a formula buddy movie, typical of Jackie Chan's work both here and in China in that it involves elaborate stuntwork, kung-fu with props, and humorous characters and situations. I don't usually bother with Chan's American films since he already made better ones in China, but I wanted to see this one because I've always liked Owen Wilson and I wanted to see how they worked together. Happily I can report that I was pleased greatly with their chemistry, enough so that I might even bother to seek out the sequel at some point.The story is like a comedy variation on the old movie "Red Sun" with Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, except that in this case the Asian hero is Chinese and the object they are seeking is not a precious ceremonial sword but rather the princess of China herself (Lucy Liu). Liu is the weak link in the film if there is one... she doesn't seem to have much talent for comedy, although the film didn't give her too many chances to show it off. Much more interesting is Native American model Brandon Merrill, who made her only film appearance here as the gorgeous and strong-willed woman who takes Chan's character (who her people refer to as "fights in a dress") as a husband.There are some fun moments that come at us, and the film's pace is breezy and light. I liked Wilson and Chan's drinking scene, and the ensuing fight gives Chan an opportunity to revive his much-admired "drunken master" technique. Wilson and Chan make a good pairing because Wilson is so incredibly low-key and Chan is so amazingly high-strung. They're the kind of opposites that always attract, and all the story and other characters are really just trappings for the chemistry they develop.For all that the film does have going for it, it simply lacks a few really outrageous laugh-out-loud moments that could have put it over the top.