Shanghai Noon (2000)

3 out of 4

Starring: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu, Brandon Merrill, Roger Yuan, Xander Berkeley

Director: Tom Dey

Time: 110 mins

Having seen pretty much all of the movies he has made since I saw Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in 1978, I am proud to say I'm an unabashed Jackie Chan fan. While some of his Hong Kong movies (and his early American efforts) may not have been huge successes, it's hard to deny his patented brand of goofy humour, martial arts action, and spectacular stunts has not made a favourable impact on the film world. From the classic Police Story series, to his collaborations with Samo Hung (including the amazing one-on-one fight sequences with champion Benny Urquidez in Wheels on Meals and Dragons Forever), and the brilliant Drunken Master 2 (possibly the greatest martial arts film ever - it makes Segal, Van Damme, et al, look like they're doing some posturing exercises), Jackie has captured many a devoted fan. His one failing early in his career was not breaking into the American market, but since the success of a repackaged Rumble in the Bronx in 1996, he has made another assault on this toughest of tough arenas. Rush Hour, his first notable American-made film since 1985's The Protector, was a huge success. Shanghai Noon, his latest, is just as much fun, and makes great use of its late 1800s western setting to deliver some great punch lines.

Rush Hour worked because it paired Jackie as the straight man to motormouth comic Chris Tucker's (The Fifth Element) wiseguy cop. The story of a Chinese policeman coming to America to rescue a kidnapped girl allowed Jackie to display some of his fleet-footedness and dexterity, even if the action scenes were pretty restrained by his standards. The unlikely duo of black and oriental also generated some hilarious cross-cultural humour that wouldn't have succeeded in a more traditional white man cop film. Shanghai Noon rehashes the same plot, but this time using cowboys and westerns as the background. Jackie is Chon Wang, an Imperial Guard in China, who travels to America to rescue Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) after she is kidnapped by traitor Lo Fong (Roger Yuan). On the way he hooks up with Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson), a failed train robber who decides he will help Chon in his quest. Along the way Chon gets married to an Indian (Brandon Merrill), as well as running afoul of nasty Marshall Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley), while Roy searches for his next female conquest and bag of gold. Will this mismatched pair fulfil their goals?

Shanghai Noon is more comedy than action, though there are more than a few fight scenes and shootouts to please fans. Miles Millar and Alfred Gough's cheeky script affords director Dey the opportunity to play wth some great lines, mostly sending up cowboy icons such as John Wayne and Wyatt Earp. The culture clashes deliver some laughs as well, but it's mostly the easy-going charisma of Jackie and (especially) the laid-back, surfer dude enthusiasm of Wilson that will bring smiles to your face. Indeed, it's not often that Jackie gets upstaged, but Wilson manages to steal several scenes from the Chan man. The action is the standard cowboy stuff, with lots of guns a-blazing, but the presence of Jackie adds a whole new twist. While age may have dimmed his speed and agility, and the rigorous US safety practices dulled his risk-taking, he still manages to throw in some nimble foot-and-hand-work. A good example is a sequence where Jackie uses a horseshoe and a length of rope to foil three gunmen.

Jackie is, of course, Jackie, and he doesn't play a character that's much different to the one he played in Rush Hour or his other films. His facial contortions and smiles are always a delight to watch. Wilson, as mentioned previously, is the big surprise, a far cry from the bland research volunteer he played in The Haunting (though the script there was obviously more at fault). Ally McBeal's Lucy Liu doesn't have much to do as Princess Pei Pei, but she does get to perform a few spectacular roundhouse kicks at the end. Roger Yuan is adequate as the evil Lo Fong, and well-known face Xander Berkeley (Air Force One, Gattaca, Terminator 2) snarls as corrupt Marshall Van Cleef. It would have been nice to see newcomer Brandon Merrill appear in a few more scenes, as I felt there could have been a lot of potential in the oriental-marrying-Native-American plot strand, but she only appears fleetingly through the film, and mostly when Chon and Roy require some rescuing.

Shanghai Noon sets out to entertain, and in this regard it succeeds quite well. It is a refreshing take on the western genre, with enough humour and action to please diehard Jackie Chan fans and even win new ones. It's not classic, or even great, Jackie Chan, but no one should go home disappointed. With winning performances by both Jackie and Owen Wilson, deft direction by Tom Dey, and some nice cinematography, Shanghai Noon is a couple of hours well-spent.

(c) Joe Wong (11 August 2000)