Shanghai Noon (2000) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/ Member: Online Film Critics Society
Starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu. Directed by Tom Dey. Rated PG-13.
Now that Jackie Chan is officially in Hollywood, studio honchos seem afraid of letting him carry a film, something that he has done countless times in Hong Kong. His first two big American Event Movie projects have both been buddy movies. The first, Rush Hour, saw him paired with the fast-talking, very American Chris Tucker. The film turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 1998, quickly making Chan a hot commodity. Now, Tinseltown is hoping to repeat Rush Hour's success with Shanghai Noon, an inconsistent western comedy that brings together Chan and, oddly, Owen Wilson (a debatable move, since everyone confuses him with brother Luke anyway). The film is somewhat insensitive and not always as funny as you'd like, but it's still memorable for a couple of standout scenes.
After Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu, in a token role) is kidnapped from China's "Forbidden City," Chon Wang (pronounced almost like "John Wayne," setting up a few cheap jokes), an imperial guard, is sent with a group of four others to rescue her. Wang is separated from his companions when a train robbery led by outlaw Roy (Wilson) goes wrong. Wang finds himself in an Indian village where he unwittingly marries a young, beautiful Indian girl. This fails to take his mind off his mission and soon enough he partners with Roy, who agrees to help rescue the Princess from an evil Chinese hostage-taker who wants a lot of money from the Chinese government.
The four Chinesemen who came with Wang are carrying a lot of gold and, of course, that's really what Roy is motivated by. Chon Wang is pure and only wants to rescue his beloved princess. There's a veritable subplot concerning whether Chon Wang can find the courage to abandon his culture, disobey the Emperor's orders and Americanize himself that left a sour taste in my mouth. I balked when some claimed that there were racial stereotypes in The Phantom Menace, but if people get mad at this one, I can at least see why.
One of Jackie Chan's dilemmas has often seemed to be whether to focus more on the comedy or the eye-popping martial arts stunts -- he is exceptionally talented at both. His best films are the ones that balanced the two, neither upstaging the other. One of Shanghai Noon's problems is that both seem to be diluted -- the action is abundant but more cautious than Chan's other films and the laughs are, at best, on- and-off.
The movie redeems itself with two gut-bustingly hilarious scenes, one involving controlled substances at an Indian campfire and the other a Chinese drinking game. These are two of the most memorable scenes of the year; if more of the movie of the movie was like this, we would have been looking at a comedic masterpiece. And then there is the obligatory blooper reel just before the end credits roll which, not surprisingly, turned out funnier than the rest of the film.
With Jackie Chan movies, it always comes back to this: almost anything can be salvaged with the actor's charm. In the end, it's the actor's effortless amiability that really saves Shanghai Noon. He's so good at portraying a fish-out-of-water that he breathes new life into the overdone isolated-foreigner-introduced-to-modern-society plot. It's a shame that Hollywood is afraid to let Chan go it alone: he's not only a great martial artist but he's a hell of an actor too. Owen Wilson, meanwhile, is just alright.
Grade: B-
©2000 Eugene Novikov
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