Jackie Chan has a quality about him that makes it very
hard not to enjoy any of his films. The way that he manages to produce exhilarating
fight sequences while maintaining an element of fun in his movies is quite remarkable.
Shanghai Noon is Chan's second major Hollywood
film, the hilarious Rush Hour was his first, and its appeal
leads to the conclusion that he will be making similar films for many years to come.
The success of Shanghai Noon comes from the fact that
it doesn't try to be anything other than a fun and entertaining film. The plot, a
Chinese princess is kidnapped by a traitor to the Forbidden City and an Imperial Guard is
sent (actually three guards are sent and Chan's character, Chon Wang, is only sent
at the request on his uncle, SPOILER # who is killed early on in the film #) to rescue her, could have
easily been made into a far more serious film.
But Chan has turned into a rollicking adventure-comedy
that will have you both in awe of the excellent fight scenes and constantly chuckling at
the one-liners that come fast and furious, much like the punches.
While Chan certainly displays the ability to deliver
punch-lines, most of the film's funniest moments come from Owen Wilson as the good-natured
outlaw Roy O'Bannon who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Wang.
Wilson manages to take centre stage away from Chan with
his constant quips and he is the perfect partner to Chan's serious (particuarly early in
the film) and straight-down-the-line character. Wilson's is basically the same sort
of character that Chris Tucker played so well in Rush Hour, instead this time Wilson
delivers the jokes in a much calmer, laid-back fashion as opposed to Tucker's in-your-face
approach.
In fact, the similarities between Shanghai Noon and
Rush Hour are numerous. Both have similar characters and both have fish-of-water
plots that provide plenty of ammunition to fire off comedy. It's hardly surprising
to see Chan stick with the tried-and-true formula given the success of Rush Hour and, as
long as he keeps producing films of this quality, he should seriously think about sticking
with this formula for some time.
It is a formula for a movie that is great fun.
There is enough action to keep action fans happy and enough comedy to keep comedy
fans happy. For anyone else, they will find the mixture of the two quite engaging
and it results in a film that is very hard not to appreciate.
Grab the popcorn and enjoy.
- Adam Matthews
