Review of Shanghai Noon (2000) by Stevenf — 27 Aug 2013

A film like 'Shanghai Noon' proves that you can take a serious and benchmark setting like the Western genre that has had hits and misses across decades, and take a more light-hearted and humorous approach, thats exactly what likeable stars Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson bring to the table in this comedy-action film, a flick that has all the makings of a martial arts marvel with the perfect setting of the Old West to set up a fish out of water story that sparkles from beginning to end. Jackie Chan plays a curious and bumbling Imperial guard called Chon Wang in ancient Forbidden City China, where he hears the high princess (Lucy Liu) over-talkning to an unknown man about leaving the country to go to America, when this happens, Chon and a small number of other guards are sent America to retrieve the princess, where Chon runs into notorious outlaw Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson), a witty and fast-talking cowboy who robs trains and longs after pretty women, but he messes with the wrong guard, and the two soon form an unlikely and uneasy alliance to retrieve the Princess, while Roy seems to be in it for the gold that is part of the exchange, as it is revealed to be an abduction of sorts.

The film plays to its key strengths which are the two leads of Chan and Wilson, its entertaining and awe-inspiring to watch Jackie Chan move seamlessly around the screen, taking out various enemies with his martial arts background, theses scenes rely on environmental cues which work brilliantly so as we don't have an endless amount of mirrored action sequences, with this comes Wilson, who provides an excellent amount of comical timing as man who tries to reason and talk his way out of everything, setting up a few funny encounters with Marshal Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley), who is after him. Many homages can be found to some of the best Western of the ages, proving that the film has a healthy respect for its roots, but also showing confidence in what sort of film it tries to be, not too serious but certainly enough drama to keep us entertained.

This is a wild and action-packed thrill of a film, it has some truly funny scenes and has some excellent martial arts moments with the undeniably energetic and charismatic Chan, but Owen Wilson cannot be left out of that equation, bringing his undeniable charm and witty persona to team up with the "Shanghai Kid", which has plenty of nods to buddy cop films but truly stands well on its own two feet.