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 ackie Chan movies pretty much direct themselves. Or, to be
more precise, Jackie Chan movies are pretty much directed by star/producer
Jackie Chan. This isn't a bad thing if you like big set pieces and a thin
storyline to thread it all together. And let's face it, if you bothered to watch
"Shanghai Knights", or any number of Jackie Chan movies, then you know
what you're getting, so I don't want to hear any complaints.
"Shanghai Knights" re-teams Jackie Chan with Owen
Wilson, the less annoying of the Western co-stars Chan has been teamed up
with recently. (The other co-star is the irritating Chris Tucker, if you were
wondering.) The setting is the American Wild West, although that quickly shifts
to 19th century London when Chan's Chon Wang is informed that his
father has been murdered, and that his little sister Lin (Fann Wong) has pursued
the killer to England. Joining Wang on the trip overseas is Wilson's Roy
O'Bannon, who has fallen on hard times since the duo last teamed up in the
original, "Shanghai Noon".
In London, the trio goes up against English Lord Rathbone
(Aidan Gillen), who is 10th in line to succeed the throne of England.
Rathbone has a plan to skip that whole waiting-in-line thing and has stolen a
sacred Chinese artifact from China. He plans to give the artifact to exiled
Chinese Prince Wu Chow (Donnie Yen), who will in turn kill off the people
standing in Rathbone's way. Of course the evil duo didn't count on the acrobatic
Wang, his high-flying and high-kicking sister Lin, or the comedic sidekick Roy
to stop them. Along the way, our trio of heroes picks up the help of a pick
pocketing orphan name Charlie Chaplain and an incompetent Scotland Yard
inspector name Artie Doyle. (Yes, that Arthur Conan Doyle.)
"Shanghai Knights" is probably about 20 minutes
too long for its own good. As a result, there are two long fight-stunts that
might have been better excised from the film to give the movie better pacing.
The screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar ("Showtime")
is really just a series of sight gags and play on words, with the most obvious
in-jokes being Wang and Roy's supposed inspirations to Doyle's eventual creation
of his famous inspector, Sherlock Holmes, and street urchin Charlie Chaplain
supposedly getting inspiration for his tramp act from Wang. It's all done in
good fun, of course, and not to be taken seriously.
The real unheralded star of "Shanghai Knights" is
actually Asian pop singer Fann Wong, who wows as the toughest little lady to
grace movie screens since Zhang Ziyi's femme fatale in "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Not only beautiful, Wong has a charming
presence, which explains why the movie really picks up when she's onscreen, and
seems to drag when she disappears. Donnie Yen ("Ballistic
Kiss") plays the villain Wu Chow, but seems to be taking his villain
role way too seriously. Guy, it's a silly action-comedy, relax.
A lot of the film's comedic moments come out of Roy's mouth
as he goes off on tangents insulting everything about 19th century
England. The point the screenplay is trying to make is that Roy is a loudmouth
American, completely oblivious to his lack of manners. It works, mostly because
Owen Wilson ("Behind
Enemy Lines") knows he's the comic relief to Chan's straight man, and
really doesn't go beyond that. (Take note, Chris Tucker.) It's always worth a
chuckle when Roy starts throwing off insults and Wang is in the background
rolling his eyes.
"Knights" also features more wirework than one is
used to in a Jackie Chan movie, but as I said with Chan's "The
Tuxedo", I could care less. As previously mentioned,
"Knights" goes on for about 20 minutes too long, which ruins the
pacing of the movie. A little more cutting and more Fann Wong, and the film
could have achieved more pop. In its present incarnation, the movie has
enough good chuckles and entertaining fight sequences to keep one satisfied.
Interestingly, the film's funniest in-jokes appear in the
gag reel, which plays at the end of the movie, but doesn't actually appear in
the movie itself.
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