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Starring
:
Jackie
Chan
Owen
Wilson
Lucy
Liu
Brandon
Merrill
Roger
Yuan
Xander
Berkeley
Yu
Rong Guang
Action
:
Sing
Ga Ban
Yuen
Biao
Producer
:
Gary
Barber
Roger
Birnbaum
Jonathan
Glickman
Jackie
Chan
Director
:
Tom
Dey
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SHANGHAI
NOON (2000)
Reviewed
by Phil Mills
The
year is 1881 and in the Forbidden City of China Princess Pei
Pei (Lucy Liu) is bored with her restricted environment.
When her English teacher offers to take her to America she
jumps at the chance, but this apparent holiday soon turns into
an elaborate kidnapping. Pei Pei's father, the Emperor,
dispatches a group of his finest guards to deliver the ransom
and return his daughter safely. However, the plan goes
slightly askew when the guard's train is robbed and they
become separated, leaving one of them known as Chon Wang
(Chan) out on his own. Lost in a strange land, Wang is seized
upon by a local conman named Roy O'Bannon (Wilson) who, upon
hearing about the money involved, decides to assist Wang in
locating the princess. As the two travel across the old
west, they come up against bar room brawls, showdowns and the
sheriff as they attempt to bring Pei Pei back to her homeland.
After
'Rush
Hour' proved to be an international success, Jackie was
finally given the opportunity to fulfil one of his long-term
ambitions by creating an Eastern-Western (a concept he has
promoting for sometime). The result was 'Shanghai Noon'
- a film that, whilst nowhere near the standards of his early
productions, is a decent attempt at combining Chan's comedy
kung fu with a distinctly American genre. Sadly however,
Chan was not able to refine the concept himself and was once
again saddled with a partner as Hollywood seemed incapable of
giving Chan a solo headlining role. Luckily this doesn't
prove to be quite such a hindrance here as Wilson is nowhere
near as grating as Chris Tucker and the two seem to forge an
admirable on-screen chemistry with neither actor ever
attempting to overshadow the other. The action is
clearly watered down from what we are used to but it is a
notch above 'Rush Hour' with Chan continuing to amaze for a
man of his years, even if some of the routines here feel
slightly too over-familiar.
'Shanghai
Noon' is probably not the film it could have been if Chan had
been responsible for overseeing it himself but it remains one
of his most respectable American outings. The action and
comedy are all relatively solid with Wilson proving an
enjoyable comrade for Chan and far more adept in the role than
Tucker. Not vintage Chan by any means but a worthwhile
purchase none-the-less.
Rating:
 
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