Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan are back at forming another comedic duo as Roy O’Bannon and Chong Wang in Shanghai Knights. This movie sees both characters heading off to England in search of Wang’s sister Lin.
It starts when an English man named Lord Nelson Rathbone and his crew storm the Forbidden City and kill Wang’s father before stealing the Imperial Seal. Seeking revenge, Lin follows the man to England tries to kill him and retrieve the Seal before being stopped and arrested.
Meanwhile Wang is in America, and he receives a box in the mail and discovers that his sister is in England and that his father is dead. So Wang tracks down Roy, who has spent all of the gold they got at the end of Shanghai Noon, and the two head over to find her.
Once there the two get into a fight and end up in jail, but the man in charge is a big fan of the ‘Roy O’Bannon’ books that tell bogus stories abotu Roy’s life. He lets the two go and Lin also eventually makes her way out.
From there the three work hard to recover the Imperial Seal. Meanwhile a deal is made between the Lord Rathbone and Wu Chow, played by Donnie Yen. This deal would see Wu Chow become Emperor or China, and Rathbone King of England, as he is 10th in line to the throne. So naturally things get intense and elevated as Roy, Wang and Lin do their best to stop these two from killing the people in their way.
Another funny East meets West….meets London
Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson are funny guys, I definitely appreciate the on screen chemistry they shared in this film. But what made it a little more interesting was Roy falling head over heels for Lin, leading to Wang showing a more protective ‘big brother’ side to his personality.
What also makes this movie is the cultural references. We meet a young Charlie Chaplin, Conan Coyle (the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories) among many others. This movie keeps things interesting with these references and well played characters.
Finally, we get to see Donnie Yen in a rare English speaking role, which I think he pulled off quite well. Yen plays a sinister and evil villain which is backed up by his awesome fighting ability (naturally).
The story line itself is nothing special but the acting and smaller aspects of the film make it fun to watch, especially when you’ve got funny guys like Jackie and Owen in the lead roles.
The Action & Martial Arts
As usual Jackie’s physical & slapstick style work well with his occasional all out fighting maneuvers.
There’s nothing particularly different about Jackie’s fights conceptually, he’s just back doing the same cool stuff in a different environment. What I did like was watching his fight with Donnie Yen, showing a less aggressive fighter (Chan) going up against a more aggressive one (Yen).
Overall it’s high quality, and adds to the never ending line of physical stunts Jackie is known for!
The Verdict?
A great comedy with some decent action and choroegraphy. Check it out!
On Blu Ray –
Region A (US & Canada)
\Shanghai Noon / Shanghai Knights (2-Movie Collection) [Blu-ray]
Region B (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe etc)
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
Shanghai Knights
Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
Shanghai Knights [DVD] [2003]
Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
Shanghai Knights
