# Shanghai Noon (2000)

### reviewed by
Bob Bloom

Shanghai Noon (2000) 2 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu, Brandon Merrill, Roger Yuan and Xander Berkeley. Written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Directed by Tom Dey.

Following in the footsteps of comedians from Buster Keaton to the Marx Bros. to Abbott and Costello to Martin and Lewis to Bob Hope to John Candy, Jackie Chan has followed Horace Greeley's advice and gone west.

"Shanghai Noon" is a comedic Western, a funny culture clash in which an Imperial guard (Chan) comes to the Old West of 1881 to rescue a kidnapped princess ("Ally McBeal's" Lucy Liu).

Along the way, Chan's Chon Wang meets a fast-talking con artist, but inept outlaw, Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson). The two ostensibly team up to rescue the princess, though Roy has his mind set on somehow grabbing the $100,000 in gold sent to America to ransom her highness

"Shanghai Noon," like most of Chan's movies, is a rough blend of action and comedy. The action sequences are first-rate as Wang battles Indians, cowboys and a former, disgraced guardsman who masterminded the kidnapping plot.

The comedy is definitely low brow, but offers some funny moments. Roy, for example, continually mispronounces Chon Wang as John Wayne as berates his partner. `That's not a cowboy name,' he tells him more than once.

There are some funny subtitles as Wang tries to make himself understood to a tribe of Indians who have befriended him.

Chan, as usual, is always exciting to watch as he leaps, rolls and uses props with the deftness of a ballet master.

The real find is Wilson. Best known for his role as a would-be criminal in the independent "Bottle Rocket," he also has co-starred in "Armageddon" and "The Haunting." In "Shanghai Noon" he is glib, charming, a blowhard and a bit of a coward. His character is reminiscent of the type Bob Hope would play, though he is physically more active and much better looking than Hope.

Wilson holds his own with Chan, and the two make a charming duet.

"Shanghai Noon" features a fine score by Randy Edelman as well as scenic cinematography by Dan Mindel.

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar's script, though, is a bit anti-climactic. Director Tom Dey, making his feature film debut, could have trimmed a bit from the one-hour-and-50-minute running time. The movie's pace needed to be a bit quicker. At a couple of junctures there is dead space between some of the action sequences. Judicious editing could have speeded up the movie.

"Shanghai Noon" is a fun outing, filled with stunts and gags that will please Chan fans. It's not art, but it is entertainment.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net Reviews by Bloom, an associate member of the Online Film Critics Society, is can be found on the Internet Movie Database Web site: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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