Shanghai Knights

Roger Ebert started his review of “Shanghai Knights,” released in 2003, "Shanghai Knights" has a nice mix of calculation and relaxed goofiness, and in Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, once again teams up two playful actors who manifestly enjoy playing their ridiculous roles. The world of the action comedy is fraught with failure, still more so the period-Western-kung fu comedy, but here is a movie, like its predecessor "Shanghai Noon" (2000), that bounds from one gag to another like an eager puppy.”

The movie starts with the necessary action prologue that is needed in the Screenwriter’s Code: The Great Seal of China is stolen by evil villains, and its guardian killed. The guardian is obviously the father (Kim Chan) of Chon Wang (Jackie Chan), who, as we see him after the opening credits, is sheriff of Carson City, Nevada, and busy ticking off the names of the villains he has apprehended. Hearing of the murder from his beautiful sister Chon Lin (Fann Wong), Wang rushes to New York to see his old friend Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson).

The movie’s plot is completely random. Ebert said, “Nothing has to happen in Nevada, New York or its ultimate location, London, although I suppose the setup does need to be in China.” Every new scene is just there to set up the comedy, martial arts, or both. Because the comedy is fun in a wide, friendly way, and because Chan and his co-stars (including Fann Wong) are martial-arts experts, and because the director, David Dobkin, keeps the movie filled with energy and support, the movie is just the type of mindless entertainment we would like to see after every one of December’s famous and important Oscar finalists.

Ebert said, “The plot moves to London because, I think, that's where the Great Seal and the evil plotters are, and even more because it needs fresh locations to distinguish the movie from its predecessor. The filmmakers click off locations like Sheriff Chan checking off the bad guys: The House of Lords, Buckingham Palace (fun with the poker-faced guards), Whitechapel and an encounter with Jack the Ripper, Big Ben (homage to Harold Lloyd), Madame Tussaud's. Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Conan Doyle make surprise appearances, surprises I will not spoil.”

Ebert continued, “For Jackie Chan, "Shanghai Knights" is a comeback after the dismal "The Tuxedo" (2002), a movie that made the incalculable error of depriving him of his martial-arts skills and making him the captive of a cybernetic suit. Chan's character flip-flopped across the screen in computer-generated action, which is exactly what we don't want in a Jackie Chan movie.” What we like to see is him doing his own stunts, and the audience knows it.

They know it, along with other reasons, because over the closing credits there are always outtakes where Chan and his co-stars miss signs, fall wrong, get hurt and hop on different body parts, and burst out laughing. Ebert said, “he outtakes are particularly good this time, even though I cannot help suspecting (unfairly, maybe) that some of them are just as staged as the rest of the movie.”

Believe it or not, I saw this movie before I saw the first movie. I understand everything just fine and later went back to see the first one. I thought this was either just as funny, or better than the first one. If you loved the first one, then you should see the sequel. Don’t miss your chance to see this one.

Even though this is the last Friday of March, we’re not done with “Jackie Chan Month.” Stay tuned next week when we talk about more films that this great actor has been in.