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Shanghai
Noon |
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review | notes | awards | availability | |
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Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon. |
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Year: |
2000 |
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Director: |
Tom
Dey |
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Producer: |
Jackie Chan, Willie
Chan, Solon So, Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber, Jonathan Glickman |
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Action: |
Jackie Chan |
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Cast: |
Jackie Chan, Owen
Wilson, Lucy Liu, Yu
Rong-Guang, Roger Yuan, Xander Berkeley, Jason Connery |
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The
Skinny: |
Jackie Chan goes west in this modest summer hit that spawned
a sequel. |
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Review by
Calvin
McMillin: |
Shanghai Noon continues
the trend that began with Jackie Chan's previous American
endeavor Rush Hour by pairing the HK superstar with
an unlikely American counterpart. This time around, Chan is
mismatched with a peculiar partner: low-key funnyman Owen
Wilson. The results may not be quite as explosive as Chan's
earlier partnership with Chris Tucker, but this duo possesses
a chemistry all it's own — and they're damn funny together
too.
Chan plays Chon Wang, a hapless
imperial guard, who ends up in the United States searching
for the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu). After arriving
in America, Chon Wang loses an Uncle to an errand bullet,
befriends a tribe of Native Americans, marries the chief's
daughter, and gets a pet horse. While that's a lot for anyone
to experience in his first four days abroad, Chon Wang doesn't
stop there. After leaving his native pals en route to Carson
City, Chon gets thrown together with anachronistic cowboy
Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson), a guy who's more interested in
courting celebrity and bedding women than robbing trains and
stealing money. After the expected "we hate each other,
now we're best friends" movie shenanigans, the two outlaws
decide to join forces to save the Princess and thwart the
machinations of Marshall Nathan Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley)
and the traitorous Lo Fang (Roger Yuan).
Much like the laidback performance
of Owen Wilson, Shanghai Noon is not heavy-handed.
It's a movie that's funny, but not uproariously so. It's also
a movie about cultural understanding, but with a message that
isn't shoved down your throat every waking moment. Ultimately,
Shanghai Noon amounts to a cozy little Western actioner
that subtly charms its audience somewhere between its kicks
and punchlines. (Calvin McMillin, 2002) |
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Notes: |
For years, Jackie Chan had the idea for a film called Lion
Goes West. Chan planned to work with Stanley Tong on the
flick, which would detail the exploits of a kung fu master
in the Wild West. There would also be a subplot involving
amnesia. Unfortunately for Chan, longtime pal Sammo Hung ripped
off his idea when he was hired as director of the strikingly
similar Once Upon a Time in China and America. Besides
the obvious plot parallels, the film's literal title is, in
fact, Lion Goes West. As detailed in Chan's autobiography,
the famous friends had a brief falling out. It was not until
Chan wrote Hung a letter — and Hung apologized —
that the two reconciled. Chan incorporated the "amnesia
among the natives" bit into Who Am I? and Shanghai
Noon is the realization of his long dreamed-for Eastern
Western. Curiously, Roger Yuan appears in both OUATIC 6
and Shanghai Noon. |
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Awards: |
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
• Favorite Supporting Actress, Action (Lucy Liu) |
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Availability: |
DVD (USA)
Region 1 NTSC
Buena Vista Home Video
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Language
Dolby Digital 5.1
Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, and Tom Dey Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes, Behind the Scenes Featurettes, Uncle Kracker
Music Video, Trailers |
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image courtesy
of Buena Vista Home Video
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| LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2017 Ross Chen
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