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Shanghai Noon Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 47 Reviews)

A Family Favorite.
This is a movie that the whole family likes. And the true test is that we have watched it 20 times, and there is only one scene we skip!

This is the story of an imperial guard, Chong Wang, pronounced John Wayne, played by Jackie Chan, who is out to rescue the imperial princess. She has been kidnapped and is being ransomed for gold. He meets and ultimately teams up with a train robber named Roy OBannon, his outlaw name. Roys live has been one of robbing trains and spending all the money in brothels. Meeting Chong gives Roys life a purpous that it had always lacked. Roys joins Chong in his noble quest and the journey is tremendous fun for the viewer.

For many of us, this is the movie that introduced us to Owen Wilson. Owen plays a semi-compitent non stop jabber mouth, which plays well with the laconic Chan.

The fight scenes with Chan are amazing and inventive, as we have come to expect from a Jackie Chan movie. One wonders how long he can keep doing his own stunts. When he has to slow down, his creative mind, acting ability and big grin should carry him nicely for a long time.

For familes, there is no nudity, but the S#@t word is used a couple times, but nothing worse than that.

Fav's:
"Thats not how we wing it!"
"Roy, it looks like you blasted the #$%@ out of our fruits."
"Holy Crap! The vulchers are eating my head!"
"Keep going with the Chinese, I think its about to work".

pleasant but not very funny film
Likeable as it undoubtedly is, `Shanghai Noon' never manages to elicit more than a few mild chuckles during its 110-minute running time. You sure can't blame the actors for not trying since both Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson provide charm and energy to spare: Chan as a Chinese Imperial guardsman sent to America to ransom a kidnapped princess, and Wilson as a sardonic, well meaning, but bumbling highwayman who meet up and become unlikely buddies in the 1880's American West. The fault, therefore, must lie in the screenplay, which, though it has its heart in the right place, never breaks out into the full-fledged absurdism a set-up like this needs to really make it work. The film draws heavily from a number of earlier Western spoofs - i.e. the nick-of-time gallows rescue a la `Cat Ballou,' the mocking derision of Western movie star names in `Back to the Future III' (albeit in this case it is John Wayne who comes in for the ribbing as opposed to Clint Eastwood in the earlier film). There's even a bit of the atmosphere of `Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' in the train robbery and the hiding-out-in-a-bordello scenes. Somehow, though, the authors of this film don't quite know what to do with all the elements they've gathered. Chan and Wilson certainly make for genial and entertaining partners, but the comic lines just aren't there for them to work with. Most of the jokes revolve around tired references to Chan's cross-cultural, fish-out-of-water bumbling. More successful are Wilson's glib one-liners that help to domesticate much of the action and make it relevant to modern audiences. The script, unfortunately, softens its edges by frequently lapsing into point-making sentimentality - particularly in the scenes with the shanghai-ed princess. These sequences interrupt the lighthearted, comic tone without adding any real depth to the proceedings.

Of course, one does not attend a Jackie Chan movie seeking either great acting or even decent comic timing from the martial arts stunt man extraordinaire. We come, of course, for the jaw dropping action sequences that are sure to be a major part of any Chan vehicle. Although we are not exactly disappointed by his work in `Shanghai Noon,' it was obviously decided early on in the making of this film to use this as a bridge to help Chan cross over into more mainstream filmmaking and, therefore, the moviemakers emphasize the story, dialogue and characters at the expense of the elaborate stunt work. That would be fine if the quality of the former were anywhere near the level necessary to overcome the insufficiency of the latter, but I'm afraid that Chan's physical action sequences in `Shanghai Noon,' though certainly not bad by any stretch of the imagination, still lack the no-holds-barred exuberance and playfulness of much of his previous, less narrative-oriented work.

`Shanghai Noon' is, I suppose, a tolerable time waster (and its glorious Nevada backgrounds make for some mighty impressive viewing), but, given the high energy level of its two stars, one wishes it were so much more.

cowboy baby!
a cowboy/outlaw type and jackie chan team up to save the chinese princess.jackie chan gives his best ever performance here.problem is ,hes followed around by this gay cowboy who talks too much.if thata not bad enough,he talks like a modern day gay guy and not a cowboy at all.ive never seen a cowboy more in touch with his feminine side.owen wilson?or something like that.he is very obnoxious.there are many good fight scenes.i dont know why this one wasnt a bigger hit.they made asequel based in england but it totaly sucked.

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