Shanghai Knights

When Chon Wang learns that his father has been murdered, he leaves his peaceful life in Carson City to reunite with his best friend, Roy O'Bannon. While the general story is about honor and revenge, it also expands into a long series of funny escapades as the two friends soon become tangled in a plot to kill the royal family of England.

Since the story takes place there are tons of gags and references to the country, starting with the usual Royal Guard one we would come to expect but also find a couple that are a bit more fun later on near the end of the film. Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson are back and at their best as their characters, also joining them in the action is Chon's sister played by Fann Wong. Rounding out the cast are our two villains played by Donnie Yen and Aidan Gillen. All of the newcomers do a rather good job in their roles, and easily hold their own with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson.

The story itself is a pretty basic one, though it is still rather enjoyable thanks to the cast. All of the choreography for the fight scenes is well done, though it has nothing on films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As far as the humor goes, it really depends on what you enjoy. I myself didn't overly care for a lot of that, and didn't have too many laugh out loud moments. It doesn't surpass the first film, but it isn't terrible either and is a well done sequel.

Shanghai Noon

Ah, Jackie Chan. A rather common sight in comedies and/or martial arts movies for the last twenty years at the very least. His partners in these movies though can be....questionable. In Shanghai Noon we get Owen Wilson and his brand of...humor.

I'm just going to say it outright, I really don't care for him at all, when I watch this movie it's for Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu, who are easily the best part of this movie.

Shanghai Noon follows Jackie Chan as he plays Chong Wang (The first of two name related jokes) as he heads for the Wild West to rescue the beautiful Princess Pei Pei. Along the way he meets a rather terrible outlaw named Roy O'Bannon who quickly derails him for an adventure filled with jail time, brawls, bordello's and villains!

The film can be quite fun to watch, Chon Wangs clueless nature regarding all things Western as he searches for the Princess that he cares for. Roy O'Bannon at times can be alright, though I often find myself really not caring for him at all. Despite it's initial hilarity, the "Uno Mas" scene can be great fun the first time around but it does wear thin if you hear it several times over and over.

The performances are all really well done for this film, though it does leave me wanting a bit more to call it "Really Good" Probably not Jackie Chans best, but far from his worst.