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| Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 4
| What can you say about Jackie Chan that hasn't already been said. Since the release of 'Rumble in the Bronx" back in 1996 (the U.S. release), Jackie has become a fairly recognizable commodity on America's video shelves. Having made over 80 films, Jackie has finally succeeded in bringing his style of action-comedy to the West. His latest release, "Shanghai Noon", is a joyful tribute / spoof of the classic Western. And by adding Jackie Chan into the genre, the tag line for the film ("The Western gets a kick in the pants") rings true.
Jackie stars as Chon Wang, a lesser Imperial Guard in the Forbidden City of China. The royal Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) is set to be married to the obnoxious son of a nobleman from another prefecture. Unwilling to follow her Father's wishes, Princess Pei Pei with the assistance of her English tutor, decides to escape to America. But this is all a ploy devised by exiled guard Lo Fong, which will lead to the Princess' kidnapping and ransom.
Unable to take any legal action, the ransom demands are met and three of the Forbidden City's bravest Guards (played by Cui Ya Hi, Rong Guang Yu, and Eric Chen) are ordered to transport the ransom payment to Lo Fong in Carson City, Nevada. Chon Wang pleads with the imperial court and is given permission to join the team, as he is looked upon as a buffoon.
On a train in the U.S. Jackie meets up with bandit Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson). He is much less of a bandit than he is a glory hog, looking simple for the notoriety and fame that being a bandit will bring him. With his gang in tow, Roy attempts to rob the train, when one of his gang murders the Chinese interpreter of the Royal Court, who also happens to be Chon Wang's uncle.
Chon Wang gives chase, foiling the attempted robbery, but also leaving himself stranded in the desert. As the disgraced Guard wanders through the desert, he again comes upon Roy, who has been left for dead by his former gang. Buried up to his neck in the desert, Roy pleads with Chon to dig him out. Chon demands to know where Carson City is. Roy directs him, and Chon leaves. But not before sticking two chopsticks into Roy's mouth and telling him to dig himself.
Chon soon finds himself confronted by angry Crow warriors, a friendly Sioux tribe, gunslingers, a horse that thinks and behaves like a dog and an Indian bride (Brandon Merrill), before once again running into Roy.
"Shanghai Noon" is just good fun. The chemistry between the cast is remarkable. The performances are all acceptable within the whimsical levels of the film. Jackie's performance is as good as anything he's done before. He's not called on to do much acting here, as the character is not written with any depth. But Jackie's natural charisma shines through, and his comic timing is so perfect, both physically and (surprise) verbally that once again he commands the screen whenever he is on.
Owen Wilson, last seen in the embarrassing remake of "The Haunting", gives a good natured performance as Roy O'Bannon. His innocence is refreshing and fun. A bad guy that's not really bad. His scenes with Jackie are some of the best bits of comic dueling since Martin and Lewis. Lucy Liu as Princess Pei Pei is given little to do in the script, but for a change does not play a nymphet or some other deviant. The character is a noble woman of status and wealth, but finds a greater cause as a result of her own imprisonment.
The rest of the performances are all broadly drawn comic performances. Nothing here is realistic, mind you. "Shanghai Noon" is first and foremost a light, jovial film. And the performances match that style with ease.
The Cinematography by Dan Mindel is gorgeous. Using Calgary, Alberta as the prime location. Mr. Mindel is able to create a lush, romantic western feel to the film. Nothing here really looks like Nevada, but the locations are so beautifully shot and staged, the film can be looked upon as a loving tribute to earlier films of the genre. And as such, the script by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar plays fast and loose with history, but with reverence to past films. Homage to such films as "High Noon" (obviously), "Red River" and most notably "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" all bring a sense of nostalgia to the film. It is a comforting experience. At a time when the Western is considered either old hat or irrelevant, here is a film that embraces those old attitudes and (dare I say) clichés and manages to make them palatable and refreshing. Here is a film that is not contemptuous of the genre. This is the purest "horse opera" since the days of George O'Brian or John Wayne.
Director Tom Dey has crafted a loving tribute to Hollywood's past. In this, his first film Mr. Dey shows both a love of character and of craftsmanship that is refreshing to see. Nothing here really stands out, or takes one's attention away from the story or action. And that is as it should be, when Jackie Chan is your star.
And what of the action and stunts. Well, while not up to a level of "Drunken Master 2" or any of Jackie's Hong Kong films, "Shanghai Noon" is miles ahead of anything Jackie has done in an American film before. His timing, choreography, and creativity are still as sharp as ever. Jackie even gets to recreate a few scenes from his earlier films (obvious to those of us that have seen those films, but refreshingly fun for those unfamiliar). Finally Jackie can honestly say, that he has made an U.S., his way and incorporating his style.
To sum up, "Shanghai Noon" is a fun summer confection. Not too heavy and not too light. A fun and entertaining film that the whole family can enjoy (parents be advised there are scenes of smoking, drunkenness and peyote use). An enjoyable and charming film that can and will be enjoyed again and again.
By : Ron Strong
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| | Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup | | Rating: 3
| It seemed like a good idea: import the superstars of Hong Kong's successful action films and put them in American action movies. So far, though, the Hollywood efforts of Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and director John Woo have failed to measure up to their work in Hong Kong. Chan, the most popular member of the group with American audiences, is the most difficult to fit to an American genre. Why? Because Hollywood doesn't make "Jackie Chan movies." The closest equivalent America has had to Chan's unique style were the silent comedies of Buster Keaton. In the films of both Chan and Keaton, the emphasis is on "gags" (stunts) that are simultaneously thrilling, hilarious, and graceful while the lead character is reduced to a simple persona that the star plays in every movie and the plot is a loosely woven justification for the gags. Ironically, therefore, Chan may have found a better fit with the Hollywood of the 1920's than with Hollywood today. When sound came in, they stopped making "Buster Keaton movies" and could not find a niche for the stone-faced star. There was even a disastrous attempt to pair Keaton with Jimmy Durante in a series of sound comedies. Some seventy years later, Chan has found himself with the same sort of awkward mismatch as Hollywood has inserted him into two "buddy movies": 1998's "Rush Hour" and the new "Shanghai Noon."
As in "Rush Hour," Chan's character has come to America from the East to save a kidnapped woman. This time around it's 1881, and imperial guardsman Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) is part of a contingent from China's Forbidden City to deliver a ransom of 100,000 pieces of gold to a mission in Carson City, Nevada, and retrieve Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu). The princess thought she was escaping China and an loathsome arranged marriage when she was betrayed and found herself kidnapped instead by Lo Fong (Roger Yuan), a former member of the Imperial Guard who was exiled for treason. Chon gets separated from his comrades when Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) and his gang rob their train. O'Bannon is also cut adrift when he's double-crossed by a new member of the gang (Walt Goggins). After some initial fighting and a detour or two, Chon and Roy team-up to find the princess. Along the way, they have to fend off Lo Fong, Marshal Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley) and his posse, and the other imperial guards (Cui Ya Hi, Rong Guang Yu, and Eric Chen).
References to classic westerns abound. Chon Wang sounds like John Wayne when pronounced with Chan's accent ("That's an awful cowboy name," responds Roy). Berkeley is made up to look like his character's namesake, Lee Van Cleef, who starred alongside Clint Eastwood in "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." There's a well-executed homage at the end to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," as well. To its credit, "Shanghai Noon" avoids cliches, for the most part. (I assumed there'd be a runaway stagecoach in there somewhere, but there wasn't.) At one point, Roy even rejects a cliche. Roy and Chon are in jail, and Chon suggests, "I'll pretend to be sick." Roy replies, "Does that still work in China? Because, I gotta tell you, in America it's been done to death."
The way they do break out of the cell is one of the funniest moments in the movie. There's another sidesplitting scene when the guys get drunk in a cathouse. Other than those two scenes, there were more laughs in the outtakes at the end than in the movie itself. Like "Rush Hour," the script for "Shanghai Noon" is thin and uneven. There are lots of gaps that left me scratching my head. For example, at one point Chon has climbed to the top of a snow-capped mountain with more of the same stretching before him. Cut to Chon by a stream near a forest. What happened to the mountains? Another befuddlement: for some reason, Van Cleef and Lo Fong think that Roy has the ransom gold, but the gold was never stolen. The other guardsmen have it throughout the movie. Only the most minimal gestures are made towards character development. One central character, a Native American woman Chon mistakenly marries (Brandon Merrill), is so underdeveloped that the closing credits refer to her simply as "Indian wife." Normally we expect a lack of plot and character development in a "Jackie Chan movie"; plots and characters exist only to link the stunts and fight scenes together. However, when Chan goes out of his own genre and into an American buddy pic, the requirements of the latter genre and the sparseness of the fast-paced action sequences of Chan's Cantonese features makes the plot much more important. The feeble scripts of "Rush Hour" and "Shanghai Noon" would likely be rejected by any popular American action hero, but producers probably think, "Hey, Jackie's movies don't have plots anyway."
Despite it all, Chan is still Chan. There are some wonderfully inventive fight scenes where Chan gets to strut his stuff, and he has a lot of fun with western-themed props like tomahawks and six-guns. The best moment: he fashions a weapon out of a horseshoe and a rope. However, if this were a real "Jackie Chan movie," there would be a lot more of these moments, and the movie would be a lot more fun. I hope the next time Chan goes west, he travels by way of Hong Kong.
Bottom line: It's "Rush Hour 2: The Early Years."
By : Christian Pyle
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