Special Coverage 2008 Fall Movie PreviewThe Must ListBox Office ChallengeSound Bites
  • --
Shanghai Knights | 153321__shanghai_l
HANG MEN Wilson and Chan are playing for time
Shanghai Knights: Richard Cartwright

Credits

Release Date: Feb 07, 2003; Rated: PG-13; DVD Release Date: Jul 15, 2003; Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy; With: Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson; Distributor: Touchstone Pictures

As a Chinese Imperial Guard stranded in the wild woolly West of 2000's ''Shanghai Noon,'' Jackie Chan found the perfect sidekick in Owen Wilson's laidback Butch Cassidy-lite outlaw. While the taciturn martial artist kicked, flipped, and dervished his way through elaborately choreographed fights, his partner generally stood outside the action, supplying running commentary in a matter-of-factly quizzical drawl. Their yin and yang made for such great chemistry that reteaming them in Shanghai Knights actually seemed like a promising notion.

Alas, the follow-up is afflicted with typical sequelitis, trying to deliver everything that worked the first time -- only, you know, bigger. Sending the duo to Victorian England to avenge the murder of Chan's father, the film gets broader and busier at every turn, from the over-the-top plot to seize the throne of England to action sequences that are more cartoonish than Keatonesque to the annoyingly incongruous collection of '60s oldies on the soundtrack. Once again, bigger isn't better. But Chan still amazes with his acrobatic grace and Wilson can still whine lines like ''This country blows'' and somehow make them hilarious. As a bonus, the DVD extras include several more of his verbal riffs in 11 deleted scenes. Their presence there doesn't make the movie seem any better -- but it does make the disc more fun.


Posted Jul 22, 2003
 

Add Your Comments

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. You must have javascript enabled to submit a comment.
--
Change/Edit your grade
characters remaining