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Shanghai Noon @ The OdeonStarring: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu.Verdict: A Shanghai Surprise, A Fast-Paced Comedy Martial Arts Caper that's worth wasting an hour or two on.
Though he may be amazing at what he does, Jackie Chan will never be Bruce Lee,
Bruce was 'The Man' a true legend, an icon and still has a mystical presence due to his tragic early
death. Chan must be all too aware of this, so his martial arts movie career path has tended
to be on the comical side, instead of replicating Lee, he's been a breath of fresh air in a
film genre where pungent cheddar is beginning to become over-bearing. Like other foreign
film-stars, coming to Hollywood on the back of phenomenal success in their own countries,
Chan has taken a while to find his feet. The Hong-Kong movies are superior to his early
American attempts, but with 'Shanghai Noon' it looks like Chan has hit the nail on the head
this is a gem of a movie.
Set in the 1880's Chan is sent to America from China's forbidden City to rescue Princess
Pei-Pei(Liu),….. yes yes smutty jokes are made, along with three of the City's best guards.
A haphazard train robbery separates Chan and he's man lost in a different culture, until he
teams up with Roy O'Bannon (Wilson), a cowboy who can't shoot straight. They must rescue the
girl, kill the baddies and save the entire West from a greedy Chinese traitor and a corrupt
sheriff, Sound corny, cliché, hackneyed, cheesy……..WELL IT IS, BUT IT'S GREAT. It has all the ingredients of a typical western, GREAT YOU SAY, but then it adds Kung-Fu, and the moves Jackie pulls off are VERY VERY VERY COOOOOOOLLLLL. There are a series of brilliant action sequences all hijacked straight from every western ever made, like TRAIN ROBBERIES, BAR ROOM BRAWLS, ESCAPING FROM THE GALLOWS, MEXICAN STAND OFFS IN A REMOTE CHURCH……………..the list goes on and on. The action makes it a thrill-a-minute but when there is a let up, the quality doesn't dip as Wilson steals the show as the incompetent cowboy. He plays Roy with a hilarious 'surfer dude' accent and all his scenes are a barrel of laughs. His buddy relationship with Chan, hates him, lies him, they fall out, he saves him, there best friends again, is straight out of the BOOK-HOLLYWOOD HOW TO WRITE A MOVIE PART 1, but it works as they are great together.  If you don't even have a wry smile over this film then you've had a sense of humour by-pass.
The jokes are thick and fast with many being subtle so you pick up a bit later and can't
help but let out a side-splitting chortle, yeah I now what yer thinking, yer right, the
others in the press screening probably thought I was a bit unhinged. Even simple things like
Chan's name made ME laugh, say Chon Wang really fast, what do you get, work it out yerselfs.
It lacks hype and expectation, unlike other blockbuster contenders like the X-Men and Gone
in 60 Seconds and it makes it infinitely better for it. IT COULD HAVE BEEN 'WICKY WICKY WILD
WILD WEST', ITS NOT, IT'S NOT CRAP, IT'S GREAT, GO AND SEE IT.Are you a 'COWBOY BABY' or would you stay out of the 'SHANGHAI NOON' We would like to know, to see if our Film critic is right or knows about as much as any of us could write on 'Patronage in Classical Sparta'. Chris M Send us your comments on this review the official odeon site back to the top back to the cool stuff directory |