Shanghai Noon (2000) gradually becomes Shanghai Knights, with both actors from the previous movie reprising their roles as Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) and Roy (Owen Wilson). The movie isn’t as good as the first, but it’s surprisingly interesting, funny, and captivating. I also feel the acting in this movie from the supporting cast, was not as good as the first movie, even though Chan and Wilson delivered the same performance and chemistry that made the first movie fun to watch.
This time, the
makers went as far as bringing more familiar themes into the plot—things we’re
more used to. For example, we have a boy who winds up being Charlie Chaplin,
the detective in the film has the same last name as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and according to the movie, who is also a writer, whose writing is influenced by his experiences with Roy.
The movie plot
follows our dynamic duo from the first film, only this time their adventure
takes them to England. The movie starts with the death of Wang’s (Jackie)
father, who was a guard of the royal diamond seal, which gets stolen. While
dying, Wang’s father tells his daughter, Chon Lin (Fann Wong), to retrieve the
stolen seal and deliver a puzzle box to her brother.
Now, Wang, her
brother, has become a sheriff in Nevada. When he gets the message about his
father’s death and the stolen seal being taken to England, he searches for Roy
to get some money to travel there. Roy, on the other hand, has lost all their
gold from the first film to gambling and bad investments. So now, together with
Wang’s sister Lin, they have to retrieve the diamond and return it to China.
The movie has some direct and indirect homages that I’d like to mention:
- The villain is also tagged "the finest
swordsman in England," which is an indirect homage to Basil Rathbone (I think). Rathbone is swordsmanship. Rathbone always seemed better than his counterparts
in his movies but held back because the hero had to win. He (Rathbone) also
played Sherlock Holmes in the 1930s to 1940s series.
- In the movie, we get to see Jackie Chan pay homage to the Rush Hour movies, where Jackie distracts the guards by using Chinese vases.
The movie did fairly well at the box office, and it is a nice watch, but it doesn’t quite capture the freshness of the first film, so have that in mind when you go see it. I also have to add that it leans heavily on historical name-drops, which, while amusing, sometimes feel forced rather than clever. Then the plot is predictable, and the humor, though still fun, doesn’t always land as well as it did in Shanghai Noon never fully recapture the magic of its predecessor, but still I encourage you to give it a try.
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