After many years
and a few failures, Jacky Chan finally broke into the US market with Rush
Hour in 1998. In that film, he plays a Hong Kong cop who comes to America
to rescue the daughter of the Chinese Ambassador who has been kidnapped.
He is teamed up with the fast-talking comedian Chris Tucker. It was quite
successful. Hollywood being the imaginative place that it is, came up with
a great idea for Chan's follow-up. This time he would play a Chinese Royal
Guard and travel to America to save the daughter of the Emperor who has been
kidnapped and team him up with the fast-talking funny guy Owen Wilson. How
does Hollywood keep being so original?
This is set in the old West and it seems
likely that bits were taken from earlier martial arts Westerns. Chan being
adopted into a Native American tribe and given a wife was out of Once Upon
a Time in China and America (though some claim that Sammo stole the whole
idea of setting it in a Western from Jackie), the train robbery from Red
Sun, the Chinese railroad builders from Kung Fu - the TV series, the
bar fight from Kung Fu and OUATIC&A - though perhaps all coincidental.
Whichever doesn't really matter - this is overall an entertaining film with
Jackie still able to do much of the physical work. Admittedly, they could
have cut out some of the male bonding between Chan and Owen but their easy-going
chemistry is what makes the film work. You get what you expect from Chan;
some nice action sequences and self-deprecating humor. At the time this film
was made though Wilson was not a star but his droll comic delivery was quickly
to become his trademark. Within a few years with films like The Royal Tannenbaums
and The Life Aquatic he was a star.
The Princess is played by Lucy Liu. That
may seem like a predictably safe choice now but she too was basically just
known for Ally McBeal at the time. Charlie's Angels was to come out later
in the same year. And as I guy who watches Elementary a lot, I clearly have
nothing against Liu, but it would have been nice to have hired a Chinese
actress - think Gong Li, Shu Qi, Zhang Ziyi or Fan Bingbing in that role.
Also, a shoutout to Yu Rongguang as one of the other Royal Guards who has
a small tussle with Jackie (and in the outtakes gives him a solid shot).
He has always been a favorite of mine. Lastly to the beautiful actress who
plays Jackie's Native American wife. She is Brandon Merrill who was a rodeo
rider and never appeared in any other film. There was a sequel of course.
That takes place in London.
This follow up
to Shanghai Noon falls flat in so many ways. First it is moved from the Old
West to Old London. Why? I expect to be able to throw in Jack the Ripper,
Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Conan Doyle. The plot is some nonsense about a
plot to install a member of the British Royal family as King and at the same
time an usurper as the Chinese Emperor with the help of the Boxers. It is
up to Jackie Chan as the Shanghai Kid aka John Wayne and Owen Wilson as Roy
O'Bannon to stop them. With the help of Fann Wong who plays Jackie's sister
and is the best thing in the film. At the time, she was a popular Hong Kong
actress.
While the back and forth between Jackie
and Wilson felt fresh in the first film, it feels over done here. The same
comical territory is trodden over with a tractor. Jackie has a couple decent
set pieces, but they are played for laughs with a matching soundtrack. When
he finally goes against Donnie Yen playing a villain, the choreography is
poorly done and badly shot generating no excitement. Jackie vs Donnie should
have been the exclamation point of the film, but it fizzles. And the pop
songs that played in the soundtrack were so incongruous to the period. I
mean Magic Bus, Time of the Season. Geez. This has all the characteristics
of a cash grab. Chan would go on to make some of his worst films in trying
to stick in Hollywood - Accidental Spy, The Medallion, The Tuxedo, The Myth
and 80 Days Around the World before righting himself somewhat with New Police
Story and Shinjuku Incident, two Hong Kong films.
