Review: Shanghai Noon (2000)

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Shanghai Noon

Rating

Director

Tom Dey

Screenplay

Miles Millar, Alfred Gough

Length

1h 50m

Starring

Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu, Walton Goggins, Xander Berkeley, Roger Yuan, Simon Baker

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Buy/Rent Movie

Soundtrack

Poster

Review

The Wild West has been portrayed in many ways. Some are faithful, most are glamorized. Jackie Chan brings kung fu to the old west in a shower of choreography and humor.

“Shanghai Noon” is about Chinese Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) decides to escape to America and ends up the unwitting pawn in a ransom scheme. The emperor calls for three of his bravest soldiers to accompany his faithful Interpreter to deliver the golden demand. Along for the ride is the interpreter’s nephew Chon Wang (Chan) whose presence is enough to propel the film into its overdrawn conclusion.

Along the way, he marries a Native American woman (Brandon Merrill); becomes partners with Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson), an inept cowboy whose skill with the word is mightier than with the gun; and tries to outrun a sheriff with bounty on the brain.

Hollywood’s longtime romance with westerns dwindled severely after John Wayne died and has yet to rebound. “Unforgiven” and “Dances with Wolves” were the only westerns in nearly 20 years that even remotely captured the attention of audiences. Neither film revived a dying franchise and this latest foray doesn’t appear to have the legs to do so either.

“Shanghai Noon” suffers from the same grave stereotypes that have plagued westerns from the beginning of cinema. It portrays Native Americans as savages and then uses them for comic relief. They provide the right impetus for other events in the film, but only in brief and never with any actual satisfaction. The language and situations are painfully modern for the genre. The use of foul language and euphemisms assaults the ear without reason.

Chan gives his usual performance: high on terrific choreography and low on acting ability. Wilson smiles from scene to scene with only a slightly better impression than his farce in “The Haunting.” Everyone else is a cookie-cutter character and not once do you actually care.

Tom Dey is as green as the performers. In only his third directorial effort, Dey lacks skill portraying the most important scenes. Without Chan’s brilliant choreography and occasional wit, “Noon” would collapse under its own useless weight.

There are moments of inspiration: a horse with a mind of its own, a brothel where the law and the lawless play and a well-cut shoot-out that leaves you wanting more. The editing is nearly flawless with glitches that even the most talented editor might have missed.

“Shanghai Noon” is not a reprehensible film, but with the bad almost outweighing the good, only Chan fans would find this film any better than average. Not a film for viewers of all ages, but with just enough talent in the right places even a potential disaster can be averted.