Quarter of century ago one of the pillars of the globalised world was the seemingly unbreakable symbiotic relationship between United States and China. This phenomenon, nicknamed “Chimerica”, found the way to reflect itself in popular culture, including Hollywood. One of examples of such trend was Shanghai Noon, 2000 action comedy directed by Tom Dey which fused the most recognisable genres of American and Chinese cinema – western and kung fu film.
The plot begins in 1881 Forbidden City, where Princess Pei Pei (played by Lucy Liu) is quite unhappy over upcoming arranged marriage so it doesn’t take much for her English tutor Calvin Andrews (played by Jason Connery) to talk her into escaping to America. When she arrives there, it turns out that she was actually abducted and the Chinese Imperial family receives ransom demands from treacherous Lo Fong (played by Roger Yuan). Chon Wang (played by Jackie Chan), fumbling Imperial guard who considers himself responsible for the abduction, joins the group of guards who are tasked to deliver the ransom to Carson City, Nevada. On the way their train is attacked by group of bandits led by flamboyant, but not too bright Roy O’Bannon (played by Owen Wilson) who is soon double crossed by his own gang members. O’Bannon and Wang ultimately decide to help each other, and their partnership will help them not only against Lo Fong, but also against evil Marshal Nathan Van Cleef (played by Xander Berkeley).
“East Meets West” as a basis for western is a concept that was around since 1970s, used in films like Red Sun which paired Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune or Kung Fu, popular television show starring David Carradine. However, in 2000 served as perfect opportunity for Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan to continue his conquest of Hollywood, following great success of contemporary action comedy Rush Hour. Jackie Chan, like in that film, uses “buddy buddy” concept and pairs himself with Owen Wilson. Characterisation seems to be the same – Chan plays quiet, seemingly clumsy and unassuming outsider while Owen Wilson plays overtalkative and overconfident “home boy”. Wilson, however, appears to play his role much better than sometimes irritating Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. Those who want something deep and meaningful in Shanghai Noon are, however, bound to be disappointed. The plot is just an excuse for outrageous action scenes mixed with rather broad and mostly family-friendly humour (with title simply chosen as wordplay association to classic western High Noon). Cinephiles are, however, going to be pleased with many interesting references to genre classics, just like the fans of Jackie Chan would be pleased with action, despite post-credit scenes suggesting that years took their toll on the big action star and forced him to leave some of the most spectacular stunts to someone else. General impression is nevertheless quite positive, especially considering that director Tom Dey maintains quick tempo and never allows film’s flaws to be too obvious or irritating. Shanghai Noon proved to be commercial success and led to 2003 sequel titled Shanghai Knights.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog @drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
