Dir. David Dobkin
Shanghai Knights starts off in China with the theft of a royal seal from the Forbidden City. During the theft an old man is killed and a Chinese girl kicks some serious butt before being overpowered. The old man is Chon Wangs (Jackie Chan) father, the girl is his sister. Word of his fathers death gets to Chon in Carson City, Nevada where he is now Sheriff. He goes off to get some money from Roy OBannon in New York, who eventually goes off with his old friend on this quest. They go to London, where Chons sister Lin (Fann Wong) has trailed the murderers. It seems an English noble tenth in line to the throne has struck a deal with a banished Chinese prince. They will each help the other reach the throne in their respective countries. Chon, Roy, and Lin obviously have to put a stop to that.
The first thing I think about in what could have been done better in this movie is the music. It was obtrusive and just wrong. The had a lot of old English pop in the middle of fight scenes, where it has no business. Sometimes instead of watching the fight, I was trying to figure out what the song was. Then there was one fight scene done to Singing in the Rain. What were they thinking? True, the fight was taking place with a bunch of umbrellas, but thats no excuse. The next thing is the wirework. If I want to see wirework in my movie, Ill watch a Jet Li flick. At least when he does it, its cool. In Shanghai Knights it is only used a couple of times (once with one of those damn umbrellas) but really stands outnot in a good way. The good stuff is still here, though. I liked seeing Chon and Roy again. It was like seeing some old friends. We still have the strong female character, this time played by Fann Wong who is very cool. The bad guys are pretty good at being villains. The English bad guy (Aidan Gillen) does know how to make an entrance with a cloak, and really shines in a swordfight. The Chinese bad guy (Donnie Yen from Iron Monkey and the only good thing in Blade II) is a fantastic fighter and helps raise the ooh & aah count. The outtakes at the end are really funny, as required in any Jackie Chan flick.
I rate it: Matinee
Jackie Chan as Chon Wang {Same as in Shanghai Noon}
Owen Wilson as Roy OBannon {Same as in Shanghai Noon}
Fann Wong as Chon Lin {Chinese good guy who can seriously beat up on people}
Donnie Yen as Wu Yip {Chinese bad guy}
Aidan Gillen as Rathbone {White bad guy}