Shanghai Noon (2000)
cast: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu, Roger Yuan, and Walton Goggins
director: Tom Dey

Downsizing is a given for a man who is approaching 50 and as we look back on thirty years of impressive filmmaking I for one can remember several great films Jackie Chan has taken part in. His potato nose and goofy grin have always seemed to be the staple behind every kick and punch and jaw-dropping maneuver we've seen on screen to date. Even more serious-minded Chan projects such as "Heart of Dragon," "Centre Stage" (which he produced), and "Crime Story" (based from an actual incident) have allowed us to view yet another layer of the filmmaker too often unseen.

Re-emerging into the American market in 1998, Chan sacrificed hardcore stunt work and fight choreography to except his role as an aging star who has long since been able to bring down the house in terms of filmmaking on par with "Police Story" and "Project A II," now more than a decade old. Portraying a Hong Kong detective in "Rush Hour" teamed with motor mouth comedian Chris Tucker, Chan kept his act downsized to physical comedy that worked and played well off of Chris Tucker's constant rants and lyrical ambushes.

"Shanghai Noon" all but lets the house cave in.

Jackie Chan stars as an Imperial Guard in China, circa 1881, which learns English by listening to the princess's lessons from outside her palace room. When Princess Pei Pei (the lovely Lucy Liu), kidnapped by her British English teacher Chan travels with selected guards to the Old West in search of his kidnapped superior. You might recognize one of the guards as Hong Kong actor Yu Rong-guang making his debut in Hollywood.

A la "Rush Hour," Chan's character (named Chon Wang--say it again--get it?) is teamed up with a rambling American co-star to act in harmony with Chan's martial arts. In the same vein, the two disharmonize in a slew of cultural differences and mishaps after Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) and his gang tries to rob the train Chon and the other guards are.

Abandoned by his gang and separated from the other guards Chon and Roy reluctantly team to survive Indians, shoot-outs, and each other's company, which now includes Roy's old gang, a deranged sheriff (Goggins), and an evil Chinese warlord (Yuan) who is holding the princess and forcing her to work in the mines.

There are some big laughs in "Shanghai Noon"--the funniest being a group of Americans mistaking the Chinese guards for another culture--but the film's humor often solely rests upon the shoulders of Owen Wilson who gives an obnoxious performance as a very unlikely Old West character. Wilson's of-matter-of-factly retorts to every situation he and Chan encounter grow tiresome early and the fish-out-of-water likes of Chan's character have been seen so many times that they as well breakdown into the usual cultural shock mode we've seen time and time again ("Rumble in the Bronx," "Who Am I?," "Rush Hour").

What's even more discomforting about "Shanghai Noon" is how much it borrows...so to speak. For years in Hong Kong Jackie Chan talked about making a film with a Chinese protagonist suffering from amnesia in the Old West. Evidently by 1997 Chan had voiced his ideas too loudly and Tsui Hark produced the fifth sequel to his widely popular "Once Upon a Time in China" series in which Wong Fei-hung travels to the Old West and is struck with memory loss.

Chan was outraged even more when Tsui Hark hired Sammo Hung (who had recently made peace with Chan after years of feuding) to take over the directing reins to "Once Upon a Time in China and America."

A year later Jackie Chan came back with the largely overrated "Who Am I?" which took place during modern day Africa/Holland and featured Jackie Chan as a commando suffering from amnesia.

Now we have "Shanghai Noon" that attempts to steal back everything Chan evidently felt he was cheated out of with Tsui's production. Countless scenes imitate the rather underrated "Once Upon a Time in China and America.? The results are often less than appealing with slow as paint drying choreography, an unnecessary use of CGI, and characters that are almost pound-for-pound clones of the ones seen in Sammo Hung's film.

And then there is Kid Rock's "Cowboy" tune...but I've already made my point.