Daily Egyptian Pulse 2/13/03

Shanghai Knights

Starring: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson

Directed By: David Dobkin

Running Time: 114 minutes

Rated PG-13

3 Gus Heads

Hallelujah! After seeing the horrible 'Biker Boyz' last week, I prayed to the movie gods, or whoever governs what movies Hollywood puts out: Let me see a stupid, fun movie that I don't have to think about too much.

I wanted the action, the bad jokes and a martial arts superstar dressed as a cowboy. What I got was "Shanghai Knights." Thank you Hollywood - problem solved nicely.

Shanghai Knights stars Owen Wilson as the cowboy celebrity and ladies' man Roy O'Bannon. The martial arts superstar is the always-entertaining Jackie Chan, who plays Chon Wang, a Chinese imperial guard turned sheriff in the American West.

Does this sheriff have amazing martial arts abilities like Jackie Chan? Of course he does - that's half the movie.

The two heroes find themselves reunited after the first film, "Shanghai Noon." When Wang's father is killed defending the Chinese imperial seal, Wang finds that his sister, Chon Lin (Fann Wong), has tracked the killers to London, and Wang needs to go there, of course accompanied by O'Bannon.

Naturally, while tracking the elder Chon's killer and the seal, the protagonists unravel a far-fetched plot to murder the entire royal family and raise a coup against the emperor of China by the Boxer Party. Needless to say, the heroes must stop this travesty, and you know there is going to be some awesome martial arts action along the way.

With one great Jackie Chan fight scene after another and Wilson's characteristic "cool guy" taking care of comic relief (oh yeah, there is that whole cultural juxtaposition thing too - that's funny), the movie moves along very well. This isn't cinematic art here, but it was a better way to spend an evening and a five-spot than I would have predicted for a standard Martial Arts/Western/Buddy Flick.

I have said it before: Owen Wilson is a great actor looking for his Oscar role. While I did like "Shanghai Knights," I have to doubt that this will be the one. As much as I enjoyed this, I still think Wilson should go for meatier roles. Chan is always entertaining, but I liked him better in this flick than in most of his American roles.

Chan is still looking for a role that can show off his skill as a martial artist and maybe let him show some more, too. I don't know what Jackie Chan's future in American movies is, but I do know this: He has got this buddy flick thing down.

I will be honest; this is not a deep flick. Sometimes you don't care about that. The moviemakers here want to make a fun film, make a ton of money and then turn around and do another one. These aren't the loftiest goals on earth, but I laughed my way through "Shanghai Knights," and because of that I don't care. This movie does everything it set out to do, and in that respect it's a well-made movie. Sometimes even film critics want to have fun at the movies.