3 years ago, there was Shanghai Noon, which was my
favourite Jackie Chan's US movie and when I heard Shanghai Knights was in
making, I was enthralled and excited. And when I finally saw it, it didn't left
me disappointed except for two facts: the much-awaited Donnie Yen and Jackie
Chan's fight was somewhat short and uninspired and the final fight scene was 1
minute too long as it wasn't Donnie. Well, to the pros it by far out-weigh the
cons and the chemistry between Owen Wilson and Chan as buddy is just the best I
have seen (way better than Chris Tucker in my opinion) and with the addition of
the pretty pop singer - Fann Wong is the best thing of the movie. She kicked ass
and my god was good, despite she didn't know any martial arts, she kicked like
she did. Well after listening to her songs last year which was good, but her
performance here is even better. To me I feel she have what it takes to be
bigger than Lucy Lu. Well to the fights, well Chan is getting older and slower,
but his fights is getting more amusing and funny, especially the market fight.
Finally, justice is done to Jackie's fight scenes and is comparably and even 10
par better than the way the fight scene was filmed in the disappointing Jet Li's
Cradle 2 the Grave. Here you can actually watch the fight scene, and after the
bad action in Tuxedo, Jackie is back. To the comedy side, which was the key
success to Shanghai Noon - Owen Wilson is just hilarious and his chemistry with
Fann Wong may seem a bit weird, but it is certainly funny and just wait till you
see Wilson's dream. (remember no spoilers). As to Donnie Yen of Blade 2, Iron
Monkey and Hero - he just has this screen presence like Jet Li and his
villainous role is very memorable and can be very comparably to Jet Li's
villainous role in Lethal Weapon 4. But as I say before, if only the final fight
scene was between Donnie and Jackie and it was longer, I would be giving this
movie a star more and in turn overtaking the original , but nevertheless this is
Jackie Chan best efforts since his classic Drunken Master 2 and a must-see for
all comedy/action fans.
78.4%
=
10.8