‘Shanghai Noon’ is a Comedy/Western film that came out back in 2000. The funny thing about it is that last night it was the first time I saw the movie. I was aware of this movie years ago and always saw it on a recommendation list on streaming services, but I never paid attention to it until last night when I decided to take a chance on it. I’m glad I did.
The film stars Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, and Lucy Liu. ‘Shanghai Noon’ didn’t do wrong at the box office. The film drew 99.3 million at the box office on a $55 million budget. Shanghai Noon is an accomplished follow-up to Jackie Chan’s first big-budget US film Rush Hour, which came out in 1998. Chan had a great run from the mid-90s through the mid-2000s in terms of constantly working and having success in the US.
‘Shanghai Noon’ is one of those movies where you enjoy watching it and not take it too seriously. The movie is a blend of a “buddy-cop” caliber film with old school Western setting. The setting took place in Nevada in the 19th century.
Chan and Wilson formed an unlikely partnership and developed good on-screen chemistry. I love seeing Jackie Chan using his impeccable martial arts skills. Chan is known for creating his stunts. He’s also very good with his comic chops. In the first half of the movie, Chan was outstanding in terms of comic timing compared to the second half of the film. As for Owen Wilson, I’m not the biggest fan of his acting ability, but he held his own in this movie, and the character of being a laid-back, California guy fits him. Director Tom Dey made the proper adjustments and choices to pair both actors together for this movie.
It’s one of Jackie Chan’s best acting movies because his stunts were flawless, and the countermoves were outstanding.
What throws me off about the movie, but it’s not a very big deal, are the subtitles. The subtitles could’ve been well organized and structured. If you are using English subtitles, there are lines of dialogue spoken in Mandarin and Sioux that will not be translated into English. I noticed this last night, but I kept rolling with the punches and focused more on the visuals and performance than the subtitles.
It’s time to give a grade for the film. ‘Shanghai Noon’ is a B-caliber movie. From 1 through 5 stars, I would go with 4.1 out of 5 stars.
Due to the success of the film, the sequel ‘Shanghai Knights’ got made and released in 2003. I haven’t seen the sequel, but I highly doubt it’s better than the first one; they did well at the box office.
