Shanghai Knights
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Movie Reviews of Shanghai Knights
Movie Review: Great Chemistry
Summary: 4 Stars
Realistically we can skim right over the plot in just a sentence or two.Jackie's character reunites with Owen Wilson's character to track the murderer of Jackie's father to England, meet up with Jackie's sister, and save the royal jewels of China. Pretty simple.
What saves this movie is the interaction between Chon Wang (Jackie) and Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson). The two are hilarious together. Where the Chris Tucker/Jackie Chan collaboration lags is that it seems Chris is trying to be the focus of the entire movie and steal every scene. Owen Wilson with his laid back style seems to be playing off of Jackie and enjoys being the second fiddle who ultimately gets the most attention because of that. The dialogue that he fires off is just wonderful and crisp. After reading the interview/profile on Owen Wilson in Premiere I would love to see where he finessed and changed the dialogue.
Also the physical scenes with Jackie stand out in this film. I read once that he choreographs his fights as if they were a dance and that is never more apparent than in the homage to "Singing in the Rain". I think Gene Kelly would have greatly appreciated this interesting take on his famous dance. Sad to say but I believe I was the only one in the theater laughing at that point
Movie Review: Not quite as good as the original, but still entertaining!
Summary: 4 Stars
While Shanghai Knights perhaps isn't as great as its predecessor, it still benefits from the magical combination of Jackie Chan's amazing stunts and Owen Wilson's unerring comedic timing and charisma. The anachronistic use of music actually adds much to the style of the film. While many of the jokes make Englishmen everywhere groan, Americans can't help but smile at Roy's sum-up of the American Revolution ("beat 'em like a drum"). Aidan Gillen is an appropriately creepy bad guy, Tom Fisher's "Artie" is goofy fun, and while Fann Wang's character is rather 2-dimesional, she does add color, action and beauty to the film. All in all, the film offers entertainment in the form of comedy and kick-butt action. This tongue-in-check adventure is for those who are willing to get caught up in the insane antics of the lovable Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon. Just be sure to not take it too seriously, they certainly don't!As far as the DVD version of the film, it offers limited extras: the deleted scenes are somewhat repetative (although they do explain what happened to Roy (and Chon's) wife Falling Leaves.) The "Fight Manual" with Jackie Chan is passibly interesting. In the end its the movie that counts!
Movie Review: YeeeeeeeeHAW!
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm not sure what movie some of the other reviewers watched. Maybe they were suffering that old syndrome of "The sequel must be bigger/badder/faster/stronger/etc". Personally, I don't get hung up on such expectations and thus enjoyed the film for itself.Anyone who goes to this or other such films expecting a cerebral plot is in the wrong theater. This film, like its predecessor, is all about kicking back and enjoying the chemistry between Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan. Chan is his dependable, stuntmongering self and Wilson just gets better with every film (even the bad ones).
As for the racy innuendoes, my 8-yr-old and 10-yr-old didn't pick up on them so no harm, no foul.
While I wish the filmmakers hadn't taken so many liberties with history (such as the inclusion of Charlie Chaplin before his time), I was willing to let that go and enjoy the show. I laughed harder at this flick than I have in years.
I actually enjoyed the sequel more than the original. The sequel is a bit more polished and the actors more at ease with each other (no surprise)...
Movie Review: Shanghai Knights
Summary: 4 Stars
Introduction
The movie"Shanghai Knights",directed by David Dobkin,is a funny and adventurous movie which you can watch if you had nothing to do.
The Plot
A chinese reble murdered John's(Jackie Chan)father and escapes to England.Now john and his friend,Roy(Owen Wilson),are going to London to get revenge for killing John's father.John and Roy met John's sister,Lin,while on the way and the three of them were going to get revenge together.Lin uncovered a worldwide conspiracy to murder the royal family but no one believe her.
My Opinion
The movie is very funny when John use an umbrella to hit his enemies and uses a lemon and spueezes the juices at one of his enemies eyes.
The Final Comments
I will give 4 out of 5 becaues it is very funny and I can assure you that you won't reget watching it.
The lenght of the movie is about 1hour45minute.
Rating Category
PG
Movie Review: Suffers from poor editing
Summary: 4 Stars
Shanghai Knights had the potential to be as good or better than Shanghai Noon. Unfortunately, editing cut the heart out of the character development and the lyricism from the fight sequences.By choosing bathroom humor sequences over story, editing makes O'Bannon come across as the quintessential Ugly American. By cutting story-developing break-aways during the fight sequences, the very rhythms Chan is famous for in his choreography are undermined and the sequences become slow and seemingly overlong.
As cut, I'd give the movie two stars at best. I gave the *DVD* four stars because thanks to the DVD the movie Shanghai Knights should have been is available to us.
Get the DVD, watch the deleted scenes and reedit in your head. It's worth the effort. The end result has all the charm of a better than average "buddie-movie" and all the great action of Jackie Chan at his best.