Shanghai Noon
USA/Hong Kong 2000
Reviewed by Andy Richards
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
1881, China's Forbidden City. Attempting to escape an arranged marriage, Princess Pei Pei is unwittingly sold by her unscrupulous English tutor to Lo Fong, a renegade ex-Imperial guard running a mining operation outside Carson City, Nevada. The Emperor dispatches his three best guards to deliver her ransom of 100,000 gold pieces, accompanied by an interpreter and his nephew, guard Chon Wang.
Crossing the Nevada desert by train, the Imperial entourage is hijacked by robbers led by Roy O'Bannon. Chon's uncle is killed by one of the robbers. Chon sabotages the robbery. Separated from the other guards, Chon finds Roy, abandoned by his gang and buried up to his neck in sand. Chon leaves him some chopsticks to dig himself out.
Continuing his quest to find the princess, Chon rescues a young Sioux boy from a party of Crow warriors. He is treated as a hero, and given the Sioux chief's daughter, Falling Leaves, as a wife. Chon chances on Roy in a saloon and a brawl develops. They are both thrown in jail, where Chon tells Roy about the kidnapped princess. They escape with the help of Falling Leaves and head to Carson City, where posters reveal that they are now both wanted men. They have a run-in with Van Cleef, the town's corrupt sheriff, and narrowly escape his posse. Chon and Roy bond in a bath house. They rescue the princess and defeat Lo Fong and Van Cleef. The princess falls in love with Chon, while Roy and Falling Leaves become a couple.
Review
Shanghai Noon is an accomplished follow-up to Jackie Chan's first big-budget US film Rush Hour. Admittedly, the film (directed by Tom Dey whose past credits include episodes of the television horror series The Hunger) plays it safe by transplanting the fish-out-of-water scenario of Rush Hour to the Old West - here, Chan takes the role of a Chinese Imperial guard sent to Nevada to rescue a young princess. But this time the gags are sharper, the stunts slicker and, crucially, the dynamic between Chan and his co-star is much more effectively developed. While in Rush Hour Chan played straight man to Chris Tucker's motor-mouth LA cop (occasionally creating the impression that they were acting in different films), in Shanghai Noon he is given strong comic moments (his introduction to the narcotic joys of the peace-pipe, for instance) and some fine duets with Owen Wilson, who plays cowboy Roy. Their infectiously amusing drunken scene in a bordello bath house, where they thrash out a Chinese drinking song in between bouts of melancholic ponderings and bubble-blowing, is a particular stand out. Perhaps best known for co-writing the excellent Rushmore, Wilson's partly improvised contribution is Shanghai Noon's real trump card: cowardly and laconic, he's more laid-back Californian surfer than weather-beaten cowpoke.
As in the majority of Chan's films, the plotting here is somewhat slapdash: it's less a coherent narrative than a series of well-staged but loosely connected set pieces, including Roy's showdown with sheriff Van Cleef and a bar-room brawl between Roy and Chon. The lack of narrative polish can be frustrating - Chon's bride Falling Leaves disappears for great tracts of the film, appearing only to rescue the heroes from jail. Lucy Liu, whose comic talents are on show in television's Ally McBeal, is also underused as a conventional embattled damsel, while the film's ending, in which Chon abruptly partners up with Liu's character while Roy is palmed off with Chon's Sioux 'wife' Falling Leaves, is bafflingly throwaway and curiously distasteful. The dialogue, though, is consistently witty, not only having fun with genre conventions (Chon Wang is a phonetic muddling of John Wayne), but also demonstrating a wry awareness of the racial issues thrown up by the film's scenario (unlike Barry Sonnenfeld's Wild Wild West, in which Will Smith's racial identity went largely unexamined). In one scene, a homesteader reassures his wife that the trio of Imperial guards are not Indians but Jews, and bids them shalom. Mystified, they shalom back.
Credits
- Director
- Tom Dey
- Producers
- Roger Birnbaum
- Gary Barber
- Jonathan Glickman
- Screenplay
- Alfred Gough
- Miles Millar
- Director of Photography
- Dan Mindel
- Editor
- Richard Chew
- Production Designer
- Peter J. Hampton
- Music/Orchestra Conductor
- Randy Edelman
- ©Spyglass Entertainment Group, L.P.
- Production Companies
- Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Birnbaum/ Barber production in association with a Jackie Chan Films Limited production
- Executive Producers
- Jackie Chan
- Willie Chan
- Solon So
- Co-producers
- Ned Dowd
- Jules Daly
- Associate Producer
- Bruce Moriarty
- Production Supervisor
- Andrew Francis Fenady
- Production Co-ordinator
- Kaayla Ryane
- Production Manager
- Canada:
- Brian Parker
- Unit Production Managers
- Kevin Reidy
- 2nd Unit:
- Paul Roscorla
- Location Manager
- Rino Pace
- 2nd Unit Director
- E.J. Foerster
- Assistant Directors
- Bruce Moriarty
- Glenn Dreher
- Grant Lucibello
- Michelle Fitzpatrick
- Canada:
- Jon Lind
- Howard Rothschild
- 2nd Unit:
- Jonathan Watson
- David Klohn
- Katherine Ringer
- Script Supervisors
- Kathryn Buck
- 2nd Unit:
- Michele Patsula
- Casting
- Matthew Barry
- Nancy Green-Keyes
- Canadian:
- Lynne Carrow
- British Columbia Associate:
- Susan Taylor Brouse
- Alberta Associate:
- Deborah Green
- ADR Voices:
- The Background
- John Pantages
- Al Silverman
- 2nd Unit Directors of Phototography
- John Clothier
- Joel Ransom
- Camera Operators
- Paul Edwards
- Armin Matter
- 2nd Unit:
- Aaron Pazanti
- Visual Effects
- Secret Lab
- Opticals/Digital Effects
- Buena Vista Imaging
- Special Effects Supervisor
- Neil N. Trifunovich
- Effects Office Co-ordinator
- Pamela D. Poole
- Set Foreman
- Robert Trevino
- Senior Technicians
- Clive Beard
- Peter Skehan
- Engineer/Fabricator
- Paul Deely
- Fabricator/Technician
- B. David Benediktson
- Wire Effects Supervisor
- Kevin Mathews
- Model Maker
- Mike Dale
- Fabricator
- Cameron Waldbauer
- Additional Editing
- Billy Weber
- Associate Editor
- Kevin Nolting
- Supervising Art Director
- Jeff Ginn
- Art Director
- Brandt Gordon
- Set Decorator
- Bryony Foster
- Key Scenic Artist
- Ronald Ashmore
- Storyboard Artist
- Gary Thomas
- Costume Designer
- Joseph Porro
- Costume Supervisors
- Jean Rosone
- Gayle Franklin
- On Set:
- Paul J. Lavigne
- Set Supervisor Costumes
- 2nd Unit:
- Isabel Bloor
- Make-up Supervisor
- Rosalina Da Silva
- Key Make-up Artist
- 2nd Unit:
- Michael David Carr
- Prosthetics
- Tony Wohlgeniuth
- Key Hairstylists
- James D. Brown
- 2nd Unit:
- Debra Planidin-Turcios
- Titles Design/Production
- The Picture Mill
- Orchestrations
- Ralph Ferraro
- Music Supervisor
- Kathy Nelson
- Music Editor
- John LaSalandra
- Score Recorder/Mixer
- Elton Ahi
- Scoring Crew
- Stephen Pelluet
- Andrew Dudman
- Tim Malone
- Jill Tengan
- Soundtrack
- "A-maje-cumbe" - Simon Boswell; "La Grange" - ZZ Top; "Cowboy" - Kid Rock; "Back in the Saddle" - Aerosmith; "Yeah Yeah Yeah" - Uncle Kracker; "Blackjack Rag"
- Sound Design
- Tim Chau
- Production Sound Mixer
- David Lee
- Recordist
- Steve Kohler
- Re-recording Mixers
- Andy D'Addario
- Tim Chau
- Additional:
- Tom Dahl
- Dean A. Zupancic
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Tim Chau
- Co-supervising Sound Editors
- Donald J. Malouf
- Carmen Baker
- Sound Editors
- Jim Brookshire
- Doug Jackson
- Nils C. Jensen
- David Kern
- Nancy MacLeod
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Kimberly A. Harris
- Mixers:
- David Horner
- Scott Schmidt
- Jeff Hamon
- Brad Hillman
- Editors:
- Linda Folk
- Michele Perrone
- Foley
- Artists:
- Alicia Irwin
- Dawn Fintor
- John Roesch
- Alyson Moore
- Recordist:
- Carolyn Tapp
- Mixers:
- David Betancourt
- Mary Jo Lang
- Train Co-ordinator
- Mike Solecki
- Gun/Whip Coach
- Alex Green
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Brent Woolsey
- JC Group Choreographers
- Yuen Bing
- Nicky Li Chung-Chi
- Ted Lim
- Andy Chang Kai-Chung
- Wu Gang
- Bradley Allan
- Horse Wrangler
- John Scott
- Horse Trainer
- Claude Chausse
- Wrangler Captain
- Lynn Patterson
- Wrangler Office Co-ordinator
- Lynda Skene
- 2nd Unit Head Wrangler
- Ross Wideman
- Cast
- Jackie Chan
- Chon Wang, 'The Shanghai Kid'
- Owen Wilson
- Wyatt Earp, 'Roy O'Bannon'
- Lucy Liu
- Princess Pei Pei
- Roger Yuan
- Lo Fong
- Walton Goggins
- Wallace
- Xander Berkeley
- Marshal Nathan Van Cleef
- Jason Connery
- Calvin Andrews, the Princess' tutor
- Brandon Merrill
- Falling Leaves, Indian wife
- Rafael Baez
- Vasquez
- P. Adrien Dorval
- Blue
- Rong Guang Yu
- Cui Ya Hi
- Eric Chi Cheng Chen
- Imperial guards
- Stacy Grant
- hooker in distress
- Kate Luyben
- Fifi
- Henry O
- royal interpreter
- Russel Badger
- Sioux chief
- Simon Baker
- Little Feather
- Cliff Solomon
- medicine man
- Alan C. Peterson
- Saddle Rock sheriff
- Rad Daly
- Saddle Rock deputy
- Lee Jay Bamberry
- Stephen Strachan
- Tim Koetting
- Van Cleef deputies
- Rick Ash
- Jedadiah
- Valerie Planche
- Jedadiah's wife
- Tom Heaton
- saloon bartender
- James Baker
- Jim Sheild
- Mike Mitchell
- Shayne Wyler
- saloon gamblers
- Ben Salter
- Terry King
- Michele Fansett
- Saddle Rock townfolk
- Joyce Doolittle
- Randy Birch
- Andrew Krivanek
- Carson City townfolk
- Christopher Hunt
- apothecary shopkeeper
- Jody Thompson
- Margie
- Eliza Murbach
- Kendall Saunders
- Jenafor Ryane
- dream sequence hookers
- Andrew Bosch
- Christy Greene
- Brian Gromoff
- Jim Finkbeiner
- train passengers
- Chang Tseng
- Pei Pei's father
- Sherman Chao
- emperor's cousin
- Regent Or
- emperor
- John Heywood
- Harold Courchene
- George Exelby
- John Glawson
- saloon cowboys
- Howard Rothschild
- drunken doctor
- Michael Auger
- Stan Isadore
- Wacey Labelle
- Sam Simon
- chief's entourage
- Tong Lung
- Grace Lu
- Elise Lew
- Chinese workers
- Melvin Skales
- hangman
- May Louie
- Yeung Kar Kut
- Ted Lim
- Tik Lun Wong
- Kwai Chun Leung
- Henry Louie
- opera performers
- Jimmy Carver
- bordello doorman
- Dallas Dorchester
- Jason Glass
- blind drivers
- Lisa Stafford
- blonde on train
- Certificate
- 12
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- 9,926 feet
- 110 minutes 18 seconds
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor
- 2.35:1 [Panavision]