Shanghai Knights

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 107 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Shanghai Knights is the sequel to Shanghai Noon. Our initial thought was that this gag had been done and there wasn’t enough new ground to cover to make an entertaining sequel. Sadly we were correct.

Shanghai Knights

Jackie Chan is back as “Chon Wang”, serving as a Sheriff in Carson City in the aftermath of the adventure of the previous movie. And Owen Wilson returns as Roy O’Bannon who is basically grifting despite being the subject of some very popular cowboy stories. The two end up back together and on their way to an adventure in Victorian-era England.

Jackie plays the usual Jackie type character of the likeable good guy who seems to end up in numerous fights with faceless bad guys while we make our way to the final confrontation with the villain. No spoiler here, that’s just the law of Kung Fu movies. Once again though he is paired with Owen Wilson to try to form this combination of buddy movie and fish out of water comedy. It worked ok in the original movie. In this one, it really ends up just being more of the same.

More of the same in the case of Owen Wilson is not a good thing either. It seems he plays the same character over and over again and is intentionally annoying. It can be funny in a quirky way in limited quantities, but he really grates on our nerves after a while. It becomes a lot like a 90 minute Carrot Top commercial.

Despite being big fans of Jackie Chan, we can only give this movie 2 stars. We wanted to like it, but this movie felt very long. Jackie’s work was fun to watch, but it all felt kind of forced. If you’re a big fan, check it on DVD, otherwise skip this one.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 2 Stars, Aidan Gillen, Comedy, Fan Man-Fong, Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, PG-13, Theatrical, Tom Fisher