Jackie
Chan and Owen Wilson team up again in Shanghai
Knights,
directed by David Dobkin. But neither gets to Shanghai
during the film. Instead, the film begins in 1887. Lord
Rathbone (played by Aidan Gillen) raids the Forbidden City
in Beijing to acquire the imperial diamond on behalf of
Wu Yip (played by Donnie Yen), who in turn promises to
kill Queen Victoria (played by Gemma Jones) and the eight
next in line to the throne so that Rathbone will become
King of England. Possessing the imperial diamond, Wu Yip
will become Emperor of China, or so we are told. In the
process, Rathbone kills Wang's father in Beijing, but his
sister Chon Lin (played by Fann Wong) escapes, goes to
London, and sends her brother Chon Wang (played by Jackie
Chan) an urgent letter to join her in retrieving the diamond.
Caught stalking Rathbone in his manorial estate, Lin is
imprisoned. Meanwhile, Wang is a sheriff in Carson City,
Nevada. On receiving his sister's letter, he resigns his
post, goes to New York, collects Roy O'Bannon (played by
Owen Wilson) after they evade the New York Police Department,
and they sail for London. Upon arriving in London, the
duo get into a fight with a notorious gang and end up in
prison, but Arthur Conan Doyle (played by Tom Fisher) releases
them for foiling the gang. Before leaving prison, they
talk to Lin, learning that her mission is to retrieve the
imperial diamond. After many zany escapades and narrow
escapes from death, the mission is accomplished. Queen
Victoria even knights Wang, O'Bannon, and Doyle. The outtakes,
run before credits and even a "The End" title,
are as usual hilarious, though fewer than one might wish.
Anachronisms abound in the film. Members of the Boxer Rebellion
are portrayed in the film, but they were not organized
until 1898. Jack the Ripper is said to be in London newspaper
headlines, but his rampage began in 1888. In the film's
trailer, O'Bannon tells Wang that he should be open to "other
cultures," but no such line appears in the film. Shanghai
Knights has elaborate sets and is enjoyably amusing, though
very few lines evoke audience laughter. Indeed, I was the
only one who laughed when O'Bannon referred to Whitechapel
as a "nice" part of London. The older Jackie
Chan looks wasted and upstaged by the younger Owen Wilson,
but in a year or so we should expect the comical duo to
serve up more of their antics. MH
I
want to comment on this film
