When Princess Pei Pei is lured out of China's Forbidden City and taken to America and held for ransom three top Imperial Guards are sent to retrieve her. Chon Wang, a less than top guard also asks to go as he blames himself for her kidnapping. Once in America their train is ambushed by gangsters led by Roy O'Bannon. As a result of this Chon ends up off the train and Roy separates from his gang. Inevitably Chon and Roy soon meet again and end up forming an unlikely alliance; even if Chon is motivated by trying to rescue the princess and Roy is keener to get his hands on the gold intended to pay her ransom. If they are to save her they will have to deal with her kidnapper, a former Imperial Guard, and a corrupt sheriff who is determined to kill them both.This East meets West comedy western is a lot of fun as it plays with classic Western and kung-fu tropes in an amusing way. Jackie Chan is a great lead as he is naturally funny and more than has the skills required for the action scenes. Owen Wilson offers fine support; he too is funny and makes his character likable. While not on screen anywhere near as much Lucy Liu impresses as the spirited princess. A film like this needs good villains and it has two in the form of Roger Yuan and Xander Berkeley. There is plenty of exciting action; none of it too strong though; it is usually more slapstick than violent. There are lots of laughs to be had; these are a good mix of visual gags as well as witty dialogue. Overall I'd say if you enjoy Westerns and want a good laugh you could do a lot worse than this.

Yet more of the amiable buddy-buddy action comedy staple from the newly Americanised Jackie Chan, who seems to base every American movie on the template created in RUSH HOUR. Martial arts buffs and fans of Chan will undoubtedly find this a pleasant enough viewing experience, with a fast paced plot that takes in just about all of the old Western clichés: I'm talking cowboys, native Americans, slaves working at a mine, the bar-room brawl, tons of prostitutes, the jailbreak, the showdown, plus lots more besides. Superficially, the film is a pleasure to watch, with great photography at a number of key moments and stunning attention to detail in terms of sets and costumes. The only thing out of place is the bizarre music the film uses, which tends to be towards the 'grating' end of the scale.Fans of Chan, however, will find him getting further and further away from the heights his career reached in the mid to late 1980s. I'm talking about classics such as ARMOUR OF GOD and POLICE STORY. As Chan gets older, we begin to notice some of his stunts are digitally created, stuntmen are starting to pop up, and the various fight sequences just don't last as long as they used to. Don't get me wrong – there are still plenty of cool martial arts battles on display here – it's just that they seem to get fewer and further apart with only flashes of the occasional brilliance that Chan has come to be known for.The comedy aspect of the film is high, trading mainly on the comic interplay between the extreme characters. Chan actually manages to be irritating a few times here with his overacting whilst his newest foil, laidback sidekick Owen Wilson, is a taste that one definitely needs to get to grips with. At least he is far less annoying than RUSH HOUR's Chris Tucker, which has to be a good thing. The supporting cast is pretty strong – Lucy Liu is remarkable but underused as the princess, and one of my favourite supporting role actors, Xander Berkeley actually gets a GOOD role for a change as the mean sheriff, Nathan Van Cleef. Roger Yuan is sufficiently imposing and skilled athletically to provide menace as the villain of the piece, whilst there are plenty of comedic supporting players to enjoy.The balance between comedy and action seems to be pretty spot on, but this is a kind of film where the laughs make you smile occasionally rather than laugh out loud. The same effect is true of the action sequences – they're cool and engaging, but none of them are truly spectacular or mind-boggling like they used to be in the old days. I guess we can at least be thankful that Chan is still around to provide half-decent entertainment which at worst makes us feel nostalgic for his older days. Good luck to him. A sequel, SHANGHAI KNIGHTS, followed in 2003. Incidentally, this is the newest addition to the strange sub-genre of films, the Eastern Western. Following on from the success of THE FIGHTING FISTS OF SHANGHAI JOE in the early '70s, other notable examples include TIGER ON THE RIVER KWAI, BLOOD MONEY, and KUNG FU BROTHERS IN THE WILD WEST.

Shanghai Noon is a great movie with a very well developed storyline and a terrific comedic cast. It's a very fun movie that contains many scenes that had me laughing out loud, as well as several surprisingly intense and very well choreographed action sequences, it's a clever mix of both westerns and martial arts films, and it is clear watching this from start to finish that it is a unique film. I only have two major problems with this movie, and that is that it takes itself too seriously at times, it gets fairly deep for something that should have only wanted to be a comedy, particularly the scenes with the princess and her capturers are quite dark and grim, and I also felt like it needed much more moments between Chan and Wilson's characters that conveyed a friendship is beginning, I would have liked to see a lot more scenes with the two of them together simply having fun and not worrying about the problem they must overcome. The highlight of the movie and the thing that certainly holds it all together would have to be Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, they are an unlikely duo, but this works out perfectly, the chemistry between the two is outstanding and the drinking game is definitely my favourite scene in the whole movie. Funny, action packed and entertaining, I would recommend Shanghai Noon to anyone looking for a good adventure film. A Chinese imperial guard teams up with a train robber in order to rescue a kidnapped princess. Best Performance: Owen Wilson

I can't really rate or comment on this film negatively, even though it's a movie almost completely devoid of originality and ideas. Basically this is a formula buddy movie, typical of Jackie Chan's work both here and in China in that it involves elaborate stuntwork, kung-fu with props, and humorous characters and situations. I don't usually bother with Chan's American films since he already made better ones in China, but I wanted to see this one because I've always liked Owen Wilson and I wanted to see how they worked together. Happily I can report that I was pleased greatly with their chemistry, enough so that I might even bother to seek out the sequel at some point.The story is like a comedy variation on the old movie "Red Sun" with Charles Bronson and Toshiro Mifune, except that in this case the Asian hero is Chinese and the object they are seeking is not a precious ceremonial sword but rather the princess of China herself (Lucy Liu). Liu is the weak link in the film if there is one... she doesn't seem to have much talent for comedy, although the film didn't give her too many chances to show it off. Much more interesting is Native American model Brandon Merrill, who made her only film appearance here as the gorgeous and strong-willed woman who takes Chan's character (who her people refer to as "fights in a dress") as a husband.There are some fun moments that come at us, and the film's pace is breezy and light. I liked Wilson and Chan's drinking scene, and the ensuing fight gives Chan an opportunity to revive his much-admired "drunken master" technique. Wilson and Chan make a good pairing because Wilson is so incredibly low-key and Chan is so amazingly high-strung. They're the kind of opposites that always attract, and all the story and other characters are really just trappings for the chemistry they develop.For all that the film does have going for it, it simply lacks a few really outrageous laugh-out-loud moments that could have put it over the top.