Jackie Chan’s unique film presence as a sort of
slapstick martial arts hero has reached a new high in Shanghai Noon.
Here, he choreographs, guffaws, fights, and dazzles with his special
brand of daring stunts in the role of Chon Wang (pronounced almost like
the immortal “Duke”, John Wayne). From laughing in stitches to sheer
awe, Shaghai Noon offers so much more than the paper-thin Hong
Kong martial arts plot. The fun hangs on an ingeniously crafted story
and, more importantly, on Chan’s amazing chemistry with loquacious
co-star Owen Wilson playing Roy O’Bannon. O’Bannon pretends to be a
gang leader and gun slinging robber, but he is more of a foppish flop
house lothario absorbed with his image as a “bad” guy to impress
“chicks”.
The charm of Shanghai Noon comes from its
gentle homage to the Western. The film does not poke fun at the genre,
but presents an opportunity for another generation of grown men to share
the nostalgic childhood fantasy of playing cowboys and Indians. Jackie
Chan obviously comes from a non-western culture, but our research
indicates that as a boy, he played in chaps with toy pistols imitating
the movie images. In Shanghai Noon, we were touched by his
obvious delight to switch from beautiful Chinese trappings, thought of
as dresses in the Wild West, to cowboy duds. His co-star Wilson captures
many scenes with perfect balance and timing as he delivers funny
attitudes and lines. His role could have gone over the top or into
parody or spitefulness so easily, and yet, it doesn’t. We love and
root for his wisecracking foolishness.
The plot is simple. Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu)
escapes the Forbidden City to avoid marrying the boy-emperor she is not
in love with. The trusted tutor who helps her is really kidnapping her
to a Chinese forced labor camp near Carson City, Nevada. Her ransom of
100,000 gold pieces is to be delivered by three of the most accomplished
martial artist guards. Chon Wang is secretly in love with the Princess,
and he is allowed to tag along to carry the bags for his Uncle, the
venerable translator. The story then moves from the costuming glory and
confinement of the Forbidden City to the untamed Wild West.
Everyone who goes to a Chan starrer expects
spectacular daring do in the execution of martial arts and stunts, but
this film has unusual heart and depth emerging from the story that
constantly challenges its characters with perseverance, trust,
friendship, and freedom. Ultimately, this is a story of a slave vassal
who finds liberation and equality with his Princess.
Instead of tailoring the story to the
increasingly more elaborate martial arts spectacles, Jackie Chan allows
each fight to emerges from the plot and the surroundings. To defend a
helpless Sioux lad, Chon fights a band of marauding Crow Indians without
weapons, using trees and physical wizardry. As a reward from the
encamped tribe, he gets a wife and a horse, and not just any horse, but
a stunt horse that comes to clucks and whistles and does unexpected
tricks like sitting on its haunches, an image in itself surprising and
hilarious. Chon turns a bar inside out in a huge fight scene. He defeats
a band of evil, pistol and rifle toting lawmen with a horseshoe tied to
a rope. Chon must fight the final battle against the expatriate Chinese
member of the Imperial guard (Roger Yuan) who masterminded the
kidnapping. His sidekick Roy must shoot it out with the blood thirsty
Sheriff (Curtis Armstrong). No mean feat, because Roy is a terrible
shot.
Young Director, Tom Dey, met the challenge of the
visual sweep of the film. Jackie Chan movies are usually confined to
urban spaces, but the sets in Shanghai Noon included the lush
confines of Imperial pomp, forests, an Indian village, western trains
and towns, and in the end, a Catholic mission church. In a scene of true
cinematic poetry, Chon climbs a snow-topped mountain determined to find
Princess Pei Pei. He shivers in the elaborate silk court costume and
trudges on steadily with an awe-inspiring look of determination. The
director noted that it was a treat to work with a master of the action
genre such as Chan, who conceived the story and, of course,
choreographed his stunts and fight scenes. In expanding his reach into
the Western genre, Jackie Chan wisely had his initial scripted story
embellished and developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
We were delighted by the surprising depth and
breadth of Shanghai Noon. It has the visual sweep of a
classic Western. It radiates with that special, that guileless Jackie
Chan smile and charm. It has great dialogue and superb stunts and fight
sequences. Ultimately, Shanghai Noon comes to a satisfying
conclusion where the slave earns his place at the side of his Princess
as her equal in a new land. Isn’t that ultimately the legacy of the Western?
