Okay, you’re probably wondering what you’re doing looking at a Shanghai Knights when this is supposed to be a Ripper blog. Am I right? Well, on Hollywood Ripper, we cover all appearances by Jack the Ripper that we know about, even if his appearance is a small cameo. Well, Jack the Ripper makes a cameo appearance in Shanghai Knights.
BASIC PLOT: Okay, if you recall from Shanghai Noon, Jackie Chan’s character (Chon Wang) is an Imperial Guard in the Forbidden City, sent to America to retrieve the kidnapped Princess Pei-Pei. In Shanghai Knights, we see Wang’s father (keeper of the Imperial Seal) murdered and the Seal stolen by English noble, Lord Rathbone (Aiden Gillen). Wang’s sister, Chon Lin (Fann Wong), is sent after Rathbone to retrieve the seal. From London, she writes her brother, who travels from the western desert to New York to get his cut of the Shanghai Noon gold from old partner Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson). Instead they team up and venture to London, where they have a series of adventures in acculturating to England, fighting both English and Chinese bad guys, and (of course) retrieving the Imperial Seal.
THE RIPPER CAMEO: Chon Wang, Chon Lin, and Roy O’Bannon end up one night in Whitechapel… and it is, of course, 1888. They go into a brothel, a bunch of stuff happens(!), and Lin walks out angry, disgusted, and alone. Near the River, she is confronted by the psychotic killer who is terrorizing London–none other than Jack the Ripper himself. Using her spectacular martial arts footwork, Lin makes quick work of the Ripper, kicking him over the bridge railing and into the Thames below. And I assume, that’s the end of Jack the Ripper. He just messed with the wrong girl.
THE GOOD: Oh, gee, where do I start? First off, let me put my cards on the table: I love martial arts movies, and I think that Jackie Chan is one of the finest physical comedians in cinema history. So you might assume that it’s a given that I would like Shanghai Knights. But actually, since I’m not remotely a fan of Shanghai Noon (and since Owen Wilson is one of the few actors that I actively avoid watching on screen), all bets are off on this one. But yes, I did think that Shanghai Knights was loads of fun.
For starters, Owen Wilson is actually funny in it, which is certainly a plus in a comedy. Chan is always entertaining to watch, no matter what the movie, and in this film, his love of classic screen comedy really comes through. In Shanghai Knights, he pays tribute to a number of his screen heroes… including Gene Kelly (his favorite choreographer), Buster Keaton (his favorite physical comedian/stuntman), Charlie Chaplin, and even Harold Lloyd. Chan, of course, makes each of these elements his own–
as he mimics Buster Keaton gags…
as he draws Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain choreography into his own fight choreography…
and as he imperils his characters on the minute hand of a huge clock tower (Big Ben???) in a clear tip of the hat to Harold Lloyd…
In addition to all the comedy-tribute hijinks, Singapore-Chinese actress Fann Wong is a real “find” for American cinema.
And Aiden Gill brings out the charm, the malevolence (and the gentlemanly love of a good swordfight) in his tensely smirky Lord Rathbone.
And then there’s Donnie Yen… I mean, can you believe that Jackie Chan has the self-assurance to put Donnie Yen in the movie… and let Yen actually win the Kung Fu fight on the barge??? (Chon Lin, of course, steps in before Yen’s evil Wu Chow dispatches her brother, but she wins by… cheating).
At any rate, this is, I believe, the first American Jackie Chan movie featuring another major Hong Kong martial arts star (eg. Iron Monkey), and Chan makes the most of it. In choreographing the fight, Chan gives Donnie Yen the animal Kung Fu styles and uses a more frenetically hybrid (Americanized?) style himself.
Kung Fu battles between major wushu artists are a staple of Hong Kong cinema, but I can’t remember seeing them in many American-produced martial arts films… at least, not since Bruce Lee dispatched Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon!
THE BAD: Okay, this doesn’t bother me too much, but some people might really think it hurts the film… i.e. the plot is ludicrous and uses anachronism quite heavily. As for me, hey, I majored in English and learned way back in undergrad and grad school that realism and plausibility are actually latecomers to literary and performance art. Shakespeare is never very particular with the continuity of time (I mean, he’s got medieval lords in ancient pagan Britain, for goodness’ sake!), nor is he very particular with the plausibility of his stories (Midsummer Night’s Dream, anyone?), so why should Jackie Chan be–especially in a comedy? Still, anachronisms involving real historical personages can be a little bit unsettling. I mean, Charlie Chaplin was born in 1889… the year after the Ripper murders. He certainly would not have been running around London stealing stolen pocket watches at that time!
THE UGLY: Chan and Co. use the same gag at the end of Shanghai Knights that they used at the end of Rush Hour… i.e. falling from a great height holding on to a big piece of cloth. It works here because the cloth is a gigantic Union Jack. But I’d advise Chan to put this one to rest before it gets too rusty.
Links to get you started…
Shanghai Knights
Shanghai Knights — The Official Site (Some cool stuff here, including Jackie Chan’s diaries during the shoot)
Shanghai Knights (2003): Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Fann Wong, David Dobkin (a whole slew of reviews—most good, some bad—on the Rotten Tomatoes website)
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan interview - Jackie Chan on Shanghai Knights (In reality, it’s a short, entertaining article that talks to both Chan and Wilson)
The Official Jackie Chan Website (Jackie is very involved with this site, which really makes it more like a community than just a website)
Owen Wilson
World of Owen at Wilson-Brothers.com (Gee, I didn’t know Owen had a brother)
Donnie Yen
Donnie Yen’s Official Website (Another very good celebrity website)
Donnie Yen interviews - Fight choreographer and Shanghai Knights villain. (When I posted this in 2003, I had a short, but very good interview with Donnie Yen, done shortly before shooting Shanghai Knights. That link has now, so I’m providing a page of Google links to all sorts of Donnie Yen interviews)
Fann Wong
Fann Wong in Wikipedia (When I first posted this, I had a listing of sites devoted to the young woman who plays Chon Lin in Shanghai Knights. That has since disappeared, so here’s the Wikipedia entry on this actress)
Aiden Gillen
Aiden Gillen in Wikipedia
