I would pay $15.00 to watch this movie, buy it on DVD.

    Four words: Donnie Yen is a god. For those of you who are unaware, this movie is a sequel to “Shanghai Noon”, the buddy film wherein Owen Wilson plays a goofy loser and Jackie Chan plays a Chinese man in the days of the American Old West. In Shanghai Knights, Chan’s character has to go to England to avenge his father’s death with the help of his sister. To get there, he needs to enlist the aid of his old buddy, played by Owen Wilson. Wackiness ensues.
    Now, normally, when I say “wackiness ensues”, I mean the usual sort of half-hearted tomfoolery that Hollywood throws our way like the farmer throws slop the way of little piggies. However, when I am referring to a Jackie Chan film, that little phrase implies a whole new dimension of wackiness. It would be as if I were referring to Arsenio hall as “funny” and then mentioned Don Knotts being “funny”, there is a world of difference.
    The wackiness level in this movie is through the roof. One of the first fight scenes we are treated to devolves into a tribute to “Singin’ In the Rain” for a full minute or so, detailed down to the last little move. The difference is, Gene Kelly was on roller skates, Jackie Chan is just awesome. This scene brutalizes your “cool” glands, as it were. If that kind of wackiness isn’t enough, we are treated to a young Charlie Chaplin, a young Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and all sorts of period silliness unabashedly mixed with modern references. This is a movie made for people to enjoy. There is no attempt to maintain seriousness, historical integrity, or any of the standard claptrap that passes for “filmmaking” amongst the bloated fat cats in Hollywood. This is a film that was made for an audience to enjoy, and enjoy it we did.
    The breakdown is easy: The fight choreography is fantastic, the direction is well done, the script is witty, the acting is frenetically fun, the costumes are brilliant, and the plot is clever enough to sustain interest. The only thing that irritated me about this movie was the soundtrack, which somewhat distracted from everything else that was going on. Don’t get me wrong, the soundtrack was interesting … that was the problem.
    Now, in the first line, I mentioned Donnie Yen. Oh yes, Donnie Yen. For those of you who aren’t all that knowledgeable about Hong Kong cinema, Donnie Yen is perhaps the greatest actual fighter in martial arts movies, possibly surpassed only by Jet Li or Yuen Biao. He played the lead role in “Iron Monkey”, one of those seminal movies that changed the face of action cinema as we know it. The last movie that I saw him in was Blade II, in which he played a small but amazing role, with one great, but very short, fight scene. Luckily for us, the second-most-important fight scene (and Donnie Yen’s only fight scene) in “Shanghai Knights” gives us several minutes of Donnie Yen kicking butt. I realized something while watching this scene: The reason Donnie Yen isn’t the most famous martial artist in film is because he’s too fast. He’s so incredibly fast that it takes an avid martial arts movie fan to follow what he’s doing, and even then it’s hard to see everything. In any case, I hope this movie lands him some more important roles in the future.
    Don’t let me go on too much about Donnie Yen, as the main villain in this movie puts on one of the best displays of sword fighting I’ve ever seen. Aidan Gillen is a name I had never heard before this movie, and, by looking at his filmography, I doubt many people have. Regardless, he was brilliant as the evil Lord Rathbone (another little tribute to Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone being one of the most famous portrayers of the detective). The main fight scene between him and Jackie Chan is outstanding, and I have to compare it to the final fight scene in “Drunken Master II”, as it is comparable in the sever beating that Chan’s character takes.
    This movie is a lot like the first: Two everyman heroes from different parts of the globe defeat a diabolical villain with the power of their own doggedness. Jackie Chan really can pull off a great film, and Owen Wilson is a hilarious comedian.
    I don’t recall having seen Fann Wong before this film, but, by looking at her filmography, I must have seen her at least twice. Regardless, she appears to have never appeared in an American film before, and this is a great debut. She kicks butt and looks gorgeous. The scene where she kicks Jack the Ripper off a bridge in Whitechapel is hilarious, and she manages to pull off a role where she is supposed to be Jackie Chan’s sister with skill. She even has a scene where she has to do a Chan-like ascension of the unascendable, and she performed admirably. Not to mention she was adorable in general.
    Since Jackie Chan promised not to make any more bad films, I’ve been extra-critical of his work. Luckily for me (or him), he has kept true to his promise. This movie is a blast. I’d suggest this movie to anybody who likes to watch movies, it’s a fun ride all the way through and I’m looking forward to the third movie in the series.