Everybody
loves a party. But giving one a loose plot and throwing it
on film can be a dicey proposition. Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack
did it; Burt Reynolds and his stuntman pals did it a few times,
too, and with both groups, the result was pretty lazy filmmaking.
Maybe
the secret is in just focusing on your hosts, like Bob Hope
and Bing Crosby did in their Road movies. Have fun, but make
sure your audience still knows what's going on, and that they're
having fun, too.
As unlikely
as it may seem, Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson understand that
secret. In their latest (and hopefully not last) vehicle together,
Shanghai Knights, they may not be making deathless
art, but they are bringing fun to the screen. Sometimes, despite
the violence, there's even some joy.
Quickly
dispensing with leftover plot from Shanghai Noon, this
new entry establishes Chon Wang (Chan) and Roy O'Bannon (Wilson)
as having moved on with their lives. Chon serves as sheriff,
while Roy has gone off to New York to capitalize on his success
as the hero of a series of dime novels.
In reality,
Roy has hit hard times but still works his mojo on the ladies,
showing them a new meaning for "French Toast."
When
Wang's sister Chon Lin (the stunning Fann Wong) sends him
a letter telling him that their father has been killed and
she's tracked the murderer to London, adventure is in the
offing. And since Roy has squandered both their fortunes,
the would-be cowboy hero has to offer himself in collateral.
In London,
the duo cross paths with legends, having no concept of their
impact. Jack The Ripper? A slight annoyance (though outtakes
indicate he may have originally played a larger part). Sherlock
Holmes? Just one more O'Bannon improvisation.
They have
bigger fish to fry. In a nod to Hitchcock's Strangers On
a Train, two murderers have criss-crossed their targets
in order to overthrow the monarchies of England and China,
with the Chon siblings stuck in the middle.
But if
you're looking for tight plotting, you won't find it here.
Instead, the plot just moves everybody along from set piece
to set piece, without much respect for historical accuracy.
What
this movie does respect is its own influences. Director David
Dobkin works from an Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville)
script that is clever enough to keep our attention, and loose
enough to let Chan and Wilson pay homage to their roots.
Wilson
even recreates a moment out of Bottle Rocket, his film
debut. Not necessarily a stretch, as he pretty much plays
the same character from film to film, but if you haven't seen
Bottle Rocket, stop reading this and rent it right
now. NOW!
At last,
Chan gets to explicitly acknowledge the American masters that
gave him his style. In an early New York fight scene, he faces
down the Keystone Kops with all the stone-faced gravitas of
his idol, Buster Keaton, and with all the delirious physical
energy to boot. He sneaks in nods to Charlie Chaplin and Harold
Lloyd, too.
Later,
the movie doesn't even try to disguise the tributes. When
Chan begins fighting with an umbrella, "Singing In The Rain"
swells up on the soundtrack, making one wonder just what Gene
Kelly might have done with martial arts skills in his repertoire.
Yes,
Chan has slowed down a bit, but Dobkin hides it well. Unlike
The Tuxedo, which awkwardly tried to get tricky and
thus showed the seams, Shanghai Knights ambles even
in its action scenes, and Chan shows that he still has it.
Kids,
don't take what Shanghai Knights tells you about history
as fact. Anachronisms abound, but the movie is so naked about
it that it's hard to let it get in your way. By throwing out
the history books, anything can happen. And does. If Roy and
Chon Wen need a car for a getaway, they can have it.
A solid
sixties soundtrack gives the project the feel of films like
What's New, Pussycat? and Casino Royale, with
slightly more coherence. When a Victorian orgy has The Who
in the background, it's pretty obvious that these guys are
only pretending to be in the 1800's. Heck, almost all of O'Bannon's
schtick with chicks is pretty much 1990's surfer talk, but
with all the desperate obviousness of a stoned Bob Hope.
And if
you believe that a 19th century Chinese woman who barely speaks
English would really be charmed by lines like "you have a
great body. There. I've said it," then welcome to the fantasy.
Just don't try it at home.
Hope
and Crosby played this fast and loose with reality, too, and
it worked for them. If Chan and Wilson feel played out in
the 19th century, they should shift their partnership to another
time and it will hold up. My only request is that they bring
Fann Wong along as their Dorothy Lamour.
The January
releases were pretty numbing. Shanghai Knights offers
fun and little more, but quite honestly, we need what it has
right now.
