Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Shanghai Knights

Shanghai Knights (2003)

Runtime: 114 minutes

Directed by: David Dobkin

Starring: Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Fann Wong, Aidan Gillan, Donnie Yen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson

From: Touchstone Pictures/Spyglass Entertainment

Once again, this viewing was a result of a messageboard discussion. A few were discussing Knights and they said it was rather bad, as if it was The Medallion (something I’ve never experienced but I know its reputation), The Tuxedo, which I saw long before Letterboxd and that does deserve its stinky reputation, and I’d rather not even talk about Rush Hour 3. In contrast, I recalled this as being like Shanghai Noon, meaning “incredibly silly in how anachronistic it is yet the action is good”.

Turns out, this movie is even dumber than Noon, Owen Wilson is even more 21st century in his dialogue/attitude (a little of Roy O’Bannon goes a LONG way), this winks at the audience often with the inclusion of multiple real-life people, and all the low ratings are understandable for the tale where our heroes end up in London to try and retrieve the Imperial Seal of China, which is stolen by Aidan Gillan and Donnie Yen.

Yet, I DID laugh at times, Jackie is still charming and I enjoyed the action so much-there are some extremely creative setpieces which I forgot were such a thrill-I can say this is “fine” despite its faults. After all, one setpiece involves Chan doing his trouble to Singin’ in the Rain, of all things. BTW, the presence of child actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson is amusing; allegedly, at any day now the new 007 is going to be announced and many think Taylor-Johnson will be filling those shoes. 

What a day it was on Twitter a few weeks ago when rumors (that possibly only came from some random schmoe on TikTok who doesn’t like that Aaron has a wife old enough to be his mother) sparked up that he was having an affair w/ Joey King. The few movies I’ve seen him in, he as Bond probably won’t be the cause of those films’ troubles if they turn out poorly.

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