Shanghai Noon

Shanghai Noon is a light-hearted comedy set in the Wild West. The protagonists, however, are not only palefaces. Here East meets West, and to the film's credit, prejudice and racial hatred are not passed over in silence.

Jackie Chan plays Chon Wang, an imperial guard loyal to the emperor, who accompanies his uncle, an interpreter, and the emperor's three best guards to the Wild West, where they are to ransom the beautiful Princess Pei Pei. She ran away to avoid an arranged marriage, but went out of the frying pan into the fire when she was kidnapped. A gang of train robbers, however, throws a spanner in the works of the important mission, and suddenly Chon Wang is all alone in the world - or is he? He is soon joined by the hapless outlaw Roy O'Bannon, but can Chon Wang trust Roy? Will Roy really help him free Pei Pei, or is he only interested in all that money?

The story is a bit flimsy, but it has plenty of humour and gives good value for money. Chan and Wilson make a good double act, and there are clearly more laughs in Shanghai Noon than in "Rush Hour", in which Chan and Chris Tucker starred together.