Shanghai Knights / Shanghai Noon (DVD)

...in this double set is Shanghai Noon, so I'll start by reviewing that movie & DVD.

Shanghai Noon

The Movie

This starts with Jackie Chan as Imperial Guard Chon Wang (which, when he states his name later in the movie to Wilsons's character, O'Bannon, gets mistaken for being John Wayne), who travels to the Wild West of America to try and rescue the beautiful kidnapped princess Pei Pei (played by Lucy Liu). ...
...DVD disk.

Shanghai Knights

The Movie

The sequel starts off with Jackie Chan's character from the first movie, Chon, being the sheriff of Carson City, where he settled down after the end of the last movie. However, he doesn't stay there long, as he gets bad news from his sister - that his estranged father has been killed back in China. This results in Chon reuniting with Roy and the two of them travelling ... more

Being a fan of Jackie Chans fairly recent US comedy movies (such as Rush Hour & Rush Hour 2) and having seen some of 'Shanghai Knights' on the TV at around Christmas time I think it was, I decided I'd treat myself to this box set.

Basics about the Boxset

The boxset basically consists of both separate DVDs, one for each film, which are displayed/stored in the one 'collectors edition' display box. Both of the DVD boxes offer a fairly modest amount of special features which are listed on the back and neither of them are specifically labelled as collectors editions, nor do they say that they aren't to be sold separately, so I'm somewhat suspicious that the labelling of the display box as being a 'collectors edition' is a bit of a con, if you can buy these movies on DVD individually cheaper than you can buy the boxset I'd say do that instead, as im not convinced there's any benefit to buying the boxset for the supposed collectors edition badge it seems to give itself. Anyway, ill go into some detail about each DVDs features below.

Both of the movies/DVDs are rated 12, so their only suitable for people 12 years old or above to watch, mainly for the comic martial arts violence (its pretty tame, thats where alot of the comedy comes from, in the way its carried out) and for some mild language as well as the odd mild reference to sex and nudity, which I don't remember there being much of at all, I wouldn't be at all concerned about a teenager watching either of these movies, there's much worse out there.

Also both movies/DVD in this set are region 2 discs, suitable for British/European and multi-region DVD players. Both DVDs are presented in widescreen, 2.35:1 format. Both DVDs also offer audio in Dolby Digital 5.1.

The first movie in this double set is Shanghai Noon, so I'll start by reviewing that movie & DVD.

Shanghai Noon

The Movie

This starts with Jackie Chan as Imperial Guard Chon Wang (which, when he states his name later in the movie to Wilsons's character, O'Bannon, gets mistaken for being John Wayne), who travels to the Wild West of America to try and rescue the beautiful kidnapped princess Pei Pei (played by Lucy Liu). The fun really starts when he accidentally gets caught up in a bungled train robbery, headed by the outlaw cowboy Roy O'Bannon (played by Owen Wilson) and the two of them end up becoming mismatched partners. At first Roy isn't so sure but once he becomes aware of the plight of Pei Pei, the two of them join forces and end up enduring time in jail, bar brawls and plenty of villains on their journey. The movie features plenty of cleverly choreographed stunts mostly performed by Chan, who's well known for his clever comedic martial arts stunts. There's a good amount of comedy in this movie, it doesn't take itself too seriously (which is just as well given the fact that otherwise the plotline may seem just a slight bit stretched(!)). Its certainly entertaining, the way the two actors interact being pretty funny at times. I think without the good performances, it would be a very mediocre movie, Jackie Chan definately 'makes' this movie, though the same could, obviously, be said about the sequel too. Yes its yet another movie about two people who are put together to have to try and rescue a 'damsel in distress' and somehow 'save the day', it certainly isn't without its corni-ness, you could say! but as I say, neither of these movies are to be taken too seriously and the way the two actors interact is pretty good, that they manage to pull it off pretty well. Of course I could be biased, given the fact that I was already keen on Jackie Chan's similar movies and Owen Wilson is one of my favourite actors (he's not sore to the eye either, right women?!).

Oh and one piece of trivia that may be of interest to any other fans of the US drama show '24', is that Xander Berkeley, who played George Mason in the first two seasons of the show, is also featured in this movie, as one of the bad guys.

The DVD

The DVD offers subtitles in English and English for the hard of hearing. Special features include an audio commentary, 8 deleted scenes (none of which are longer than 2 minutes 35, most are pretty short), 6 featurettes including 'Making of Eastern Western Partners', 'Jackie's Comedy' and 'Western Stunts, Eastern Style' and a music video ('Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' by 'Uncle Kracker', which featured in the movies soundtrack).

The DVD is a single layer format DVD disk.

Shanghai Knights

The Movie

The sequel starts off with Jackie Chan's character from the first movie, Chon, being the sheriff of Carson City, where he settled down after the end of the last movie. However, he doesn't stay there long, as he gets bad news from his sister - that his estranged father has been killed back in China. This results in Chon reuniting with Roy and the two of them travelling to victorian London (both movies being set in the Victorian age, just to clarify), where they accidentally stumble upon a plot to kill the Royal family. Again they end up in lots of different situations, including being thrown back in jail again and teaming up with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! (the name of the real life author of Sherlock Holmes),.

Again this movie offers a good share of comedy, with funny scenes (one of Roy O'Bannon having a dream about something totally different then waking up to being licked by a goat being one example, watch the movie you'll see what I mean - again somewhat cheesy but it has to make you laugh at least a little!), some fairly clever dialogue (as there is in the original movie) and more displays of Jackie Chan's signature comic martial arts.

Somewhat random and quirky but basically good for a laugh, it again works as a funny and entertaining movie. Again I would also say that it doesn't take itself too seriously but its perfectly adequate as an entertaining comedy movie for most of the family (apart from younger children, like I said above its rated 12).

The DVD

The DVD offers subtitles in English and English for the hard of hearing, Spanish and Hungarian (more choices than you get in the original movie, see above).

Special features include commentaries by the director and screenwriter, a 'Fight Manual' (which is where Jackie Chan and the director discuss the different fight.martial arts scenes in the movie), 'Action Overload' (which again showcases some of the comic martial arts scenes from the movie and plays them with no sound as if it were an old Victorian film) and deleted scenes (11 in total, you can either play them all or select them indivudally, again each of them being fairly short (apart from the full fight scenes, which there are a few of), if you play them all it lasts about 28 minutes).

My Conclusions/Last Thoughts

If you expect some earth shattering movie(s) with the most iron clad plot out of either of these movie(s) and also if you get at all offended or annoyed by slightly ropey or cheesy cockney accents (the little boy character that pops up quite often in the movie can get a bit annoying) and some slight potential London/British or/and American and Chinese stereotyping, then don't bother. However, if your looking for a movie or two for most of the family to enjoy (apart from younger children), something to provide a few laughs and entertain you for a few hours, to pass some time by and you like comic violence, then this is most definately for you.

You could say that both these movie are cheesy, predictable and laden with stereotypes, you could say that it simply re-uses the old, old 'buddy movie' theme and in a way you'd be right but I think that really these movies don't take themselves too seriously and neither should you. Shrug all that off and watch it for the gems that are within both movies, both the great, funny martial arts scenes that Chan again excels at doing and the numerous funny jokes that both characters say, as well as the random situations they end up being in (which some are pretty amusing in themselves). These are what make the movies and without any of that, they wouldn't be worth watching at all... I think both actors did well in their performances.

The 'boxset'/2 disc supposedly 'collectors edition' can be bought fairly cheaply, I got mine got about £9 through Amazon marketplace. Although if you can get both DVDs for a cheaper price somewhere else then I'd say go for that, I don't see any particular benefit to having the set, other than that it gives you a cardboard display box to keep both DVDs in. 

...less