Ripper Fu: Shanghai Knights Meet Jack the Ripper

viaRipperLady Blog

Okay, you're probably wondering what you're doing looking at a graphic link to Shanghai Knights when this is supposed to be a Ripper movie blog. Am I right? Well, on Hollywood Ripper, we cover all screen appearances by Jack the Ripper that we know about, even if his appearance comes in the form of a small cameo. And Jack the Ripper does make a cameo appearance in Shanghai Knights.

But the movie may have an even stronger tie in with the Ripper case. In pre-production press reports, the story was actually said to involve having Chon Wang and Roy O'Bannon go to England with the express purpose of stopping the Ripper. (See Shanghai Knights: Chan And Wilson Take On Jack The Ripper--an article written late in 2001).

This leaves an intriguing question: was the royal English bad guy originally slated to be the Ripper? Whether or not he was, the Ripper cameo works quite nicely on its own, and Aiden Gillen is evil enough in his role not to need to be Jack the Ripper too.

BASIC PLOT: Okay, you may recall from Shanghai Noon that Jackie Chan's character (Chon Wang) is an Imperial Guard in the Forbidden City, sent to America to retrieve the kidnapped Princess Pei-Pei. In Shanghai Knights, we see Wang's father (keeper of the Imperial Seal) murdered and the Seal stolen by English noble, Lord Rathbone (Aiden Gillen). Wang's sister, Chon Lin (Fann Wong), is sent after Rathbone to retrieve the seal. From London, she writes her brother, who travels from the western desert to New York to get his cut of the Shanghai Noon gold from old partner Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson). Instead they team up and venture to London, where they have a series of adventures involving acculturating to England, fighting English and Chinese bad guys, and (of course) retrieving the Imperial Seal.

THE RIPPER CAMEO: Chon Wang, Chon Lin, and Roy O'Bannon end up one night in Whitechapel... and it is, of course, 1888. They go into a brothel, and after a series of events Lin walks out angry, disgusted, and alone. Near the River, she is confronted by the psychotic killer who is terrorizing London--none other than Jack the Ripper himself. Using her spectacular martial arts footwork, Lin makes quick work of the Ripper, kicking him over the bridge railing and into the Thames below. And, apparently, that's the end of Jack the Ripper. So now we know what became of the Ripper. He just messed with the wrong girl.

THE GOOD: Oh, gee, where do I start? First off, let me put my cards on the table: I love martial arts movies, and I think that Jackie Chan is one of the finest physical comedians in cinema history. So you might assume that it's a given that I would like Shanghai Knights. But actually, since I'm not remotely a fan of Shanghai Noon (and since Owen Wilson is one of the few actors that I actively avoid watching on screen), all bets are off on this one. But yes, I did think that Shanghai Knights was loads of fun.