Ripper Fu: Shanghai Knights Meet Jack the Ripper - Page 3

At any rate, this is, I believe, the first American Jackie Chan movie featuring another major Hong Kong martial arts star, and Chan makes the most of it. In choreographing the fight, Chan gives Donnie Yen the animal Kung Fu styles and uses a more frenetically hybrid (Americanized?) style himself.

Kung Fu battles between major wushu artists are a staple of Hong Kong cinema, but I can't remember seeing them in very many American-produced martial arts films... at least, not since Bruce Lee dispatched Chuck Norris in Return of the Dragon!

THE BAD: Okay, the criticism I'm about to make doesn't bother me too much, but some people might think it really hurts the film... i.e. the plot is ludicrous and uses anachronism quite heavily. As for me, hey, I majored in English and learned way back in undergrad and grad school that realism and plausibility are actually latecomers to literary and performance art. Shakespeare is never very particular with the continuity of time (I mean, he's got medieval lords in ancient pagan Britain, for goodness' sake!), nor is he very particular with the plausibility of his stories (Midsummer Night's Dream, anyone?), so why should Jackie Chan be--especially in a comedy? Still, anachronisms involving real historical personages can be a little bit unsettling. I mean, Charlie Chaplin was born in 1889... the year after the Ripper murders. He certainly would not have been running around London stealing stolen pocket watches at that time!

THE UGLY: Chan and Co. use the same gag at the end of Shanghai Knights that they used at the end of Rush Hour... i.e. falling from a great height holding on to a big piece of cloth. It works here because the cloth is a gigantic Union Jack. But I'd advise Chan to put this one to rest before it gets too rusty.

Anyway, Shanghai Knights is a fun, if silly, flick--and certainly worth the price of the rental and the popcorn.

Links to get you started...

Shanghai Knights
Shanghai Knights — The Official Site (Some cool stuff here, including Jackie Chan's diaries during the shoot)
Shanghai Knights (2003): Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Fann Wong, David Dobkin (a whole slew of reviews--most good, some bad--on the Rotten Tomatoes website)

Article Author: Cindy Collins Smith

Cindy Collins Smith is a writer/editor with contributions in several Midnight Marquee/Luminary Press books—including the recently published You're Next: Loss of Identity in the Horror Film. She is known in Ripper circles as the owner of the Hollywood …

Visit Cindy Collins Smith's author page — Cindy Collins Smith's Blog