Starring: Owen Wilson, Jackie Chan, Fann Wong, Donnie Yen Running Time: 1:50 Country: USA Year: 2003 Web: Official Site

Sharper and more amusing that its predecessor, Shanghai Knights once again brings together Owen Wilson's auto-derision and Jackie Chan's acrobatics.

A linear plot without much interest is only a pretext for us to experience the multiple adventures of the protagonists. Forsaking the plains of the American West for the rainy and crowded streets of the British capital, the film is built on the contrast of cultures and multiple references. One meets personalities as diverse as Conan Doyle (and Sherlock Holmes), the Queen of England, Jack the Ripper, Charlie Chaplin and cinematic references abound, from Harold Lloyd to Tomorrow Never Dies and Star Wars among others.

It's this unpretentious parodied approach combined with more sophisticated choreography which differentiates the film from the laborious Shanghai Noon, while the natural affinity between Wilson and Chan enables the picture to work, contrary to other buddy movies with improbable duos oscillating between the annoying: Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker (Rush Hour), the useless competition: Owen Wilson/Eddie Murphy (I Spy), the bizarro Jackie Chan/Jennifer Love Hewitt (The Tuxedo) and the grotesque: Anthony Hopkins/Chris Rock (Bad Company), Robert de Niro/Eddy Murphy (Showtime). The film also profits from the comedic potential of Wilson, who discreetly became the main character, as each of his replies is much more vibrant than any Chan stunt.

Assuming its status as an action comedy of no consequence, Shanghai Knights reinvented itself without yielding to the increasingly bid for vulgarity omnipresent in the comedies of the moment, instead offering good fun.

  Fred Thom