This movie has always managed to make me laugh and laugh... The humour embedded within, the hilarity peppered here and there, the funny clash between western and asian worlds (which are almost definite features in all Jackie Chan's movies), seemed to be better here in this movie. Some Jackie Chan's movies were made as a show of martial art/kungfu within a simple plot, which always guaranteed to make people laugh, but nothing else. This "Shanghai Knights" has a good plot, with beautiful actors & actresses, magnificent background, and lots of humour behind/within.
In this movie, Jackie Chan played the role of a sincere Chinese young man, Chon Wang, who came to US to learn more of the world around him. The time was late 19 century. His father back home, was a high rank officer in the Chinese Palace, being the important keeper of the unique and most revered China Imperial Seal. He was attacked one night, killed, and the Imperial Seal was stolen. His daughter, Chon Lin (played by the pretty and very charming Fann Wong), witnessed the murder, but could not fight back the thief, an English Lord, namely, Lord Nelson Rathbone, (Aidan Gillen).
Remembered the family's duty as keeper of the Imperial Seal, Chon Lin promptly sent message to her brother, told him of what she knew, and hoped he could retrieve the Imperial Seal back for China. She herself headed straight to England to chase after the enemy of her family.
Received the message, Chon Wang promtply set out to England, to do his duty as the next keeper of the Imperial Seal, as well as to revenge his father's death as any Chinese filial son would do at the time. With his buddy, the gorgeous, funny but silly Roy O'Bannon (played by Owen Wilson), Chon Wang felt sure that he would succeed his mission at a country which was completely unknown and strange to him. With time, they realised that things were not simple as they thought, but quite sinister. Unavoidably, they found themselves got tangled somehow in Lord Rathbone's plot of removing the queen of England.
The laughters kept increasing, with new friends and foes they made in England. The viewers would have a good opportunity to enjoy all the martial arts and kungu done in a sort of noble spirit, very hilarious, but at the same time, quite gripping.
The music and costumes in this movie were terrific too. (You have to watch in order to appreciate fully what I meant!)
A quite entertaining movie!
(Wrote this review for my friend because this movie was done partly in Czech. The filming was also done in UK, USA and Canada).
