Movie Review for Shanghai Knights

Summary: When a Chinese rebel murders Chon's estranged father and escapes to England, Chon and Roy make their way to London with revenge on their minds. Chon's sister, Lin, has the same idea, and uncovers a worldwide conspiracy to murder the royal family--but almost no one will believe her. With the help of a kindly Scotland Yard Inspector and a 10-year-old street urchin, the acrobatic Chon gives Victorian Britain a kick in the pants as he attempts to avenge his father's death--and keep the romance-minded Roy away from his sister.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Rebecca Murray of About.com (7/0)
            It's nearly impossible to shake the 'been there done that' undertones of the film.

By Mike McGranaghan of Aisle Seat (7/0)
            Everyone involved worked to make the sequel funnier and more entertaining - and they've succeeded...

By Philip Martin of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (7/0)
            ...less than a full-fledged movie ... but it is an entertaining way to pass a couple of idle hour...

By Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (6/1)
            Shanghai Knights isn't brilliant, but it's amiable and sometimes hilarious escapist stuff.

By Bryant Frazer of Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus (7/0)
            Formulaic to the point of distraction and saddled with one of the stupidest musical scores in rec...

By Rob Thomas of Capital Times (Madison, WI) (7/0)
            It’s a cheerfully goofy movie that doesn’t have a mean-spirited bone in its body.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (7/0)
            The movie is just the sort of mindless entertainment we're ready for after all of December's dist...

By Mark Caro of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
            Chan and Wilson's easy camaraderie remains eminently watchable, but the rough edges from last tim...

By Margaret A. McGurk of Cincinnati Enquirer (7/0)
            It's all silly as a Saturday cartoon show -- and twice as much fun.

By Margaret A. McGurk of Cincinnati Enquirer (7/0)
            It's all silly as a Saturday cartoon show - and twice as much fun.

By Joshua Tyler of CinemaBlend.com (7/0)
            This is The Apple Dumpling Gang if Tim Conway knew kung fu.

By David Keyes of Cinemaphile.org (7/0)
            The movie is hardly breathtaking or a completely successful endeavor, but considering what's been...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Karina Montgomery of Cinerina (7/0)
            Lo, how the mighty have fallen. Great classic film homages, though.

By Paul Clinton (CNN.com) of CNN.com (7/0)
            A nice mindless diversion of a film that provides a few chuckles, and some pretty fancy footwork ...

By Mark Palermo of Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) (7/0)
            The jokes and gymnastics don't fly fast and furiously enough to catch audiences off-guard.

By Jeffrey M. Anderson of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
            Chan's best and giddiest movie since the original Shanghai Noon in 2000, and maybe even 1994's Dr...

By Larry Carroll of Countingdown.com (7/0)
            Jackie Chan ups the ante with some of his best chop-socky moves, but there's little else to get e...

By George Wu of culturevulture.net (7/0)
            Jackie Chan's best film since 1992's Police Story 3: Super Cop.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Steven D. Greydanus of Decent Films Guide (7/0)
            More inspired action nuttiness and brilliant slapstick than all of Jackie’s previous Hollywood bu...

By Boo Allen of Denton Record Chronicle (TX) (7/0)
            Oops. Someone forgot to put in the funny bits.

By Boo Allen of Denton Record Chronicle (TX) (7/0)
            Oops. Someone forgot to put in the funny bits.

By John J. Puccio of DVDTown.com (7/0)
            ...the endless, needless brawling gets old very fast.

By David Levine of E! Online (7/0)
            ...a complete mess.

By Brian Mckay of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            it's hard to be completely bored during one of [Chan’s] fight scenes. But at the same time, much ...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Erik Childress of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
            It’s tractable to forego complaints when the laughs and action maintain a smile on our faces.

By Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
            An action-comedy sequel so indefatigably preposterous and farklemt -- as they say in certain Uppe...

By Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central (7/0)
            Knowing what it's not worse than is the worst sort of praise.

By Daniel Eagan of Film Journal International (7/0)
            Shanghai Knights has the pacing and action of Chan's classic Hong Kong films, but with the polish...

By David Levine of filmcritic.com (7/0)
            Lacks the necessary elements to give it the fun and adventurous nature of its predecessor.

By Steve Dexter of FilmStew.com (7/0)
            Shanghai Knights is the synthesis of the best of both Chan and Wilson’s most recent buddy-pic eff...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Rob Vaux of Flipside Movie Emporium (7/0)
            At times, it feels just as fresh and funny as the first film... which makes the periodic dead pat...

By Michael W. Phillips, Jr. of Goatdog's Movies (7/0)
            The problem is that they just aren't as funny as in the first film.

By Eric Lurio of Greenwich Village Gazette (7/0)
            Unless you’re a stickler for proper detail, you’ll probably manage to have a good time regardless...

By Ross Anthony of Hollywood Report Card (7/0)
            Jackie's truly inspired choreography constructs a simply magical umbrella bout that plays tongue ...

By David Hunter of Hollywood Reporter (7/0)
            ...historically chaotic but broadly entertaining...

By Bruce Westbrook of Houston Chronicle (7/0)
            Except for some doubles, Chan performs his fight scenes in this film live on camera while doing h...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Steve Rhodes of Internet Reviews (7/0)
            If [Chan's Singin' in the Rain routine] doesn't put a smile on your face and a song in your heart...

By JoBlo of JoBlo's Movie Emporium (7/0)
            Skip the first half hour, enjoy the rest and I dare you to remember any of it two days later.

By Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope (7/0)
            One exquisite sequence has Jackie both dancing and fighting to the tune of "Singin' in the Rain."...

By John Larsen of Light Views (4/3)
            It's always difficult catching lightning in a bottle, but that doesn't seem to be the case with "...

By Manohla Dargis of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            Lazy and resolutely witless.

By Manohla Dargis of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
            ...lazy and resolutely witless sequel...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies (7/0)
            I could complain that it’s more of the same, but if it’s not broke, I don’t expect them to fix it...

By Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (7/0)
            Director David Dobkin and screenwriters Alfred Gough and Michael Millar (and probably Jackie Chan...

By Marty Mapes of Movie Habit (7/0)
            Shanghai Knights is a mess. A few ground rules would have helped immensely.

By Kevin A. Ranson of MovieCrypt.com (7/0)
            This time around, Chan and Wilson find their characters in London and all over the turn-of-the-ce...

By Clint Morris of Moviehole (7/0)
            Chan and Wilson made and enjoyable team once again.

By Mark Ramsey of MovieJuice! (7/0)
            This is one of those movies where people turn their heads and you hear a "swoosh"! That sound ef...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Jan Stuart of Newsday (7/0)
            [Chan and Wilson] imbue Shanghai Knights with an aura of collegial high spirits, even when the wr...

By Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) (7/0)
            As agreeably silly as Hollywood gets.

By Frank Swietek of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
            Suffers from a nearly fatal case of sequelitis...stumbles more often than it flies.

By Jon Popick of Planet Sick-Boy (7/0)
            Just can't hold a candle to its predecessor.

By Linda Cook of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (7/0)
            A royally enjoyable romp.

By Andrew Manning of Radio Free Entertainment (7/0)
            A rehash of previously seen material that still manages to be entertaining.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews (7/0)
            ...as far as mindless entertainment goes, you really could do a lot worse.

By Tor Thorsen of Reel.com (7/0)
            Every bit as entertaining as the original.

By Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            Sets up its next episode for a Hollywood setting, but if it continues down this path we may be in...

By Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
            Shanghai Noon was fun and Shanghai Knights is more of the same -- just not as much fun.

By Betty Jo Tucker of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
            Hooray for Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson! In Shanghai Knights, they emerge again as one of filmdom'...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (7/0)
            Given a more credible narrative that cared a little about the characters, Shanghai Knights could ...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Peter Travers of Rolling Stone (7/0)
            Grating. That's the best word to describe this flat follow-up to Shanghai Noon.

By Jim Lane of Sacramento News & Review (7/0)
            The story just rambles along, picking up more or less where the original left off as if the filmm...

By Charles Taylor of Salon.com (7/0)
            There isn't a minute of Shanghai Knights that didn't have me grinning.

By Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
            ...a desperately unfunny action comedy...

By Jim Judy of Screen It! (7/0)
            Passable, but rather disappointing.

By William Arnold of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
            ...in most respects, it goes down more smoothly than the original.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine (7/0)
            A modicum of empowerment has been afforded to the film’s token femme fatale but Wilson’s jokes st...

By Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire (7/0)
            Hilariously tongue-in-cheek and packed with comical homages to everything from the Keystone Kops ...

By Nick Rogers of State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) (7/0)
            Instead of penning a funny action film, the screenwriters created a Mad-Lib filled with wink-wink...

By Tony Toscano of Talking Pictures (U.S.) (7/0)
            The acting is breezy and played for laughs...

By Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone of TheMovieChicks.com (7/0)
            I was hoping this would live up to the original but it doesn't.

By Frank Ochieng of TheWorldJournal.com (7/0)
            If you can overlook the ridiculously transparent plot that is about as breakable as a pair of cho...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
            Nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is.

By Urban Cinefile Critics of Urban Cinefile (7/0)
            The film’s strengths are still Jackie Chan’s fascinatingly inventive fight sequences: extensions ...

By Mike Clark of USA Today (7/0)
            The star interplay and anachronisms recapture some of the surreal spirit of the Crosby-Hope Road<...

By Jeffrey Chen of Window to the Movies (7/0)
            At one point, Roy just flat-out tells Chon that, though they may not be accomplishing anything, h...

By Susan Granger of www.susangranger.com (7/0)
            Dare I say even better than the original?

By Elvis Mitchell of New York Times (3/5) Login Required (Login Required)
            ...rousing, cheerful...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Phil Villarreal of Arizona Daily Star (3/4) No reference
            The duo still generates electricity; however, without compelling material to serve as a conductor...

By Eleanor Ringel Gillespie of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3/4) No reference
            Shanghai Knights isn't brilliant, but it's amiable and sometimes hilarious escapist stuff.

By Wade Major of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
            On the whole, Shanghai Knights trumps its predecessor in almost every way.

By Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times (3/4) No reference
            ... has a nice mix of calculation and relaxed goofiness...

By Mark Caro of Chicago Tribune (3/4) No reference
            Even the outtakes feel forced.

By Dan Fazio of Citysearch (3/4) No reference
            The movie aims to please kids, kung-fu nuts and Wilson's cult following, and it should do a reaso...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Mary F. Pols of Contra Costa Times (3/4) No reference
            Weak and witless.

By Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing (3/4) No reference
            If you're gonna insist on making a distressingly formulaic sequel to a distressingly formulaic co...

By Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News (3/4) No reference
            Although the movie doesn't contain wall-to-wall action, the martial-arts set pieces are on a par ...

By Jeff Vice of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (6/1) No reference
            Shanghai Knights just might be the most haphazard, nonsensical action-comedy in recent memory. Fo...

By Sean O'Connell of Eclipse Magazine (3/4) No reference
            Tries so hard to be footloose and fancy free, but the signs of strain are evident.

By Shirley Klass of Fantastica Daily (3/4) No reference
            The outtakes at the end brought tears to my eyes, they were so funny.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By David Grove of Film Threat (3/4) No reference
            A lazy and limp film, completely forgettable.

By Ron Wells of Film Threat (3/4) No reference
            Chan and Wilson have an easy chemistry together and director David Dobkin ... knows enough not to...

By MaryAnn Johanson of Flick Filosopher (3/4) No reference
            Is [it] silly? God yes, but charmingly so.

By Kit Bowen of Hollywood.com (3/4) No reference
            No matter how ridiculous and inconsistent Shanghai Knights gets, marveling at Chan's acrobatics a...

By Bruce Kirkland of Jam! Movies (3/4) No reference
            Clearly, this whole enterprise is extremely silly and some of the cheapo special effects are not ...

By Louis B. Hobson of Jam! Movies (3/4) No reference
             Shanghai Knights is a happy marriage of East and West that makes one long for Shanghai Morn, Sha...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Marshall Fine of Journal News (Westchester, NY) (3/4) No reference
            There's about as much suspense here as in an Abbott & Costello movie (which this film frequently ...

By James Sanford of Kalamazoo Gazette (6/1) No reference
            a delight from the first scene to the last, a sequel that handily beats its predecessor

By Chuck Wilson of L.A. Weekly (3/4) No reference
            A sequel that one-ups the original.

By Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Of course Shanghai Knights is fluff, but it’s entertaining fluff, and, like the westerns of yore,...

By Glenn Whipp of Los Angeles Daily News (3/4) No reference
            Essentially a two-hour Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoon, only without the same rigorous characte...

By Sue Pierman of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (6/1) No reference
            It's cute at first but begins to lose its luster as the movie goes on.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Nell Minow of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (6/1) No reference
            A cheerfully anachronistic buddy/action/comedy movie filled with classic pop standards, impossib...

By Michael Elliott of Movie Parables (6/1) No reference
            Jackie Chan has long been compared to the physcial comedians of the silent film era. We can see w...

By James Rocchi of Netflix (3/4) No reference
            This Jackie Chan/Owen Wilson sequel is a slack retread of Shanghai Noon -- but it's hard to get t...

By Lou Lumenick of New York Post (3/4) No reference
            Surprisingly delightful sequel.

By Kim Morgan of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
            This is a movie where you can just sit back and revel in it, warts and all.

By Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            Shanghai Knights never comes close to the wacky surprise of Shanghai Noon.

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Gary Thompson of Philadelphia Daily News (3/4) No reference
            The feeling that drives Shanghai Knights is a general love of movie fun.

By Carrie Rickey of Philadelphia Inquirer (3/4) No reference
            Chan and Wilson are like a Nerf ball and a screwball improvising a game suited to their oddball p...

By Forrest Hartman of Reno Gazette-Journal (6/1) No reference
            If you’re looking for uninspired, redundant comedy, cable TV offers plenty of inexpensive alterna...

By Jack Garner of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (6/1) No reference
            It's about stunts and gags -- and Shanghai Knights offers the most entertaining collection of any...

By Joe Baltake of Sacramento Bee (6/1) No reference
            It's a mess, but an engaging one.

By David Elliott of San Diego Union-Tribune (3/4) No reference
            This one seemed longer than before, which might not be the best compliment to the movie, but it g...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Nicolas Lacroix of Showbizz.net (3/4) No reference
            Moins réussi que l'original mais tout de même amusant .

By Todd Anthony of South Florida Sun-Sentinel (3/4) No reference
            On the heels of the threadbare Tuxedo, Shanghai Knights confirms there may be a chink in Jackie C...

By Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) No reference
            Shanghai Knights doesn't have the verve Shanghai Noon did. It's long on attitude and short on plo...

By Josh Larsen of Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (3/4) No reference
            Both Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan have done better work. It's called `Shanghai Noon.'

By Audrey Rock-Richardson of Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah) (3/4) No reference
            Director Dobkin may not have created a work of artistic merit; but he clearly had fun making it.

By Cory Cheney of Urban Tulsa Weekly (3/4) No reference
            Skip this one if for no other reason than to tell all those bigwigs in Hollywood that you won’t s...

                         Reviews of Shanghai Knights
By Desson Thomson of Washington Post (3/4) No reference
            Wilson has his surfer-dude moments of humor, but he's doing his best with creatively dead materia...

By Lawrence Toppman of Charlotte Observer (6/1) Not Reachable
            Resembles one of those giddy road pictures of the '40s that starred Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, whe...

By Christine Dolen of Miami Herald (6/1) Not Reachable
            The chemistry that made Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson sizzle so well in 2000's Shanghai Noon is eve...

By James Berardinelli of ReelViews (3/4) Not Reachable
            To date, this arguably represents the best recent English language film Chan has done – which i...

Movie Distributors
Spyglass Entertainment Group

Production Companies
Spyglass Entertainment Group
Birnbaum/Barber Productions
Jackie Chan Films Limited

Movie Studios
Touchstone Pictures