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Shanghai Noon isn't the first kung-fu western to come along--the sub-subgenre is at least as old as Red Sun or the old Kung Fu television series--but it is probably the best one that will ever be made. It more or less shuts the book on them. Not that it's a masterpiece, mind you. I don't think that word can possibly be used in conjunction with ANY Jackie Chan movie. But it IS entertaining. It is certainly a step up from Chan's last several outings (Mr. Nice Guy, Rush Hour, et al).

Chan stars as Chon Wang (which sounds suspiciously like "John Wayne" when pronounced aloud), an imperial guardsman from The Forbidden City tasked with finding the Princess, who has been kidnapped (with some complicity on her part) to Carson City, Nevada. In the course of searching for her, he falls in with inept outlaw Roy O' Bannon (Owen Wilson), and they manouever through just about every single Western cliche imaginable. But, really, the plot is inconsequential. No one goes to Jackie Chan movies for the plots. They go to see kung-fu and insane stunts.

Well, they get kung-fu. There is an astonishing sequence where Chon is fighting Indians, using evergreen trees in a way no other movie has ever dreamed of using them. Later, there is a saloon brawl that is equally deranged, using a rack of antlers from the wall in very creative ways. The stunts, though, are not up to Chan's usual insane standards. Oh, there is a really cool stunt using a logging car on a train, and the climax has some pretty daring stuff, but nothing completely over the top. One suspects that Chan is being reigned in by the insurance companies who back the film for Touchstone Pictures. Which is too bad, really.

Taking up the slack is the buddy comedy, which Chan first attempted in Rush Hour. Pairing Chan with a motormouthed sidekick serves the double purpose of filling this void and covering for Chan's limited command of English. Owen Wilson's outlaw is a particularly strange character. He seems like a surfer who is playing cowboy. That's not a derogatory comment, though. It actually works in the context of the movie. But the best parts of the movie are the scenes with the Indians, in which the language barrier becomes a part of the fun.

The most interesting thing about this movie, though, is how good it looks. It is impeccably filmed, even though the filmmaking doesn't intrude on the action. It is all filmed in natural light and it doesn't muddy things up with tricky film editing or CGI effects, which results in a film that is immediate and attractive. And, believe me: after suffering through season after season of action films directed by MTV directors, this approach is a welcome and unlooked-for treat.