Shanghai Knights

Yet another case of the sequel no one really asked for, Shanghai Knights reunites the good-hearted and swift-footed Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) with his cocky American sidekick Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson). When the news of his father's murder and the theft of the Imperial Seal reaches Wang, he sets out to reclaim the precious jewel his family has possessed for generations, as well as avenging his father's death. The seal happened to be stolen by an egg gone bad from the British royal family, allowing our two heroes to recreate another "fish out of water" scenario and travel to the United Kingdom. Amongst all the stellar fight sequences choreographed by Jackie Chan and the charming and often humorous quips from Owen Wilson, we're also thrown several tiresome British jokes about bad teeth, lousy food and constant rain. The script calls for various scenarios in which Chan can display his impressive stunt work while Wilson drops great one-liners that make you wish Jackie would lose Chris Tucker and focus on this far less annoying buddy-flick chemistry. The DVD has some entertaining deleted scenes, including a good confrontation between Roy and a wax mannequin of Jesse James that leads to possibly the funniest line of the film. There's also a featurette on Jackie Chan's fight sequences and how he works with director David Dobkin to share their vision together, in which Dobkin basically allows Chan to direct his own fights. Though a little light on the extras, sometimes it's refreshing to not be overwhelmed with pointless bonus features, especially for a film like Shanghai Knights, which, though enjoyable, is not exactly worthy of great delving. Extras: "Fight Manual" documentary; deleted scenes and extended fight sequences; commentary by David Dobkin and writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. (Buena Vista/Spyglass/Touchstone)