This is one of those films that Jackie Chan made when he made the transition from Hong Kong cinema to American Cinema, and in a way it does sort of feel like one of his traditional films, though it has a much more American flavour to it. The reason being is that he has done a number of period pieces back when he was in Hong Kong, and Project A does come to mind (though I'm not sure if he did any where he was an Imperial guard for the emperor). However, the major difference, other than having a lot of Americanisms, is that it does tend to be pretty polished, something that you generally don't get from Hong Kong cinema (which isn't actually a bad thing).
So, the film is basically a Western, though unlike a lot of Westerns where the Asian character is just a sidekick and there is no real backstory to him, this film flips it around. Mind you, we do have Owen Wilson taking this concept of him being the hero, but one of the things we notice in this film is that Chon Wang (Chan's character, and the name is supposed to be a play on John Wayne) is actually more of a hero than Roy O'Bannon happens to be, though of course Wang is humble enough to just let O'Bannon be who he claims to be.
Mind you, while they try to be a little bit more authentic when it comes to Wang's character, they simply use the staples of the Native Americans. Like, this whole idea that the peace pipe is filled with some intoxicant that they smoke around the campfire for fun is, well, completely wrong - it's just tobacco, and they only used it on special occasions. Yeah, while they try not to create stereotypes around the Asian characters, they end up doing it with the Indians.
Of course the film also plays on the fact that America is land of the free, and draws some huge distinctions with the authoritarian nature of Imperial China (something that I suspect they won't be doing these days, since China has become such a huge market for American films, and many of them self-censor so as to hopefully get one of the converted spots).
The story is fun though. It's about a Chinese princess who is kidnapped and taken to the United States, though of course there isn't much of an indication as to why, except to get money off of the Emperor. The story is mostly about Wang's quest across the American West to find her, and of course the prejudices and adventures that he happens to have along the way. Of course it wouldn't be a Jackie Chan movie if there wasn't any action scenes, and stunts, and yeah, there are plenty of them. Still, there is just some charm about his Hong Kong films that just isn't replicated here.
So, the film is basically a Western, though unlike a lot of Westerns where the Asian character is just a sidekick and there is no real backstory to him, this film flips it around. Mind you, we do have Owen Wilson taking this concept of him being the hero, but one of the things we notice in this film is that Chon Wang (Chan's character, and the name is supposed to be a play on John Wayne) is actually more of a hero than Roy O'Bannon happens to be, though of course Wang is humble enough to just let O'Bannon be who he claims to be.
Mind you, while they try to be a little bit more authentic when it comes to Wang's character, they simply use the staples of the Native Americans. Like, this whole idea that the peace pipe is filled with some intoxicant that they smoke around the campfire for fun is, well, completely wrong - it's just tobacco, and they only used it on special occasions. Yeah, while they try not to create stereotypes around the Asian characters, they end up doing it with the Indians.
Of course the film also plays on the fact that America is land of the free, and draws some huge distinctions with the authoritarian nature of Imperial China (something that I suspect they won't be doing these days, since China has become such a huge market for American films, and many of them self-censor so as to hopefully get one of the converted spots).
The story is fun though. It's about a Chinese princess who is kidnapped and taken to the United States, though of course there isn't much of an indication as to why, except to get money off of the Emperor. The story is mostly about Wang's quest across the American West to find her, and of course the prejudices and adventures that he happens to have along the way. Of course it wouldn't be a Jackie Chan movie if there wasn't any action scenes, and stunts, and yeah, there are plenty of them. Still, there is just some charm about his Hong Kong films that just isn't replicated here.