Shanghai Knights

Variety Joe Leydon

A hugely entertaining and more lavishly mounted follow-up to 2000's "Shanghai Noon," the high-concept East-meets-Western that first teamed top-billed duo, pic rides even taller in the saddle as a fleet and funny crowd-pleaser.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

With Shanghai Knights, he (Chan) has come through with one of his best. This time, it's personable.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Turns out to be that rarest of Hollywood creatures: a sequel that one-ups the original…These two smart, happy movie stars prove that silliness doesn’t have to be moronic.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Far from great but greatly entertaining.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

What Chan represents -- the humor and charm and the sheer physical beauty of seeing him in action -- as well as the lazy, ping-pong repartee he achieves with Wilson, is the essence of the casual, deceptively artless art of movies.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Coasts heavily on Chan and Wilson's charm, which would be a big problem if those prodigiously gifted stars weren't taking on roles that fit like two pairs of comfortable slippers.

Miami Herald Christine Dolen

A hoot.

USA Today Mike Clark

The star interplay and anachronisms recapture some of the surreal spirit of the Crosby-Hope Road movies, and the end-credit outtakes are funny enough to sustain that getting-hoary device for at least one more picture.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Actually a pretty entertaining movie, in a kick-you-in-the-pants kind of way. A relative rarity -- a solid no-brow comedy.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

That his dialogue is often deliberately anachronistic is part of the joke -- and Wilson's sly delivery is often funnier than the lines themselves.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This is an action-comedy sequel so indefatigably preposterous and farklemt -- as they say in certain Upper West Side saloons -- that it actually improves on the original.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

There are three action sequences here so delightful, so hilariously deploying an old tool for a new use, that they prompt smiles long after I saw the film.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The unlikely cowboys play off each other's strengths like the best doubles team in tennis. The exquisiteness of this match is that Chan and Wilson are both reactive comedy actors.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Bounds from one gag to another like an eager puppy.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Despite his advancing years, Chan delivers some fleet slapstick; like his hero Buster Keaton he works intuitively with levers, pulleys, ladders, and umbrellas.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

This is a movie where you can just sit back and revel in it, warts and all.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

For what it's worth, the film also goes out of its way to be a lavish visual re-creation of the 1880s.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Uproarious imbecility.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

It's a gimcrack assemblage of gags, action scenes, favorite moments from the first hit and diorama-like views of high and low Victorian culture.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Pretty mediocre entertainment, and probably better suited for home viewing than a trip to the multiplex.

Film Threat Ron Wells

Only promised a few good fights, a lot of chuckles, and an easy way to kill a couple of hours. In today's Hollywood that's hard enough to deliver.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Loving Jackie Chan has always been easy, which is why it would be nice if he could find better material in which to bask in his long-sought American stardom or, alternately, ease into bad movies as effortlessly as his co-star.

Village Voice Ed Park

The adventure-book pace and topsy-turvy English setting evoke the feel of Stephen Sommers's "Mummy" films.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A machine for killing time, and it does so fairly painlessly.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

So appallingly slipshod in all the usual departments is this sequel to the engaging martial-arts comedy Western ''Shanghai Noon'' that you're tempted to cite its makers for contempt.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Chan and Wilson's easy camaraderie remains eminently watchable, but the rough edges from last time out are missed.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

If you’re the type of moviegoer who finds the idea of 19th-century characters using phrases such as "Be cool" and "You must work out" in their conversations, this is the film for you.

Film Threat David Grove

I would also like to state for a fact that fight scenes in absence of all other drama aren’t interesting to watch.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Why would the writers bother with narrative when the story is just something that kills time, and brain cells, between feats and fists of fury?

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Most of the film's humor derives from smug anachronisms (the Brit-pop soundtrack, Wang and Roy's use of modern slang) and jokes about bad English food, teeth and weather that were old when Victoria was a girl.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's too bad Chan's imagination and delicacy were wasted in this movie.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Grating.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Desperately unfunny action comedy.