Chan tames Wild West

Shanghai Noon There were plenty of heroes in America's Wild West and plenty of villains, too. But there was nothing quite like Jackie Chan.

In his latest vehicle, Shanghai Noon, Chan takes on the Western genre and does what he does best; he turns it on its ear.

As Chon Wang - a proud but put-upon Imperial Guard searching for a kidnapped princess - Chan fights his way past all the cliched characters audiences have come to expect. Cowboys, Indians and guns for hire are all left in his wake.

No, there's nothing really new to be found in Chan's role as a man out of his depth, but there is a freshness and zeal to the story that keep it all rolling along nicely.

It's more Blazing Saddles than High Noon, and that's meant as a compliment.

We first encounter Wang inside the Forbidden City. He watches as the princess (Ally McBeal's Lucy Lui) is led away thinking she is escaping an arranged marriage. We soon discover she has been kidnapped and Wang, feeling somehow responsible, pleads his way on to the rescue team. Exit Exotic East; enter Wild West.

While travelling to pay the ransom, Wang and his crew run into a bunch of bandits, led by Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) and from there the laughs, and the tumbles, come thick and fast.