Shanghai Noon

In 1881, Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) is a Chinese imperial guard. After Princess Pei-Pei (Lucy Liu), for whom Wang has affection. Pei-Pei is summoned to the Forbidden city by the Emperor to complete her engagement to a fat Prince of a neighboring Kingdom. Pei-Pei has an English tutor. Pei-Pei shares her dilemma with the tutor who promises to get her to America. Pei-Pei believes that she is going by her own free will, but the tutor secretly leaves behind a ransom note. The note says that the Emperor has to deliver 100,000 pieces of gold in 2 months to the Mission in Carson City, Nevada. Pei-Pei is abducted and taken to the United States, the Emperor of China sends three of his guards and the Royal Interpreter to retrieve her. Wang is not among one of the three, but after he tells them that it was his fault the princess was kidnapped. The Royal Interpreter, Wang's uncle, allows him to accompany the party, and the Captain of the Imperial Guards hopes the "foreign devils" will get rid of Wang. The party arrives in Nevada. In Nevada, Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) is an outlaw who, with his gang, hijacks the train Wang is on. Roy is very good with Math and is able to calculate trajectories and attack plans by imagining them on paper. Roy and his gang start stealing from the passengers, although Roy is gentle and says that he does not steal from ladies. Roy considers himself to be a ladies' man. Wang's uncle comes into the compartment with a tea pot and does not understand English. He was about to retreat when Wallace shoots him. Wallace (Walton Goggins), a member of Roy's gang, kills Wang's uncle. Wang later comes into the compartment and finds his uncle dead. Wang, a skilled martial artist, fights off the gang. The gang was busy stealing from the train safe, but instead of blowing the safe open, the explosion blasts the safe out of the train and into the river below. However, the gang is well-armed, and Wang's only choice is to unhinge the cars and get away on the engine. In the process, Wallace takes over the gang from Roy, and they leave him buried up to his chin in the desert sand. Meanwhile, Pei-Pei, who was tricked into believing she was freely escaping her arranged marriage in China, finds out she has been kidnapped by an agent (The tutor) of Lo Fong (Roger Yuan), who ran away from the Forbidden City and was viewed as a traitor by the Chinese. Fong later kills his agent after he demands an increased pay from him and wants to double the money. Pei-Pei is kept captive near a large open mine, which is run by Chinese immigrant slave labor. Meanwhile Roy is being pecked at by vultures in the scorching sun. When Wang finds Roy buried in the sand, he demands to know the direction to Carson City. Roy tells him that the city is on the other side of a mountain. Wang puts two chop sticks in Roy's mouth for him to dig himself out. When Wang comes out the other side of the mountain, he gets involved with a Sioux tribe by saving a boy chased by the Crow tribe and ends up reluctantly marrying the tribe chief's daughter, Falling Leaves (Brandon Merrill). Wang finds Roy in a tavern and, in anger, starts a fight with him that turns into a barroom brawl. The two of them get sent to prison and share each other's stories. Tempted by mention of the gold ransom, Roy offers to help Wang find the princess. Falling Leaves helps them escape, and they become friends. Roy trains Wang in the ways of the cowboy. When they get to Carson City, Roy discovers that both he and Wang, now identified as the "Shanghai Kid" are wanted by Lo Fong's ally Marshal Nathan Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley), and the two of them narrowly escape. They go to a bordello (which Roy describes as his "hideout"), but after a drunken encounter by Wang, the Marshal eventually catches and arrests them. They find out that Lo Fong is behind the kidnapping of the princess. As they are about to be hanged, Wang manages to break himself free and after Falling Leaves shoots Roy loose, they escape the execution site. Wang, upset over Roy previously telling one of the prostitutes at the bordello he was not Wang's friend, rides off alone to find the Princess. He finds Pei-Pei in Lo Fong's labor camp, but she wishes to stay and help the enslaved Chinese laborers. Lo Fong discovers Wang and attacks him, but Roy appears, saving Wang. The next day, the two partners go to the ransom point, the Carson City Mission church. The three imperial guards arrive with the gold, and Lo Fong has the princess in hand. However, a simple exchange becomes complicated when Wang shows up and Roy points a gun towards Fong. Wang tells his fellow guards that he will not allow them to bring the princess back to China. As the guards and Lo Fong fight, Van Cleef arrives and engages Roy in a gunfight. Roy survives unscathed, and shoots Van Cleef through his sheriff's star, killing him. Wang fights the Imperial Guards while Lo Fong chases Pei-Pei through the rafters of the church. After Wang knocks all three Guards unconscious, he fights Lo Fong to the bell tower. Wang ultimately kills Lo Fong by dismantling the bell causing it to hang Lo Fong. When they awaken, the Imperial Guards decide that they will let the princess stay. Wallace and his gang also come up to the church, and demand that Roy and Wang come out and fight. But when the two of them get outside the church to face Wallace, Natives from all around surround the gang. At a Chinese cultural celebration Roy thanks Falling Leaves for saving him and they engage in a passionate kiss. At the same time, Pei-Pei holds a smiling Wang's hand. Roy and Wang are shown as sheriffs and ride off to catch a new band of train robbers.