Our top 10 Jackie Chan movies

Shanghai Noon (2000)

Chan found an even better match when he co-starred with Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon, best described as a "buddy Western" action/adventure. Chan plays Chon Wang (as in John Wayne), a Chinese Imperial guard who comes to the American West to rescue the kidnapped Chinese princess Pei-Pei (Lucy Liu). He ends up bonding with a bumbling, rakishly charming outlaw named Roy O'Bannon (Wilson), who agrees to help find the princess with the ulterior motive of stealing some of the gold being offered as ransom. Since they are also accidental fugitives, they must elude a posse led by the sadistic Marshall Nathan Van Cleef (Xander Berkeley).

Both Chan and Wilson's comedic talents are on brilliant display here, with plenty of creative fight choreography and set stunt pieces to keep hardcore fans happy. The script is clever, the supporting cast is excellent, and the pacing never lags. If you're keen to make it a double feature, the 2003 sequel, Shanghai Knights, brings Chon Wang and Roy to jolly old England to recover a stolen Imperial Seal and foil a plot against the British throne. Granted, it's not as good as its predecessor, but the Chan/Wilson chemistry still makes it work.

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

The Forbidden Kingdom is a fantasy film in the wuxia genre that features not just Chan, but his fellow martial arts film legend, Jet Li, for their first on-screen pairing. A young man in Boston, Jason (Michael Angarano), who loves wuxia movies, finds a mysterious golden staff in a local Chinatown pawn shop that transports him to a village in ancient China. He is attacked by soldiers keen to get the staff but is saved by an inebriated traveling scholar named Lu Yan (Chan), a reference to one of the Eight Immortals mentioned in the Drunken Master films.

The magical staff turns out to be the key to releasing the mythical Monkey King, imprisoned by his rival the Jade Warlord. Jason's presence could fulfill an ancient prophecy of a Seeker who will use the staff to free the Monkey King. Li plays the Silent Monk, who teams up with Jason, Lu Yan, and a young woman known as the Golden Sparrow (Liu Yifei) to fulfill the prophecy. The Forbidden Kingdom is a visual feast, featuring stunning fight choreography and production design in the wuxia tradition, as well as an impressive, highly stylized fight scene between Li (tai chi) and Chan (drunken boxing).