The Forbidden Kingdom

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Kung fu fans may feel a bit cynical faced with this Hollywood lite approximation of their favourite genre, a movie aimed square at the American teen market. But it’s not as though Hong Kong filmmakers never borrowed from their American peers. And speaking for myself, I’d rather have recycled Hollywood kung fu than no kung fu at all.

At any rate, it’s obvious that screenwriter John Fusco and director Rob Minkoff share an affection for what Variety used to call “chop socky” – you can tell by the number of ideas they’ve “borrowed” from the likes of Zu Warriors, Monkey and The Bride With White Hair.

Fusco (who wrote Young Guns way back when, and is currently working on a remake of The Seven Samurai) has concocted a horribly corny contemporary bookend sequence in which teenager Jason (Michael Angarano) is bullied into leading a bunch of hooligans into a Chinese antique store, where they attack the owner Old Hop (Jackie Chan, unmistakable even under layers of make up).

Old Hop survives long enough to present Jason with a legendary stick weapon that must be returned to the Monkey King (a sprightly Jet Li). It’s a challenging mission, but Jason at least gets free transportation to ancient China, which is a start.

Aided by a drunken martial artist (Jackie Chan again), a shaolin monk (Jet Li again) and a peasant girl out to avenge her family (Yifei Liu), Jason heads for the mountain fortress of the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) who tricked the Monkey King and turned him into a piece of statuary.

The Forbidden Kingdom is the first time Chan and Li have been paired together in a movie – a meeting as momentous in its way as De Niro and Pacino in Heat. The two superstars evidently don’t take themselves as seriously as all that, the mood is playful not portentous, and they spend a lot more time onscreen together than their US counterparts did. And yes, they do have a big bust up on screen (choreographed by Matrix master Yuen Woo Ping) but the outcome is not definitive and anyway it’s hardly a fair fight. Jackie is 54, Jet Li is 43, and still close to his prime.

To add insult to injury, Li’s silent monk proceeds to pee all over Chan’s drunken warrior – I guess there’s nothing Jackie won’t do for a laugh.

Probably fair to say nobody was trying too hard here. Young Jason is supposed to be a fan of martial arts movies, but he doesn’t appear to notice any of the dramatic clichés he encounters, not even when a sexy white-haired witch (Bingbing Li) threatens to steal the show. Needless to say he learns enough kung fu in a week to prove his hero stripes by the end.

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com

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Critics' Reviews

Rating of 3
stars out of 5 Tom Huddleston, Time Out

The 80s action fantasy may be long dead, but nobody told the folks behind The Forbidden Kingdom. Slavishly... read more on www.timeout.com

Members' Reviews

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* * * This review contains spoilers * * *

superb....................................

williamsgwynfa [Highly rated reviewer] , 21/05/2008

this film is superb. Jason Tripitikas (played by Michael Angarano), makes his way to a pawn shop in Boston's China town to buy some new Kung fu DVD's.

Whilst he is there, he talks to Hop (played by Jackie Chan), the shop's elderly owner, and, whilst Jason is looking through some DVD's, he is drawn to a room full of antiques and notices a golden staff.

Hop tells him that the staff is to be delivered to its rightful owner and then closes the door.

On his way back home, Jason is attacked by a local bully called Lupo (played by Morgan Benoit) and his gang who force him to take them to the store so they can steal some money from the old shopkeeper.

Feeling betrayed, Hop tries to attack the thieves with the staff, but is shot by Lupo. This shocks both Jason and Lupo's gang.

Hop tells Jason that he must deliver the staff to its rightful owner. Jason takes the staff and runs from the thieves.

On top of a building, he is surrounded by the bullies, with Lupo warning Jason that he 'saw nothing' (out of fear Jason may turn them in to the police).

Before Lupo can shoot Jason, he is suddenly pulled off the roof by the staff and travels back through time, to ancient China, dressed in old-century clothing.

There he is attacked by Jade Warriors who try to take the staff away from him. He is helped by the Drunken Immortal, Lu Yan (also played by Jackie Chan).

Later that night, seated in a restaurant, Lu tells Jason a story of how the Monkey King caused havoc at the banquet, celebrating the Jade Emperor's forthcoming 500 year period of meditation and drank of the elixir of immortality.

The Emperor took a liking to the Monkey King, and decided to award him a heavenly title, much to the annoyance of the Jade Warlord (played by Collin Chou), a heavenly general.

The Emperor then left the Jade Warlord in charge of heaven before retreating to his period of seclusion.

The Jade Warlord later challenged the Monkey King to a duel, and turned him into stone, by tricking the Monkey King to set aside his magic staff.

But before he was fully immobilized, the Monkey King cast his staff into the ordinary world.

Lu ends the tale by stating a person known as the 'Seeker' will be the person to find the staff and free the Monkey King.

Lu and Jason then get into a fight with the Jade Warriors who track them to the restaurant and are saved by a mysterious woman, who turns out to be the Orphaned Warrior, Golden Sparrow (played by Liu Yi Fei).

Golden Sparrow's family was killed by the Jade Warlord, and she has vowed vengeance against him.

The Jade Warlord is notified by his men that they have seen the magical staff.

The Jade Warlord then sends his bounty hunter, the white-haired assassin Ni-Chang (played by Li Bingbing), to retrieve it for him.

When Jason wakes up in the morning he is attacked by a person dressed in white clothes, who takes the staff away from him.

Jason, Lu, and Golden Sparrow follow the trail of the mysterious man. They reach a temple where the man is meditating.

There, Lu confronts the Silent Monk (played by Jet Li), who was the mysterious man. There they both fight for the staff. The Silent Monk later learns that the staff is meant for the traveller.

The four head towards the Five Elements Mountain in a quest to free the Monkey King and destroy the rule of the Jade Warlord.

Will they succeed. Watch the film to find out.

72 out of 73 people found this review helpful

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Like the crazy love child of Monkey and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' (IN A GOOD WAY), you'll love this...!!

Kitten Kitten from UK [Highly rated reviewer] , 09/07/2008

I have to confess, there is little that compares to a good martial arts movie for pure escapism, and the Forbidden Kingdom is just that. It's not blessed with the most robust of storylines (it is a fantasy after all) but the plot does make sense, the characters have charm, there is lots of humour and the fight scenes are well choreographed and very athletic; of course Jackie Chan and Jet Li are as watchable as ever. I guess my best description would be that this is like the crazy love child of the TV series 'Monkey' and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', so crack open the poporn, pull up a chair and enjoy this for pure entertainment.

The Forbidden Kingdom

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