The Forbidden Kingdom

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