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The Forbidden Kingdom Movie Review
By: Robert Bell
The idea of Jackie Chan and Jet Li sharing the screen for the first time will excite many viewers. Known for the impressive roster of stunt work, audiences will surely expect a bevy of physics-defying choreographed fighting. With Forbidden Kingdom they won’t be disappointed. What may be somewhat of a let down to fans of this genre is the fact that this journey is less about the meeting of these screen legends, and more about the maturation of an American kid obsessed with kung-fu movies.
Forbidden Kingdom is a slightly crappier version of The Neverending Story, with bootleg kung-fu movies substituting for old books. Where Neverending featured genuine emotion, heartache and personal growth, Forbidden settles for scatological humour, repetitive action and oversimplifications. It is the kind of film that shows shirtless men squatting under waterfalls while a demure Asian woman plays the lute in the foreground. Whether one finds this image amusing or not may indicate the likelihood of their enjoying this movie.
Jason (Michael Angarano) is a socially inept Boston teen obsessed with kung-fu movies. He buys bootleg versions in a Chinatown pawn shop owned by a man referred to as Old Hop (Jackie Chan). When local hoodlums decide to bully Jason into gaining them entry to the pawn shop after hours, a robbery goes wrong, leaving Old Hop shot in the chest, and Jason falling off of a building holding an enchanted staff.
Mid-fall Jason is whisked away to a Chinese farming village, which is being ransacked by soldiers in servitude of the Jade warlord (Collin Chou). Captured and saved by a drunken Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), Jason learns of the staff’s mystical powers, involving the Monkey King (Jet Li), and empire betrayal.
Identified as “the seeker” and thus destined to return the staff to the stone Monkey King, Jason treks across the desert accompanied by Lu Yan, as well as a vengeful orphan called Golden Sparrow (Liu YiFei), and Silent Monk (Jet Li), while being pursued by a villainess white-haired witch (Li Bing Bing) with ties to the warlord.
Kingdom is gorgeously filmed by Director of Photography Peter Pau. Impressive landscapes, framed impeccably are really the high point of this film, in addition to the well choreographed action. Art direction and production design throughout is also standout, as the sheer aesthetic of the film makes it worthy of a big screen view.
Unfortunately, the surface of things is all this film has to offer. The story itself isn’t particularly original or interesting, focusing a great deal of energy on magical tchotchkes, training montage clichés, and forced mysticism. This is in addition to some groan-inducing dialogue that reaches a high point only when Jet Li suggests that a crouching tiger stance makes one look as though they’re defecating.
On the other hand, direction by Rob Minkoff is decent. His main purpose is to capture the action effectively, and he does so with gusto. The scenes are appropriately taut and quick paced, without becoming unnecessarily frenetic. This leaves the audience able to enjoy these sequences without artistic distraction.
Overall, Forbidden Kingdom should please the 14-year-old boys that it is geared towards. The corny humour, decent pacing and solid action keep the film relatively engaging. It just isn’t anything particularly special or new. This is bland escapist entertainment at its most adequate. However, a scene of Jet Li urinating on Jackie Chan’s face should please filmgoers looking for something new. That’s not something one sees every day.
source: moviesonline.ca
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