Royal rumble
Forbidden Kingdom is a medieval fantasy set mostly in ancient China, but it will be remembered as the first movie to pair up Jackie Chan with Jet Li. It began with the imprisonment of the mischievous Monkey King (Jet Li) after being tricked by the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou). Before the warlord could obtain the King’s magical staff, the simian royalty flung his staff out the window, which flew and disappeared into the horizon. Fast forward to modern-day Boston, U.S.A., the staff found its way into the hands of geeky teen Jason Tripitakas (Michael Angarano), also a martial arts film enthusiast. The staff transported its wielder back to olden China, for he is the Prophesised One who will return the staff to the Monkey King and free him. Along the way, he received tutelage from drunken kungfu master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) and help from the mysterious Silent Monk (Jet Li) and the brooding Golden Sparrow (Liu Yifei).
For a movie that has Chan, Li, Chou and acclaimed fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping collaborating together, the action was surprisingly lacklustre, and this was not because of a lack of violence due to the PG rating. On the bright side, the amount of bone-crunching action was rather substantial, and the filmmakers weren’t shy in depicting some up-close-and-personal bloodletting. However, the fight maneuvers themselves were just too rote, and even paled in comparison to what these stars delivered in their most recent movies. Kungfu fans will be sorely disappointed by what’s on display here.
On the other hand, Forbidden Kingdom still manages to entertain with its lighthearted humour. The movie is also a loving homage to and almost a parody of Asian martial arts cinema, right down to the heavy use of eyeshadows on some male characters. Chan sort of reprised his iconic role from his Drunken Master movies, and is still in his usual comedic self, delivering most of the funniest lines in the movie. More refreshing though was watching Li dump his serious persona to play the impish Monkey King and the Silent Monk, who turned out to be neither mute nor very monk-like.
Minor casts include Michael Angarano, who plays the obligatory anchor for the Western crowd who are uncomfortable with an Asian-heavy cast. I applaud the filmmakers for not making his role too condescending, where, thankfully, he does not single-handedly beat up the Jade Warlord and his minions to save the Chinese people. He did some nifty training moves, but was not considerably involved in the fisticuffs. The most ineffective character is Li Bingbing’s Ni Chang (a rip-off of The Bride with White Hair). Li sorely lacked the maturity and screen presence to play such a formidable villain. An older, more familiar star like Michelle Yeoh or Maggie Cheung would have done the role more justice. Liu Yifei is great eye candy, but played a throwaway role.
Forbidden Kingdom has its heart in the right place, but missed the opportunity to deliver kickass kungfu action in light of all the talents that were involved. - BMF
Directed by Rob Minkoff (The Haunted Mansion, Stuart Little 2) and written by John Fusco (Hidalgo, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron). Stars Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Collin Chou, Liu Yifei, Li Bingbing and Morgan Benoit. |
