Thanks for checking out our The Forbidden Kingdom review. If you’d like, you can also watch the video version of our Forbidden Kingdom review at the bottom of this post.
I’m not going to hide from it… I thought this movie was going to SUCK! To say that people have been waiting for a Jackie Chan, Jet Li movie for years is a bit of an understatement. The undisputed kings of the martial arts genre of our generation should have done a film together 10 years ago. Yes, The Forbidden Kingdom was a long time coming, but the question is, “IS IT TOO LATE FOR A JACKIE CHAN/JET LI MOVIE?” Are the two too far past their primes to actually make an entertaining kung-fu film together. I’m quite happy to say that the answer to that question is HELL BLOODY NO!!!! These two guys still rule, and watching them on screen together for me was well worth the wait!
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for The Forbidden Kingdom looks something like this: “An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself traveling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King.” Easy enough?
THE GOOD
I find quite often one of the weaknesses of films like this are weak mythologies. The mythology sets the background in these films… they set the stage for our story to play out in. When the mythology is weak, the film has a hard time playing out well. The mythology behind The Forbidden Kingdom is a FANTASTIC one! The background story and legend of the Monkey King, the magical staff, the traveler, the Drunken Immortal… it was wonderful! The background mythology of the film was actually better that the story of the film itself. I found myself listening to the parts of the film talking about the mythology like a 12 year old boy around a campfire with wide eyes filled with wonder. I really enjoyed that aspect of the film!
Sweet Jebediah shit cakes… the fight scenes were awesome! I was afraid with all the talk I heard that Jackie Chan (who is now 54 years old) and Jet Li (who is now 45) would be getting to the point where they were just sad shadows of their former glory. Well anyone who claims this can kiss my ass. Sure the old man isn’t doing the same death defying stunts he once did (the man has NOTHING left to prove), but in the context of pure fight choreography, watching Chan and Li fighting it out on screen was magic to me! Would they have been even better 10 years ago? No doubt… but a 54 year old Chan and 45 year old Li are still amazing enough to lose yourself when watching them do their thing! I bend a knee to these two ageless wonders.
NO SHAKY CAMERA! Dear action film directors of the world… please get your heads out of your asses and behold how a REAL action director films fight scenes. They film them so that the bloody audience and see what the hell is going on. If you need to shake your camera around like an epileptic horse in order to make your scene feel “intense”, they you don’t know what you’re doing… either quit or go hire someone who does.
They avoid going much into a pointless side love story. Yes there’s a hot girl… yes the lead boy likes her… but with the exception of a couple of short scenes, they don’t waste time on it. They let you know it’s there… and then move on to more stuff that we actually want to see. IE. Chan and Li kicking ass.
THE BAD
Who the hell thought it was a good idea to make an American kid the main character of a Jet Li and Jackie Chan film?!?!?! Don’t get me wrong, the kid did just fine, but in principle I still don’t like that he was there. People (like me) want to see Chan and Li… not Chan and Li playing second fiddle to an American kid. Like I said, it still played out pretty well, but it could have been much better.
The first 10 minutes of the movie are DREADFUL! At least 4 times I said to myself “I knew this was going to suck”. The American kid in his American world… with the most painful stereotypical street “bad boys” bullying him around. So one dimensional I thought they were going to stop to piss on single mothers working three jobs to support their kids… just for fun. Ug.
Some of the dialog (as in any Chan or Li North American movie) was kind of sour.
OVERALL
A film that I thought would completely suck ends up entertaining me quite a bit. Chan and Li still rule, the Mythology of the story was fantastic and there was no shaky cam. Yes I’m still sour at the American kid being the main character and yes some of the dialog was bad… but the film did what it set out to do… it entertained me. Overall I give The Forbidden Kingdom a 7 out of 10)
