Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

[CrazyFrog]

Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

Director: Rob Minkoff

Cast-Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Li Li Bing, Collin Chou, Yifei Liu, That White Kid

No synopsis given, just pure brainless drivel from here on out.

Just watched this last night and my first impression is this: Could they have picked a more dorky white boy for this movie? The answer, in case you're wondering, is "no". Hell no. I understand he's more of a plot device than anything resembling a real character and it could have been worse (I suppose), but this guy really made me cringe every time he was on the screen. I guess maybe he reminded me a little too much of "me" (when I was a dorky, geek teenager w/ borderline OCD compulsive behavior about...heavy metal..more on that sometime in the future) but the movie did go out if its way to make this a bit of a empowerment fantasy for adolescent boys. Nothing wrong with that in theory but this could have rocked so much harder by just focusing on the trio of characters (Jet, Jackie, and Yifei). And I know what the argument is- "Oh, you could never have a Western-produced martial-arts film without pitching a bone for Western audiences.". But was this movie that exotic to have to resort to having the gwailo boy saving the day? I don't think so but I also think Beverly Hills Chihuahua is probably the stupidest movie concept ever, so WTF do I know?

With that out of the way, it is nice to see a playful adventure movie with some of the greatest action stars on the planet (Jackie and Jet, of course) romp around having a good old time. Wish it could have happened earlier but what can you do? I'm still not getting the dreadlock wig but it probably made it easier to sub for Jackie that way. And while there is loads of wirework and obvious substitutions for a lot of the action sequences, I would be hard pressed to find American movie star counterparts at their age who would even step into a wire harness, much less look good doing it. It also bears mentioning that they both are starting to become more effective actors and it shows, even in some lightweight fluff like this. Collin Chou looks good enough and some of the fight scenes I wish could have gone on longer between Jet and Collin and Jackie and Li Li. I have to say Li Li looks pretty hot as a 'Bride' with that white wig and it was fun to see her vamp it up a little bit.

I could have done with a bit more adventure, though, and for a movie that runs for almost two hours, it has surprisingly few set-pieces that stand out in any way. It feels like they barely get underway with their journey when they get to their destination- it doesn't feel that epic to me. Basically what I'm saying is that I wanted to see Jet and Jackie putz around some more. Or even a little more Monkey King stuff. maybe I just am too old or cynical anymore but to have the white kid waking up at the end - SPOILER ALERT - and kick the bullys ass and see his secret love be reincarnated or whatever just pisses me off. If you're going to have death, just do it and stick with it. It gives the movie at least a little gravity to it. -END SPOILER-

So, in short, a fun movie experience that could have been much better with some tweaking but I guess we should be happy we get to see them paired up at all before they really stop doing action altogether. And maybe, just maybe, this will re-spark some interest in Chinese martial arts, mythology, or action cinema. That would be worth it.

Four out of Eight Drunken Immortals

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I think a big part of the success of the fight scenes for me was Yuen Woo-ping. Without him Rob Minkoff would have been clueless.

Now, now we must credit Michael Angarano (Sky High (2005)) :D. Yes a more interesting film would have had him well not being in it.

Speaking of dorky white guys, have you seen the extras on the DVD with John Fusco in it? (just kidding of course)

[CrazyFrog]

Actually, I saw that one! I'm not sure what to make of him other that they had to show footage of him doing what I guess is Shaolin kung fu forms on the beach. Looks like a nice, secluded beach in California somewhere where white people call the police if you're on their beach.

It was a nice touch to have this more or less dedicated to his son but to just insert the boy right in the middle of it to 'Westernize' it still makes little sense to me. I mean, I know the Monkey King mythology is complex and not very straightforward but still... .

[massa_yoda]

Now, now we must credit Michael Angarano (Sky High (2005)) :D. Yes a more interesting film would have had him well not being in it.

Speaking of dorky white guys, have you seen the extras on the DVD with John Fusco in it? (just kidding of course)

Interesting thing i learned listening to the Audio Commentary with Fusco/Minkoff: an original script idea was to have an Asian kid be the focus. So through the journey he would reconnect with his own cultural roots. Jackie/Jet encouraged Fusco to have it be about an American white boy because "that would be the type of person obssessed with these movies". Another idea was to have him study Martial Arts in present day, his dojo being played be Jet Li.

[inframan]

Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

No synopsis given, just pure brainless drivel from here on out.



I got one for ya: The Wizard of Oz set in ancient China.

Anyway I was just happy that Jet and Jackie finnaly did a scene together. I like Jet Li's monkey king too. The rest I can probably do without, but thats why DVD's have chapter stops

[DAJIZZARIZZA]

my take on this is very simple,..
it took all these years of waiting for these two martial world icons to get together on a film,.. and we get this ?

i think it sucked mojo balls!!!

the movie is very watchable,.. but it do not touch any of the top movies each accomplished on thier own,.. you would think together,.. it would had been the BEST MOVIE by far that these two could look back on say ,.. this was #1.

instead ,.. we got this crap. shame on them for selling out.

[massa_yoda]

instead ,.. we got this crap. shame on them for selling out.

I don't see how making a movie like this is selling out. I mean what do you expect these days? For an American production, it's probably their best. If there's anyone we should be mad at, it's not Jackie or Jet, but rather the Studios that rejected and postponed this collaboration for at least 20 years! Jackie supposedly even wrote a good script for it, but no one would bite. We should be lucky this movie exists at all.

[Iron Palm]

I just watched it and was disappointed since Mark gave it 4 stars. Better than the offensive Hidalgo Fusco wrote but still pretty bad.

Get rid of the goofy kid, shore up the script and this really could have been a great movie.

[DAJIZZARIZZA]

lol,.. massa yoda (nice name) ,.. that's true what you say,.. i guess we should be lucky they finally got together before they died or worst retired ,..lol

i thought chan and li had enough moola between them (and clout) not to settle for just anything.

i really think they could had funded a solid movie together,.. without suck-ass hollywood getting involved.

i still love chan and li,..

they are getting old,.. and sorry this sounds bad ,.. but ,.. alot of good old actors are not comming through lately

chan's rush hour 3
any movie jet li does with sun glasses ,..lol
steven segal ,.. please someone have the guts to tell him.
wesley snipes ,.. art of war 2

ok ,.. harrison ford came through,.. but he does not know kung fu , only gun fu.

[massa_yoda]

chan's rush hour 3
any movie jet li does with sun glasses ,..lol
steven segal ,.. please someone have the guts to tell him.
wesley snipes ,.. art of war 2

ok ,.. harrison ford came through,.. but he does not know kung fu , only gun fu.

Yeah, Jet Li + sunglasses often comes out bad (but none in FK!) and the only movie that a vetran action star has done lately that has really impressed me was Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4. Boy was i surprised when i saw that one! As much as i love Chan and Li i really think they should bow out soon before they DO die. Some say it is too late, but I still think they can go out gracefully if they get out now, before it gets embarrassing.

[TheManInWhite]

I think the problem is they waited too long (and to some too late) to hookup in a movie. And why it had to be a Hollywood-based movie?? They shall have did something 10-15 years ago. Are there contractual reasons why they didn't? Inquiring minds would like to know...

[massa_yoda]

It had everything to do with contracts and studios. There are interviews from Jackie and Jet you can find on youtube about this. Jackie wrote a script for a collaboration 20 years ago! If i remember correctly, the reason it is a Hollywood-based production is because Hollywood was the first to say yes. But i think this original yes came before all the script changes, Jackie didn't sound happy about this as he wanted it to be the script he wrote! Jackie himself admits this movie is just 'okay' to him and that they wouldn't make a movie like this in Asia.

[Iron Palm]

I've seen Jackie's interviews where he doesn't seem happy with the movie but he sounds like that about all his American productions.

The fact is Jackie is too old to do the things that made him famous. Fortunately he's still pretty funny and at times creative.

[JazzandZen]

I enjoyed the movie.

But let's be honest here, the movie was NOT that good. Most of us martial arts fans know this already.

But still, I can say, that I've finally come out of a Jackie Chan movie at the theater feeling satisfied.

For Chan, this is so much better than his work in The Tuxedo, Rush Hour 3, and Shanghai Knights. That's my opinion though. (Actually, Shanghai Knights was fairly decent)
For Jet, this was a decent film, but not his best Western work by a long shot. Yet it was better than CRADLE to The Grave and THE ONE.

All in all, the movie is no where near as good as a majority of their Hong Kong films. But I was still glad and satisfied to see these two living legends on screen at the same time.

[niro]

Well the pull of the movie for martial art film fans was that for the first time Jackie Chan and Jet Li would be onscreen together for the first time, and their fight scene was my favourite part of the movie.
I would guess its the same reason why the movie got so much hype

[masterofoneinchpunch]

This movie is still somewhat high on my 2008 movie list (I've seen about 26 2008 releases, but when compared to The Love Guru and Doomsday I really enjoy this movie -- I had it at ***/****).

For those bored here is my theater review:

After reading a brief synopsis of the film with the film I knew not to go into the film with high expectations. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the film was much pretty much what I had envisioned with a few notable exceptions. Much halloo has been made of the fact that this is the first film with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Both have become international superstars, both have an excellent repertoire with martial arts, both have played Wong Fei Hung (Jackie Chan in Drunken Master (1978) and Jet Li in Once Upon A Time In China (1991)), but neither have the ever appeared in a film together. The reasons are sundry and probably have to do with past egos, but better late than never (Spielberg, it is not too late to hire either one of these actors). Though imagine what could have been made in the late 80s with these two.

What had me most concerned with this film was that it is centered on a milquetoast Hong Kong Shaw Brother's film fanatic Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano: Sky High (2005)) who spends his time buying bootleg VCD/DVDs in Chinatown and being bullied by weenie local thugs. Though this might hit the demographic of many martial art film fans, I was ambivalent about its use of a focal point away from Jackie or Jet. Both of these actors can carry a film and the insertion of Tripitikas felt superfluous and relegated this movie to young teen-movie status. His performance was OK though, just nothing that special.

Tripitikas visits his normal Chinatown shop (mentioning Ten Tigers from Kuangtung (1980)) owned by a raspy voiced Old Hop (Jackie Chan in old-man makeup; thank god he did not become a Mr. Miyagi clone) and notices an exquisite staff. Old Hop states that he is waiting to return it to its rightful owner. Later, Jason acquiesces to the gang (about as scary as The Backstreet Boys) and helps them rob Hop. Things go badly as Hop gets shot and just as Jason is about to die he gets transported into a different realm (through the gate with no gate).

Luckily, this is where the story gets more interesting partially because less emphasis is put on the teen and more on the environment and new characters. Jason meets Lu Yan (Jackie Chan: though this character is more like the King of Beggars aka Beggar So played most famous by Simon Yuen in Drunken Master (1978)) whose uses drunken kung fu. Jason learns that he must return the staff to free the Monkey King (Jet Li) who was tricked into being turned to stone by the Jade War Lord (Ngai Sing: Fearless, Flash Point (2007)) and caused 500 years of unhappiness under his realm. However, there is a prophecy of an outsider who will return the staff and restore order (yes a chosen one, guess who that is). Ultimately, the chosen one team up with Golden Swallow (Liu Yi-Fei: yes the same name as the character in Come Drink with Me) who is also out for revenge against Jade War Lord who ruthless killed her family and a wandering monk (Jet Li).

I enjoyed the film for what is was. A nondescript lead does not help with the film as a whole, but there is much to like. The action choreography of Yuen Woo-ping (Hero, Drunken Master) is quite good partially because he has worked before with Jet Li and Jackie Chan. He knows exactly their aging limitations and makes the wire-work look beautiful. The fight scene between Jackie and Jet is a must watch for action fans and exquisitely beautiful. When comedy was applied it worked well. Two of these scenes stood out for me and had the audience laughing with my favorite of the two is when Jackie and Jet used Jason as an unwilling puppet while both masters trying to teach him gung fu. It is nice seeing Jet Li have a fun time with his characters. The other highlight of the movie is the penultimate fight scene between just about everybody including the Monkey King and a very pissed off hired killer -- the White Haired Assassin (Lee Bing-Bing) She is an homage to The Bride With White Hair (1993) which is also mentioned earlier in the film.

The film is a hodge-podge of Asian stories with the main plot is taken from the Ming Dynasty story "Journey to the West" (published anonymously and is foretold with an showing early in the film of, I believe but not positive since I was partially distracted at the time, Cave of the Silken Web (1967)) and put in a Wizard of Oz (1939) outline. There are some problems with the cohesion of the story, a nondescript lead and several plot problems exist, but it does not distract too much unless you are adamant about your adaptations being faithful. Rob Minkoff's direction (Stuart Little (1999), Haunted Mansion (2003)) is good, but I would have liked a more action-oriented director helming this project. I think most martial art film fanatics will be slightly disappointed by this film, but many will enjoy this movie for what it is – entertainment with a couple of excellent choreographed martial art scenes.

Let us hope that Jet Li and Jackie Chan get together again and get to be the main characters.