The Forbidden Kingdom Reviews

I have seen relatively few karate/kung-fu oriented films, so The Forbidden Kingdom, I knew, was going to be a bit different than what I was used to seeing in films. But if the average kung-fu film is anything like The Forbidden Kingdom, I will certainly be staying far away from the genre for a very long time.

In a cliche-ridden plot, as preposterous as it is formulaic, kung-fu nerd, Jason, finds a mysterious looking staff in a video store, that sends him back in time to ancient China where he meets Lu Yan, an immortal and intensely skilled kung-fu master who, along with a girl named Sparrow and The Silent Monk, go on a long journey to free the Monkey King.

Yup, you read that right; the Monkey King.

There are so many things that I disliked about this film and so many things it did wrong, I could go on for days. I'll have to settle with explaining the key errors in the following paragraphs.

Let's start with the plot which covers the over-used concept of a wanna-be wimp being trained by a master at whatever art the wanna-be has always dreamed of. It's been done many times before. Karate Kid, Star Wars, The Sword in the Stone, etc. Having the most in common with Karate Kid, The Forbidden Kingdom does little, if anything, to distinguish itself from the dozens of films with the same basic concept.

The story has tons and tons of cliches in it. Excluding the one listed previously, we have: 1) Depressing back story by supporting character. 2) Main character is bullied, only to beat the bullies up when he becomes trained. 3) Oh, and of course the inevitable "moment of doubt" scene where the hero begins to doubt his abilities. There are dozens more, though they make more sense in the context of the film.

Among the many trendy and overused gimmicks, the slow-motion shots are the most exhausted in this film. While I stopped counting at 10, I'd wager there are at least 30 slow-mo shots in this film.

Let's move on to the action, which is downright terrible. With most of the conclusions to these combat scenes being relatively inevitable, there's little presented here that builds any suspense. Choreography is pretty terrible, and frankly, none of the fights look real. The punches and kicks don't always connect with the opponent. Yet, they react with pain, and an embarrassingly exaggerated "punch" sound effect accompanies the blow. The action is gimmicky, tedious, and quickly dull.

The worst offender of the action scenes is the first one that appears at the beginning, which involves the Monkey King in combat with a group of nameless warriors. It's poorly made, looks cheap and phony, and is simply not a good omen for the rest of the film.

Though I could go on and on about the action scenes, I'll move on to the characters, almost all of which are old and tired stereotypes. We have the big bad villain in the form of the Jade Warlord. He has no motive, no memorable characteristics, and no personality. Then we have the main character, Jason, who is our typical underdog hero (portraying a character that's eerily similar to the one he played in Sky High). We have Sparrow (who, by the way, is the supporting character with the depressing back story I mentioned earlier), the personality-less romantic interest, though even the romance is toned down so that it's almost insignificant, making her seem completely unnecessary to the film. We also have The Silent Monk, who has no personality, like Sparrow, and his single unique feature is that he's played by Jet Li. And whoever came up with the frequently giggling and very weird Monkey King should be given a good slap in the head.

All of these characters are acted blandly (though some of that may have to do with their equally bland characters). The only bright spot in this area (and the only bright spot in the film) is Jackie Chan's performance of Lu Yan. In a role that could only be described as an Asian version of Jack Sparrow, Chan plays an often drunk karate master that provides a few smiles, and the only noteworthy performance and character in the film.

The score, composed by David Buckley is fairly poor. Relying on kung fu cliches and occasionally electric guitars, Buckley's score is forgettable and dull.

Crammed with cliches, poorly made action scenes, undeveloped characters, and kung fu camp, The Forbidden Kingdom looks like a cheap, made-for-TV disaster. While it's worth seeing for unintentional laughs (and you will get quite a few), there's little of redeeming value here. At The Forbidden Kingdom's high point, Lu Yan is making wisecracks about Jason's lack of kung-fu skill. At it's lowest point, Jet Li is urinating on Jackie Chan's head.

Just kidding! That was probably the high point.

On paper, this movie definitely had some potential. Indeed, to have at last Jet Li and Jackie Chan together in a movie  must have been a wet dream for every martial arts movie fan. To be honest, I have never been really impressed by either one of them but I have to admit that I have seen mostly their US productions which don’t have such a great reputation. Anyway, I have to admit that they really kicked some ass in this movie. In fact, I was rather surprised that they would show up in a US production together but it was pretty neat that most of the movie was actually taking place in ancient China. Futhermore, the story was not also bad at all and it was entertaining enough. Above all, the fight scenes were very well done and I definitely enjoyed them. Eventually, the only really weak point was the whole American plot which was obviously put there for the American audience. Indeed, it was rather boring and unoriginal and, above all, the actor playing the main character didn't work for me at all. Basically, he was your typical nerd with some goofy face and some kind of weak version of Shia Labeouf. Anyway, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

Ok, so I'm not an expert when it comes to martial arts movies, but this one I liked. I happen to be a fan of Jackie Chan so it was really fun seeing him in another movie, besides the Rush Hours.

The setting was beautiful and I thought the aspiring boy actor, Michael Angarano, did a good job as the clueless hero. I also liked Jet Li's characters, although I am not all that familiar with his previous movies.

This movie was hilarious and quite enjoyable. I really liked it.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li finally make a Hollywood movie without embarrassing themselves or the audience. The story isn't original but the acting is pretty good and the production quality is excellent. If you like martial arts movies, this will be satisfying enough.

I liked it. It really is a fan's movie. In the first five minutes you see pictures of Lau Kar Leung, Lo Lieh, Jimmy Wang Yu, Cheng Pei Pei (not sure if the poster was from COME DRINK WITH ME or GOLDEN SWALLOW), Gordon Liu and others flash past during the beginning credits. Movies mentioned (that I can remember), ENTER THE DRAGON, CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR (twice).

There's a training montage that I've heard people complain about,but please, how many Asian movies have I sat through with training sequences. Honestly, no new ground is broken here. If you're a martial arts fan you've seen it all before and probably better. I saw the fate of one of the characters from a mile away, having sat through sufficient Shaw flicks. If you've only seen CTHD or HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, then it's a bigger treat. No one embarrasses themselves. I know it sounds kinda like I'm dissing it, but I'm not. It's a competent and comfortable (if you've watched a good chunk of HK martial arts movies) movie. It's certainly the best HK martial arts movie not made in HK and not directed by a Asian (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA is more of a wu xia, I think) I've seen.

The look of the movie is fairly comtemporary, like CTHD, HFD, or FEARLESS except for a few scenes that could have come from the Shaw Bros sound stages or ZU (either one).

The Jackie/Jet fight was cool, though I have to echo the wish that they would have done it even 10 years ago.

Oh, and maybe it's a kid movie, but it's not a kiddie movie. I was happy seeing it a full price, so it's at least worth a matinee ticket. It's certainly the best Hollywood movie, Jackie or Jet have been in, in umpteen years.