MOVIE REVIEW: THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

[MattBrady]

by Steve Fritz

WARNING: YEP…THERE ARE SOME INITIAL SPOILERS

While fans of martial arts film are salivating over The Forbidden Kingdom the first film to ever team up Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the real interesting news is who’s behind the camera.

For starters, you have martial arts master choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping. Some of his American films include The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill. His Hong Kong pedigree reaches back to Chinese Boxer. He and Chan were childhood pals in the Peking Opera Company. Both also studied under Yuen’s father, Yuen Sui-Tin, again no slouch. Talk about getting the best.

Then there’s the director. No, it isn’t Ang Lee or John Woo. It isn’t even Chan or Li. It’s Rob Minkoff, best known for his directorial work on films like The Lion King and Stuart Little. Even more fascinating is Minkoff has managed to put together a film that is as fast paced, inventive and entertaining as one from a Kowloon master.

The plot revolves around Michael Angarano, a Beantown-born bah gwai with a serious love of martial arts movies. He purchases the really good stuff in a seedy antique shop run by a grouchy old coot (who claims he's immortal) named Old Hop (Jackie C). Among the items in the shop is a magnificent staff that Hop claims has a remarkable history.

The staff belonged to the Monkey King (Jet). The Monkey King had a particularly nasty fight with the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou), who tricked the trickster, turning him into stone. The only way Monkey can be freed is if the staff is returned to him. Guess who suddenly finds himself in the Middle Kingdom with the staff?

As the drunk master Lu Yan (Chan again) will tell Angarano, it’s one thing to talk about all the moves in the movies. It’s quite another thing to be able to do them. Angarano--even with the aid of Lu, a beautiful assassin named Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei) and a “silent” (relatively) monk (Jet again)--has the odds severely stacked against him. The Warlord isn’t alone, he has promised immortality to a whip-slinging, white-haired witch (Li Bing Bing) if she takes our heroes out first.

Now put three old masters like Chan, Li and Yuen in a room and you can bet there’s going to be some awesome fight sequences. What also helps is Minkoff does an incredible job of framing the sets so Yuen, Li and Chan’s kung fu choreography is shown off at its best. The inevitable fight sequence between the two superstars, inside a wonderfully decrepit Buddhist temple, is a how-to manual on staging such fights. I wouldn’t be surprised that Li and Chan walked off the set nursing their share of real bruises as they shifted from style to style, high wire ballet to down and dirty grappling and boxing.

In fact, I would say Minkoff’s animation background probably helped in this production, and not only because he knows how to create stunningly gorgeous sets. Animators like Minkoff, whose work spans as far back as Black Cauldron (1985), are used to working on every detail of a film as well as action timing to its extreme measure. For instance, Chuck Jones would always comment that if Wile E. Coyote’s fall from a cliff is off by just one beat (1/24th of a second), it just wouldn’t be funny.

Now put this into the world of martial arts film. Timing is truly everything here, and not just as a way to insure your primary actors don’t break each other’s bones. The combat sequence between Chan and Li finds the two pounding each other and bouncing off of just about every possible part of the aforementioned temple, including the ceiling. Chan actually puts his usual comedic shtick aside to concentrate on his counterpart, who has been a recognized master of wushu since childhood (he won his first championship when he was 11). What some might forget is Minkoff proved in Lion King that he can storyboard action sequences with the best of them. Couple that with Yuen’s high caliber choreography and you wind up with one magnificent combat sequence.

That isn’t the only sequence that’s going to have you breathless. Even a very early scene, when Angarano is trying to escape from some Boston punks has its moments. A superlative restaurant scene in the Middle Kingdom as well as the climactic battle sequence at the end of the movie are also stunners.

Is the film perfect? Well, that depends on your opinion of Angarano. Got to admit, he visual expressiveness is usually confined to three key states: pained, confused or just visibly upset. While a casual examination of his biography will show that 20 year-old has already built up a very impressive resume (he’s already been in nearly 50 movies and TV series), he just doesn’t hold a candle when pitted against the likes of Chan, Li or even Chou.

Actually, if I were to warn people on some young talent to watch out for, keep your eye on Morgan Benoit, as the Boston thug Lupo who’s terrorizing of Angarano kicks off the whole movie. His character makes you think of a combination of Jack Nicholson at his most thuggish and Joe Pesci at his most psycho (as in Goodfellas). Another possible breakout talent is Liu Yi Fie. Already a budding superstar in her native China, while her Middle Kingdom role as Golden Sparrow sometimes gets too one dimensional for her own good, when she’s playing a civilian girl in Boston, she exerts incredible charm and a lot of personality in her brief time on the planet.

While we’re speaking of talent, the guy who really chews up the scenery whenever he shows up is Chou. Best known for his role as The Seraph in the Matrix movies, his Jade Warlord is a truly nasty piece of work and a very memorable villain.

Probably the most interesting element of all is Jet Li can be truly funny as both the Monkey King and the Silent Monk. There’s another scene with Chan where the immortal is forced to painfully create a spell to make it rain in the middle of a desert. Li gives the drunk master a comeuppance that will leave you rolling on the floor. His work on playing the trickster god is also revelatory. The man has a natural way at being remarkably funny, and gives Chan a run for his money.

As for Chan? He’s refreshingly snarky in both his roles as Lu Yan and Old Hop. His entrance as the drunk immortal alone is worth the price of admission. He also does more than enough to prove why he’s still one of Hong Kong’s favorite cinematic warriors in the aforementioned final battle sequence. Still, it is interesting to see Jackie replace his normally semi-innocent/fool roles for a martial arts sifu with a touch of a sadistic streak when it comes to Angarano.

Still, what I’m finding particularly interesting is what you find when you combine this film with the soon-to-be released Kung Fu Panda. In the past, any connoisseur of the fight film genre could claim the Asian variety had it all over the domestic editions. It wasn’t just the comparative differences in fighting styles either. Quite frankly, even the most de riguer fight film from China took more advantage of the camera and set than films shot over here. They also just had much more imagination in the staging, stunt work and general acting. Sure, sometimes the plot and dialogue lines were so primitive they ended up being the source of a lot of bad jokes, but that wasn’t why fans went to the theaters to see them anyway.

For some reason, Minkoff and the directors of Panda have pulled off incredible films, not only from a straight-up storytelling pov, but also from the point of assembling some truly heart-pumping fight scenes. Again, I get the feeling it’s that animators know how to time better than just about anyone in the U.S., but that’s still a matter of speculation.

Whatever. For right now definitely see The Forbidden Kingdom when it hits the theaters this Friday. I guarantee that the casual family looking for a good time for the kids and the martial arts film fan are both going to be exceedingly pleased. Yes, the teaming up of Jackie Chan and Jet Li alone makes this film worthwhile, but it has so much more.

[mpg]

Nice review, but man, get an editor...

Those grammatical mistakes hit like speedbumps..

anyways, I am sold...like you said, drunken jackie = price of admission

[VocalMan81]

Sounds awesome, can't wait!

[Salieri]

You stupid bastards. How DARE you touch the legend of Monkey! That director's blood is mine.

[Frankfurt]

Seven spoilerific clips from the movie, including part of the Jet vs Jackie fight!!!

http://silentmonkeys.wordpress.com/2...-at-blackfilm/

I had no faith in this movie when i first heard about it. Journey to the West is my favorite story, and Sun Wukong (Goku, the Monkey King) my favorite character. The idea of adding an american kid to the mix made me sick.

But then i saw the beautiful teaser with Peter Pau, and the action seemed nice... Plus the kid was from Sky High...

Now i'm extremelly excited about it. Only movie i want to see more this year is Iron-Man.

[ssava]

Thanks for the educated and sparkling review.
I really wanted to see this movie...but feared both Li and Chan were past their prime.

Knowing that it had a good director and story really helps.

I'm now looking forward to seeing it again.


Thanks

[TheWay]

When I saw the preview on TV I was a bit turned off. There is a Jackie Chan line that just sounded really bad. Something like, "We can fight about it when this is over." It just sounded really bad to me, and I feared the dialogue through the whole movie would be the same.

After reading this review and seeing the links courtesy of Frankfurt (THANKS!!!) now I am really excited to see this! I'm still not sold on the American kid role. He appeared a bit akward, but hopefully I will be wrong about that as well. Regardless I am sure there is enough goodness to overcome any shortcomings.

Count me in!

[Da_Black_Goku]

Got turned off by the American element thrown in initially, but thank to the clips provided by Frankfurt, I'll be checking this out.

[HieuLeBui]

I'm really anxious for this movie more than Iron-Man or any other movies that are opening from now till the end of the summer. I love the stories of the Monkey King in Chinese fairy tales and like I said anxious to see how he does for the western audiences. I mean Jet Li and Jackie Chan the names are worth the price of admission alone.

[raw_bean]

Nice review, but I've got to comment on one mistake:

"Chuck Jones would always comment that if Wile E. Coyote’s fall from a cliff is off by just one beat (1/24th of a second), it just wouldn’t be funny."

A beat isn't 1/24th of a second, you're thinking of a frame of film. A 'beat' in this context is a phrase used in screenwriting to mean a pause of a second or so: wiki

If Wile E. falls immediately after running off the cliff, it's just realistic, not funny. If he hangs around in mid-air looking pathetic for a while it just becomes surreal and weird, not funny.

If he runs off the cliff, gradually slows down, looks underneath him at the lack of ground, looks into camera, pauses for a BEAT, then falls, it's comedy.

[Congo Jack]

Jackie Chan is playing a drunken master - I am so there.

[artiepants]

glad to hear this was fun, i'm lookin' forward to seein' it!

[MadBandit]

Originally Posted by TheWay

When I saw the preview on TV I was a bit turned off. There is a Jackie Chan line that just sounded really bad. Something like, "We can fight about it when this is over." It just sounded really bad to me, and I feared the dialogue through the whole movie would be the same.

After reading this review and seeing the links courtesy of Frankfurt (THANKS!!!) now I am really excited to see this! I'm still not sold on the American kid role. He appeared a bit akward, but hopefully I will be wrong about that as well. Regardless I am sure there is enough goodness to overcome any shortcomings.

Count me in!

That line you mentioned was actually a replacement for "We can kill each other when this is over", because the film's PG-13, and Lionsgate/The Weinstein Co want kids to see the film.

I'm not that enthusiatic to see it in the theater (and I've been out of work since November of last year. Thanks, President Spanky McDumbass). Maybe on DVD.

[Bathawk]

I think it should be mentioned that the story is (very) loosely based on "journey to the West" a classical chinese story that is "I think" a 1000 years old

anime fans might remeber that the story was also marginaly adapted in the popular anime "Saiyuki"

[Cloud_Strife]

Originally Posted by raw_bean

Nice review, but I've got to comment on one mistake:

"Chuck Jones would always comment that if Wile E. Coyote’s fall from a cliff is off by just one beat (1/24th of a second), it just wouldn’t be funny."

A beat isn't 1/24th of a second, you're thinking of a frame of film. A 'beat' in this context is a phrase used in screenwriting to mean a pause of a second or so: wiki

If Wile E. falls immediately after running off the cliff, it's just realistic, not funny. If he hangs around in mid-air looking pathetic for a while it just becomes surreal and weird, not funny.

If he runs off the cliff, gradually slows down, looks underneath him at the lack of ground, looks into camera, pauses for a BEAT, then falls, it's comedy.

Good catch!

[Jason Seaver]

I saw it last week; it's plenty of fun, althought I'm not as enamoured of Collin Chou as Mr. Fritz is. I'm pretty sure my review will dance around the dual role thing; the makeup is good enough that the audience might not twig to it immediately, and it's a pretty clever reveal if you don't. (I didn't, possibly in part because I just don't associate Jet Li with that sort of role.)

I think the audience's favorite scene was the inevitable one where Chan and Li are beating on the American kid in the name of training, though - it played almost as if the filmmakers were winking and saying, yeah, we don't want this guy here either, but what can you do?

[Ironhorse]

At first, I was kinda skeptical about this movie, thought in a bunch of fight scenes with no story at all, but with this review, have some hope that is not what I was thinking. Peace.

[Frankfurt]

Originally Posted by Bathawk

I think it should be mentioned that the story is (very) loosely based on "journey to the West" a classical chinese story that is "I think" a 1000 years old

anime fans might remeber that the story was also marginaly adapted in the popular anime "Saiyuki"

Not to mention VERY LOOSELY inspiring Dragon Ball.

[surfersilver]

Journey to the West is the inspiration for a number of fictional works (like Dragon Ball and Saiyuki) much as the Hebrew Bible and Homer's Odyseey have been....

[silvanthalas]

I just love the fact that all the tv spots show Li and Chan and the white-haired chick, but none of 'em show the fact that the story is about a white kid from modern day America.

How many other movies in recent memory have been advertised while completely avoiding the lead actor? I wouldn't be surprised if many go to this one wondering if they've got the wrong film.

[GohanWinner]

Glad to hear the film is actually enjoyable. I got excited upon Li and Chan in the same movie, but reading about the actual plot worried me, despite seeing a number of great clips of fighting. I really want to see this soon but I might have to wait tl DVD. Ah well.

[jayntampa]

Originally Posted by silvanthalas

I just love the fact that all the tv spots show Li and Chan and the white-haired chick, but none of 'em show the fact that the story is about a white kid from modern day America.

How many other movies in recent memory have been advertised while completely avoiding the lead actor? I wouldn't be surprised if many go to this one wondering if they've got the wrong film.

Depends on the channel you've been watching -- on Disney and Nickelodeon and the like, they have a commercial that focuses on the kid. As usual, they have different ones for different markets.

[raw_bean]

Originally Posted by Cloud_Strife

Good catch!

Cheers!

[JFx]

WONDERFUL I wanna see it.