The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)-Eric Smith
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
By Eric Smith
This is the moment a lot of us have been waiting for. In the left corner, we have Jackie Chan, fresh off the horrors we knew as Rush Hour 3. In the right corner, we have Jet Li, back from his mediocre bout with Jason Statham in War. Together, these two pit their martial arts skills together.
Oh yeah, Michael Angarano, who was in Sky High, plays the main character.
That’s the one thing that mainly baffled me. Angarano plays the lead. We get the teaser trailer where we see Angarano mysteriously transported back in time to China, where he meets Chan and Li. Then we get a full teaser, but Angarano is barely in it. In fact, it just seems to be a host of clips featuring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Upon the opening credits, we see Jackie Chan’s name…waiting…Jet Li…waiting…waiting for Michael’s name. We see some more actors/actresses names, some of which I can’t pronounce…and then! at the end…it says "And Michael Angarano." Final billing? The main character who’s in more of the movie than anyone gets final billing? Talk about over hyping on two actors.
Angarano plays a kid from Boston named Jason Tripitikas. Jason is obsessed with old kung fu and martial arts films, although he doesn’t know any moves. He spends most of his time hanging out in a dusty old pawn shop in Chinatown, which is owned by an elder man named Old Hop Chan, buried in geezer makeup). He queries about a mysterious staff, which Old Hop tells him is waiting to be returned to its owner. If we only knew. Well, Jason gets bullied into breaking into the pawnshop with a bunch of hoods so they can rob the old man. Jason gets chased to the top of the roof, staff in hand, where he falls, and mysteriously awakens, in ancient China. Confused, he seeks help in a warrior named Lu Yan, who can only stay immortal if he’s drunk (fair enough). He informs Jason that the staff belonged to the mischievous Monkey King (Li, at his silliest), who ruled the land. One fateful night, the Monkey King is tricked and turned into stone by the Jade Warlord (Deshun Wang). He can only return to his former self if the staff is placed into his hand. Yan also informs Jason that he is the "chosen one" to return the staff. Thus, a quest begins. Along the way, they meet The Silent Monk (Li’s main role), who agrees to help guide them on their quest to return the staff. Also, seemingly out of nowhere, comes Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), who has a personal vendetta with the Jade Warlord, and who’s only purpose in this movie is to perhaps become a love interest for young Jason.
For the most part, the film is cliché. We get the ubiquitous training scene, where Chan and Li train Jason into fighting material, and we get spouts of wisdom, most of which doesn’t mean a whole lot. It also seems that most of the characters were ripped off from the popular video game, Mortal Kombat. A few times I had to remind myself that this was called The Forbidden Kingdom. If you’re watching the movie and you’ve played Mortal Kombat before, you might notice some similarities. The Jade Warlord looks suspiciously like Shang Tsung from the game. BingBing Li (who plays another villain, Ni Chang), is quite like Sindel. Watch how she uses her hair. Even Chan’s Lu Yan, has the same styles as Bo Rai Cho (although Bo Rai was a tubby). The story wavers in and out, weakening, and then picking back up with a fight scene. No one will really seem to care about the story though. They’re watching the movie for the fighting, and it doesn’t disappoint. Despite the age of Chan and Li, they perform their usual tricks of acrobatics and martial arts incredibly well. This isn’t a great film, but it is highly entertaining, and it works in points that count the most. Chan and Li seem to be having fun, and Angarano gives an excellent performance.
Copyright C. 2008 Eric Smith