Looking at the marketing for The Forbidden Kingdom, you might notice something peculiar but understandable. None of the trailers or TV spots tells you the plot. That’s because the plot is the type of wish-fulfillment fantasy that has long gone out of style; the one where the geeky white boy weakling is bullied by the teenage gangbanger with martial arts prowess, so he too has to learn martial arts to kick the bully’s ass and impress the girl. Knowing its own cliché, the film acknowledges this right off the bat, when an old Chinese video store owner (Jackie Chan in crusty make-up) pegs our hero Jason (Michael Angarano) for what he is: a kung fu poser. Of course, to make it interesting, he learns martial arts by being transported into a world not unlike a wuxia flick come alive. It’s sort of like Ronny Yu’s Warriors of Virtue, sans humanoid kangaroos.
Instead, all the ads focus on selling one thing and one thing only: it’s Jackie Chan and Jet Li in a movie together for the first time. And why not? The appeal is akin to getting Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in a movie together. They might not be the best, but they’re two powerhouse names recognizable enough as greats to make the pairing seem monumental. Like the audience that saw Heat for the first time, The Forbidden Kingdom might disappoint fans for having only one fight between Jackie and Jet, though director Rob Minkoff certainly tried to appease by prolonging the fight as much as possible, and fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping highlighting the titanic clash by having the two exchange similar blows often.
Perhaps the main reason why the fight worked so well and gratifyingly so, however, was the decision to have them re-play their two most iconic roles (ironically, both different interpretations of the legendary Wong Fei-hung). Jackie Chan plays a drunken boxer representing his Fei-hung from The Drunken Master, while Jet Li is a robed monk with flowing moves reminiscence of his Fei-hung portrayal in the Once Upon a Time in China series. The fact that we get to see these two personae clash heightens the meeting of the two martial artists—which, admittedly, would have carried more impact ten years ago, in a Hong Kong movie where they are the main characters, not comic relief supports for some lame kid. It’s inane to build their confrontation as a massive avalanche of cool, but then have a scene where Jackie Chan prays for rainfall and Jet Li urinates on his head. Come on.
The throwback doesn’t stop there, though. The fabulous opening title sequence—an animated collage of Shaw Bros, Bruce Lee, and various kung fu movie posters—sets the tone of the movie, which is constant referencing to various kung fu flicks. Jet Li also plays the Monkey King, obviously a reference to Journey to the West, and a female villain is even modeled after The Bride with White Hair. For any white boy kung fu geek, this movie is both a treat and a sad reflection. Just as this fantasy world might have spurned from Jason’s kung fu-obsessed mind, viewers are also showed a realm where they might recognize the logic behind it by comparing it to old kung fu movies, but not without clues for the regular audience. This is the kind of movie where Jet Li’s monk character would quote Bruce Lee’s way of the moving fist philosophy, and Jason would point out the reference for the audience.
The genesis of the story came from screenwriter John Fusco telling it as a bedtime yarn for his son. He must’ve been watching Lord of the Rings that night, because the resemblance is uncanny. Jason is the Frodo of the story, the clueless weakling who’s suddenly bestowed with the responsibility of escorting an ancient magical item to its rightful place. On this quest, he’s aided by a fellowship of warriors, through harsh terrains, to a dark kingdom on the mountains where they face an evil warlord and his devastating army. There’s even an exact replica of Rivendell, disguised as a Shaolin Temple.
It’s precisely The Forbidden Kingdom’s flaw. It’s unoriginal and sloppy, striking the right chords only when it hits familiar notes. Let’s face it—knowing the participants, it’s hard to imagine the movie being terrible. Yuen Woo-ping keeps the fights tight, Rob Minkoff brings the environments to life and Peter Pau shoots very pretty pictures. The humor still sucks, the characters recycled, the plot unengaging and the desired emotional moments fall embarrassingly flat. It’s an unfortunate project to gather these incredible talents for, and it results in a movie too middling to be the appropriate stage for the much-hyped meeting of the masters.
"The Forbidden Kingdom" opens April 18, 2008 and is rated PG13. Action, Adventure, Fantasy. Directed by Rob Minkoff. Written by John Fusco (screenplay), Ch'eng-En Wu (story). Starring Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Colin Chou, Crystal Liu Yi Fei, Li Bing Bing.
