Jackie Chan and Jet Li Together As Exciting As It Sounds
a martial artist, Movie Reviewer, a storyteller, a believer of fate
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APR
20
2008
The Forbidden Kingdom —
I found The Forbidden Kingdom to be very exciting, but I should preface this by saying I'm a martial artist, with a 1st dan black belt in the Korean martial art of tae kwon do, and currently studying the Chinese martial arts of kung fu and tai chi, so my excitement was on that level. Unlike many Jackie Chan movies, such as Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, this movie isn't action and/or comedy, and is mostly all martial arts.Jackie Chan stars in the dual role as a pawn shop owner in modern day Boston and a dreadlocked drunk in ancient China, Lu Yan. A teenaged Jason (Michael Angarano), obsessed with kung fu movies, makes the discovery of a golden bo staff, which the pawn shop owner tells him has been there for a hundred years, waiting to be returned to its rightful owner. Despite his interest in kung fu movies, Jason knows no self defense, and is bullied into helping some other kids break into the pawn shop. When this goes badly, he is told by the owner he must return the staff to its rightful owner.
Before The Forbidden Kingdom started, I was struggling some to stay awake in my seat, but by this point, nodding off was the furthest thing from my mind. Jason wakes up with the bo staff in ancient China and is being chased by the Jade Warriors. He fends them off with the help of the old drunk, Lu Yan. Although through much of this, we can't tell how much is Lu Yan being drunk, and how much is him performing the martial arts style of drunken fist. Either way, it's effective, and after he saves Jason, he explains the legend of the staff. It had belonged to the Monkey King (Jet Li), but in a fight with the Jade Warlord, it was stripped, turning the Monkey King into stone.
Realizing it's the only way he'll get home, Jason joins Lu Yan, Sparrow, a girl that was orphaned by the Jade Warlord and definitely has an axe to grind, and also the Silent Monk (Jet Li, also in a dual role), who seems to only be silent until he wants to argue with Lu Yan over the training they do with Jason to turn him into someone that can fend off the Jade Warriors while they march toward The Five Elements Mountain to return the staff.
The martial arts in this film, mostly kung fu, is just incredible, especially with the knowledge that Jackie does all of his own stunts. The techniques come with such speed, I struggled to follow. Jet Li seems an equal match for him, and even Michael Angarano had me questioning whether he was truly a novice when he started this film or whether he's been training in martial arts for quite some time, as normally you just don't get that good in a matter of months, unless he's some kind of martial arts prodigy or something.
There are some hidden things within The Forbidden Kingdom that those not in martial arts wouldn't know, such as Lu Yan and the Silent Monk arguing over whether or not it's important for Jason to learn a horse stance, and Lu Yan looking at Jason and sternly telling him, "Ma Bu," and all that is is the Chinese term for horse stance. There are also theories that are the backbone of martial arts that are included, such as respect, honor, commitment, etc. In the end, it's almost as if the film is a paradox as things come full circle.
This definitely heightened my level of enjoyment of The Forbidden Kingdom, but I tend to think anyone that likes a good fight scene would like this as well. It also has quite the sci-fi/fantasy feel at some point, and will appeal to those types as well. I'm rating it 5 stars on the martial arts alone, but if I were to remove that, I'd probably give it a 3 or 4.
The Forbidden Kingdom is recommended by LauraBelle
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