The Forbidden Kingdom
Posted by: Roy in movie, thought & opinions, tags: chinese, drunken master, duel, immortal, Jacky Chan, Jet Li, kung fu, Li Bingbing, Liu Yi Fei, Michael Angarano, monkey king, movie, New YorkAfter being outvoted by Iron Man, we’re back at the cinema after a week. I was almost outvoted again by Speed Racer, but this time I imposed my authority on my children. Finally, I was able to watch The Forbidden Kingdom.
If it weren’t for my kids, I won’t recognize Jacky Chan as the old chap from the Chinese store. But I recognized the plot of the boy from New York (Jason played by Michael Angarano), beaten up by bullies, but in the end would be able to get back and kick their ass. Though I don’t understand how he was chosen to be the seeker who will save the Monkey King. There wasn’t enough development in his character. Too much rush to get into the action scenes I guess. I’m not complaining. I came for Jacky Chan.
Jacky Chan delivered. I love watching once again the Drunken Master in action! And seeing the different kung fu techniques like tiger’s claw, crane, snake and praying mantis, brought back memories of my childhood days when kung fu movies were hits in the cinemas. The training session though fall short compared to the training Jacky Chan undergoes in his old movies. It was too short.
Jet Li did a great Monkey King. He played the michievous and playful immortal. I can’t understand though how he was able to release and create a clone with a different personality, and with intelligence and free will at that! But I guess, there’s really not much concern with logic in fantasy movies.
The highlight of the movie could be the duel between Jacky Chan and Jet Li. While this is nothing short of spectacular, I think there should be more of them in the movie.
Now, this blog definitely will not wind up without mentioning the two ladies in the movie. The two ladies (Liu Yi Fei as Golden Sparrow and Li Bingbing as The Witch) whose beauty alone create so much impact on the screen, weren’t exactly there on cameo role. They too had great fight scenes (yet they are still beautiful even during those fights). Gave the male character a run for their money and held their ground. Did I mention they were beautiful?
The movie, with all its fight scenes reminiscent of old kung fu movies, was great. But it would suffer in comparison to previous Jacky Chan movies.
Entries (RSS)
I thought it was a pretty decent movie… basically Karate Kid meets the Neverending Story, with Monkey Magic themes - anyone who is about to watch it, go into it thinking that and you’ll be fine
The coolest part was bringing back the memories of the Monkey Magic tv series… not sure what the rest of the world got, but here in Australia we grew up with the Japanese-made Monkey TV series during the 80’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078659/
Hi Martin!
Thanks for the comment! Indeed, it was a nice movie! But growing up with Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, I was looking for more actions showing Jacky Chan’s antics. But outside that, it was worth watching.
Am not familiar with the Monkey King TV series, but I was able to watch one movie installation of Monkey King years ago, where there this guy from the mortal world was brought to the Monkey King kingdom. He was referred to there as the ‘Author’… can’t remember all the details of the movie, but that’s where I first saw the Monkey King.
Thanks again!