05/07/08 @ 10:54:25 am by archivesadmin
By: Anghus Houvouras
2 1/2 stars (out of 4)
God bless the martial-arts film. While the serious adult film critic inside of me claims that intense, realistic dramas with unapologetic characters and grim endings are what I most look forward to, in truth, one genre I am fanatical about is the martial-arts film.
They don’t come around as often as they used to. Sure, there was a nice period of Asian imports after the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, rushing to release their flicks in order to capitalize on the sparked reinterest in kung-fu epics. We saw a steady stream of great films like Hero, House of the Flying Dagger and The Golden Palace, films that were not just movies about fighting, but visual poetry that captured a beauty and an essence with choreography and cinematography that rivaled most films released that year. Sure, it couldn’t last forever, but for the better part of this decade, the martial-arts film achieved a level of beauty and respect that had eluded it for many years.
Now, Forbidden Kingdom comes to take all that goodwill, kick it square in the balls, and drive a metal spike into its head while hunched over. Don’t be fooled; this isn’t some dark and lyrical story of two warriors rife with drama. This is some kind of mutant bastard family-film, using the framework of a martial-arts epic, taking away the steely sharp edges and turning it into something cinematically safe. Thus, it practically makes me vomit.
Forbidden Kingdom has good intentions, but to call it a martial-arts film is something of a misnomer. It’s like a number of family-friendly films injected with a healthy dose of PG fight scenes. There are elements of The Karate Kid, The Neverending Story and a little hint of The Princess Bride in Forbidden Kingdom. There are long journeys, a variety of characters each with their own style of martial arts, and (choke) lessons to be learned. I felt a little betrayed by the marketing of the film, which sold it on the image of martial-arts masters Jackie Chan and Jet Li teaming up onscreen. On paper it has everything I’m looking for; but the reality is that Forbidden Kingdom is more Disney than destructive. Think of it as something for kids, like a My First Martial Arts Movie. It’s safe; the action is mostly pugilistic in nature. No one is getting his heart ripped from his chest or beaten until his face resembles raw meat.
It’s apparent that the filmmakers had a love of the genre. From the opening titles that show a variety of film posters from a bygone era, to the casting of two of the greatest martial-arts screen masters, Forbidden Kingdom oozes with a sterile love for all things Asian. Many of the characters are lifted from old Chinese pulp stories, as well as ancient Chinese mythology. The story follows an awkward teenager named Jason (Michael Angarano) who has a kind of “Daniel San” from The Karate Kid going. He’s nice, loves kung fu but is harassed by local bullies who pick on him for being the new kid in town. Jason ends up in a mysterious pawn shop, and through a series of events, he ends up in ancient China and charged with a journey to free the Monkey King.
Like many fantasy films, Jason ends up meeting some interesting characters who accompany him on his journey. The first is kung-fu master Lu Yan, played by Jackie Chan. As a lifelong fan of Chan, I have to say it was nice seeing him in a movie that didn’t require the kind of ethnic, broken English-spewing stereotype that Americans fell in love with after seeing Rush Hour. Here, he plays a more noble character that doesn’t have to slur words and sing Motown songs to make him likeable. Jet Li plays a monk who helps train Jason in the art of kung fu. Fortunately, the part doesn’t require much of him, since the character is cold and stoic, something that Jet Li portrays in pretty much every film. The fight sequences are entertaining, though some of the wire work is a little loopy. There is such an effort being made to make the movie grand and epic that the fight scenes never really seem menacing. Despite the PG-13 rating, there really isn’t anything in the film that I would constitute as real violence.
Forbidden Kingdom is something of a mixed bag. My anticipation for seeing two modern martial-art masters onscreen was diminished by a goofy story that felt more appropriate for an episode of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” than a major theatrical release. Perhaps that’s just my own personal bias. I like my martial-arts films with a side of death sauce—and I’m not talking offscreen deaths, but the kind of grim and brutal stuff that makes most people wince. That’s not to say the only thing good about these films is graphic violence. But when watching films like Crouching Tiger... or Hero (two films without graphic violence), I get a sense of awe as well as some dramatic weight that makes the characters’ journeys feel earned. Since this film seems aimed more at the Harry Potter crowd than the Hero crowd, I guess I really can’t complain too much. Hell, who am I kidding? Of course I can.
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