The Forbidden Kingdom

[KLAXXON]

Shot on location in China, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM marks the historic first –ever onscreen pairing of martial arts superstars JACKIE CHAN (the Rush Hour series) and JET LI (Fearless, the One) and features the awe-inspiring action choreography of WOO-PING YUEN (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).

While hunting down bootleg kung-fu DVDs in a Chinatown pawnshop, Jason Tripitikas (MICHAEL ANGARANO - 24, Will and Grace, Seabiscuit) makes an extraordinary discovery that sends him hurtling back in time to ancient China. There, Jason is charged with a monumental task: he must free the fabled warrior the Monkey King, who has been imprisoned by the powerful Jade War Lord. Jason is joined in his quest by wise kung fu master Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) and a band of misfit warriors including Silent Monk (Jet Li). But only by learning the true precepts of kung fu can Jason hope to succeed - and find a way to get back home.

Directed by ROB MINKOFF (Stuart Little, The Lion King). The original screenplay by John Fusco (Young Guns ,Hidalgo) is based on the traditional Chinese legend of the Monkey King.






Other than Godzilla vs. Gamera, or the outcome of a footrace between Superman and the Flash, perhaps no topic inflamed video-store clerks in the early '90s like the following: Between the improvised, often life-threatening clowning of Jackie Chan and the gorgeous Zen blankness of Jet Li, who would win in a fight?

The two chop-socky icons do briefly duke it out in The Forbidden Kingdom, but, somewhat disappointingly, they spend most of their time on wires battling CGI ninjas and imparting life lessons to a young audience surrogate. Yeah, it's a dopey kid's movie, but—significant detail—one that feels like it was actually written for kids, rather than slumming thirtysomethings easily amused by pop-culture references. Also, whenever things threaten to get too schlocky, this amazing villainess with a magic bullwhip shows up.

Originally concocted as a bedtime story, John Fusco's script follows a Wu-Tang–obsessed twerp who gets transported back to feudal China via an only-slightly-Freudian magical staff. Once there, he teams up with a drunken poet (Chan) and a mysterious monk (Li) to return the staff to the mystically imprisoned Monkey King (Li again, mugging to a degree that would make Rip Taylor blanch). Fusco and director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King) certainly know their martial arts clichés (drunken fracas in a teahouse, people pausing midkick to announce their preferred martial arts style, old white-haired dude with freaky eyebrows, etc.) and execute them faithfully, if rather mechanically. The resulting nostalgic fluff isn't a patch on Jet and Jackie's glory days, but it makes for a more-than- passable two hours, especially those parts with the aforementioned bullwhip. Oh, and for the record, Gamera all the way.











Jet Li ...  The Monkey King / The Silent Monk
Michael Angarano ...  Jason Tripitikas
Jackie Chan ...  Lu Yan / Old Hop
Yifei Liu ...  Golden Sparrow / Chinatown Girl
Collin Chou ...  Jade Warlord
Juana Collignon ...  Southie Girl
Morgan Benoit ...  Lupo
Bingbing Li ...  Ni Chang
Jack Posobiec ...  Southie
Thomas McDonell ...  Young Southie
Zhi Ma Gui ...  Old Woman
Shen Shou He ...  Farmer
Bin Jiang ...  Young Village Man
Shaohua Yang ...  Jade Soldier
Yu Yuan Zeng ...  Inn Keeper



IMDB





Download Torrent