It took 25 years in the business, but Jackie Chan and Jet Li finally give their fans what they want: a fight together. So why is the main character a 16 year-old white boy?
Having grown up on a steady diet of Jackie Chan films like Drunken Master and Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China series, I eagerly awaited the day the two martial arts superstars would face off in a film together. I was stoked when I heard they were both going to headline America's latest take on the wuxia genre. After seeing the first Forbidden Kingdom trailer, my excitement turned from surprise to concern. Huh? Wait, what's this white guy doing in ancient China in between Jet Li and Jackie Chan? This can't end well...
Thankfully that white guy, Michael Angarano (Lords of Dogtown), is no Beverly Hills Ninja. He plays a kung fu flick-loving teenager from Boston named Jason, who unsurprisingly gets bullied by local hooligans. In a twist of fate, he winds up with the task of delivering a magical staff to the legendary Monkey King and gets sent back in time to ancient China. Forbidden Kingdom is essentially a Hollywood-ized prelude to the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with a dash of The Wizard of Oz. Instead of a dopey Scarecrow, a cowardly Lion, and a heartless Tinman, you have a cheeky drunk, a silent monk, and a wuxia heroine who collectively help Jason complete his quest. Jackie Chan plays Lu Yan, the vagrant drunk and practitioner of Drunken Fist, while Jet Li is the Silent Monk, who uses Monkey Kung Fu.
"They [the producers] had designed who was going to play who. They did a good job. I cannot be a silent monk, and I cannot be a Monkey King. Jet cannot play my role [the drunk] and I cannot play his role." Chan explained.
He and Li are essentially reprising their signature character types. After all, Chan's performance in Drunken Master not only propelled him into mainstream success, but also defined his trademark comedic kung fu style as well; Lu Yan is the latest incarnation of a familiar Chan character. Likewise, Li's stoic Silent Monk character comes from a similar mold as Wong Fei Hong, the legendary folk hero he plays in The Once Upon a Time in China series.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by wuxia archetypes. Liu Yifei, no stranger to wuxia epics (The Return of the Condor Heroes TV series), plays the sword-wielding Golden Sparrow, a nod to King Hu's classic heroine, Golden Swallow. Golden Sparrow even drops her annoying habit of referring to herself in the third person for one of the film's best lines: "Come Drink with Me." Another classic wuxia staple brought to life is the White Hair Demoness, made famous in the novel/film The Bride With White Hair, played by Li Bing Bing.
One concern I had was that the film wouldn't be authentic, having been written by American screenwriter John Fusco (Hildago), who conceived the Forbidden Kingdom’s concept as a bedtime story for his son. Chan exerted his influence and made sure everything would be authentic. "In the first draft, the Jade Emperor was a bad guy. I said it didn't make sense, especially in China, where the Jade Emperor is always the good guy." With Chan's input, the story's villain was changed from the Jade Emperor to the Jade War Lord, played by Collin Chou.
The biggest question I had was how Jason's character would fit into all this. His purpose in the film is to have a character that American audiences, like Fusco's son, could relate to. No real explanation is given to why Jason is suddenly able to communicate with everyone in ancient China. He goes on to learn martial arts from both Lu Yan and the Silent Monk. This is shown through another martial arts film staple: the training montage. But before his character could do that, Angarano had to go through his own rigorous training.
"Physically I trained with [choreographer] Woo-ping and his team for a few weeks and learned how to ride a horse. I also did more training during the shoot and got more accustomed to the Hong Kong style of fighting, which is where they choreograph the fight scenes five minutes before the shoot."
Chou, familiar to Matrix fans as Ghost, has seen his share of martial arts beginners. He witnessed Keanu Reeves go from kung fu Neo-phyte to The One.
"[Michael] better be good. Because if Keanu could be that good, [he would] have to be that good," Chou teased.
Thankfully, Jason doesn't become a martial arts badass quite like Neo. A more apt comparison would be The Karate Kid, which is also about a bullied teen that slowly learns martial arts philosophy from an eccentric guru. Ultimately, his role in the film is almost identical to Shia Labeouf’s character in Transformers: a goofy teenager that somehow survives the odds long enough to save the day.
Unfortunately, the film's quick pacing leaves it lacking in depth. The characters are rushed from one locale to another, as if the filmmakers wanted to cram in as much footage of China's lush geography as possible. The martial arts philosophy that serves as the backbone for so many of the films Forbidden Kingdom references feels like an afterthought as a result. Plus, the stilted English dialogue from both superstars left me pining for subtitles; I really had a hard time understanding the words coming out of Jackie Chan's mouth.
Not making the White Hair Demoness a more sympathetic character was a missed opportunity, as her character is traditionally portrayed as compellingly tragic. The Jade War Lord is even blander, basically serving as yet another evil dictator. The villains are one-dimensional and the heroes aren't any more compelling. It's hard to develop any kind of attachment to Lu Yan, Silent Monk, and Golden Sparrow, when they lack any kind of meaningful development. Also, the excessive CG overkill in the film's climatic battle brought back bad memories of The Mummy Returns.
Forbidden Kingdom is a safe and respectable nod to Chinese martial arts cinema that's visually impressive, but lacking in depth. Additional time devoted to character development would have really benefited the film. The most compelling reason to watch Forbidden Kingdom is the much-anticipated face-off between Li and Chan, which doesn't disappoint. It should be interesting how America receives this unique combination of Western filmmaking and Eastern content.