The Forbidden Kingdom

Genre: Action

By Lionsgate

Directed by: Rob Minkoff

Runtime: 113 minutes

Starring Jackie Chan (Lu Yan), Jet Li (The Silent Monk), Michael Angarano (Jason Tripitikas), Yifei Liu (Golden Sparrow), Bingbing Li (Ni Chang), Collin Chou (Jade Warlord), Morgan Benoit (Lupo), Deshun Wang (Jade Emperor)

Martial Arts Westernised
Touted as THE face-off between Jet Li and Jackie Chan, Forbidden Kingdom promises a lot action between the national martial arts champion and the movie veteran who has been doing his own fighting scenes and stunts without doubles before I even entered school!

However, I got to say, being directed by an ang mo director, this English language movie is ultimately made in America for Americans. There is no denying this fact when the characters, in ancient China, began spouting what else, the English language! I can’t help but feel my hair stand on end and as the movie progressed, laugh with each English conversation these Chinese actors and actresses spouted.

We can excuse Jackie Chan and Jet Li for speaking in English. We can assume they are suddenly imbibed with the ability to speak a foreign language though they are supposed to be from China itself. But when the Monkey God and the Jade Emperor began speaking English lines as if they have been doing that since birth, you know something is not quite right!

However, looking past the language hurdle, this adventure movie uses the same old formula of revenge, finding love and the usual fighting scenes. If you grew up on a diet of martial arts film, you might like to watch for nostalgia’s sake and see how people from other culture idolize the culture we grew up in!