Review & Analysis: The Forbidden Kingdom

I had the opportunity of attending a special screening of

in San Francisco a while back where it was introduced by the director, Rob Minkoff, screenwriter, John Fusco, and stars Collin Chou ( and ), and newcomer Crystal Yifei Liu ( ).  One behind the scenes detail that Minkoff told the audience before the movie started was that this movie is based on a story Fusco would tell his children before bedtime.  This is evident in the movie since it’s about a White, American teenager obsessed with Kung Fu movies and travels back in time to ancient China.  I didn’t have much expectation for the movie after reading the premise and seeing the trailer, but after watching it, I wasn’t just disappointed, but offended as well.  

The only reason to see this movie is Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and of course Crystal Liu.  That is how it’s marketed, but after viewing it, you can’t help, but feel disappointed and angry.  Why you ask?  Think about it, you have two huge stars and martial art legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li, but they aren’t the leads in the movie.  It isn’t a buddy film like Chan’s

nor did it pit Chan against Li as enemies.  It was more like Part 2 and instead of Tom Cruise, the main protagonist is played by a no name, White, male.  If only this was a sick joke, but it’s true.  This must be the biggest insult of their careers.  Chan and Li worked so hard over many years training in martial arts, starring in countless movies, and are ridiculed by the makers of this Disneyesque disaster.  What’s worse is that they are subjected to English rule by speaking it in a movie that takes place in their own country!  Someone must take responsibility for such malicious actions.  Those people are the very ones present at the advanced screening in San Francisco and I’ll give you a hint, their names aren’t Chinese.  

The screenwriter, John Fusco, and director, Rob Minkoff, were incapable and unqualified to handle the stars and subject matter of the story.  The faulty structure deprives the movie of substance by not investing in character development which eliminates any chemistry between the characters.  It suffers equally from formulaic ideas that expose obvious narrative devices.  The direction of the movie is well below standard.  The structure loses focus by including the White male character, which disables full utilization of its two main stars.

The structure creates a void of emotion with the inability to establish chemistry by not providing character development.  Since, the story doesn’t focus on Jackie Chan nor Jet Li, their character’s exchanges were short and simple through out the film.  There’s a line where Chan’s character tells Li’s that once their journey is done they can kill each other.  The movie does try to initiate that kind of relationship, but it never develops that idea.  So, when Chan’s character delivers the line, it’s not funny, because it’s unmotivated.  This is true for all the other character interactions as well.  None of the characters had an impact on each other.  Towards the end of the movie, the White male character wasn’t exactly debating on staying in China, nor did we feel his desire to go home.  Since there were no solid bonds between the characters, there wasn’t any emotion to their dialogue and the dialogue was weak because there was no chemistry.  There was little to no humor for the same reason.  Another example of poor character development is the sloppy creation of Chan’s character.  (Spoiler alert) He becomes an immortal in the movie, but he becomes an old man in the end.  Who has ever heard of an immortal that ages?  And does it mean he can live forever, but be bounded to a bed for the rest of eternity?  All these conventions make the story bland with no depth to convey an epic tale that it wishes to tell.  

The obvious narrative devices serve as unconvincing motivation to move the plot.  The White male character’s fascination with Kung Fu films was just a narrative device to cast a White male role in a story that takes place in ancient China.  His fascination was unconvincing, because he didn’t have the reaction we would expect to see from a Kung Fu fanatic transported to ancient China.  His interest also never develops and he doesn’t successfully convey the idea of an obsessive Kung Fu fan during the movie.  The clearest movie device is the training portion reminiscent of .  This sequence reaffirms the reason he’s in the movie, but it is completely unnecessary.  This movie isn’t about him fighting and the audience isn’t paying to see a no name learn to fight, we want to see it done by real masters like Jackie Chan and Jet Li in a movie they should be starring in.  

The inability to direct is apparent from the sub par presentation and heavy dependency on fight scenes to carry the story.  There is no dramatic build to signify anything important.  We don’t see the cruelty and oppression that the Jade army is described as.  This only occurs for exhibition purposes through dialogue to remind the audience that they’re “the bad guys.”  Since we don’t see that the Jade army as the villains we’re suppose to, we don’t feel that the army needed to be stopped at all cost as they claim.  The story’s lack of substance was compensated with over saturation of martial arts talent. This is why Collin Chou, Crystal Yifei Liu, and Bingbing Li, are in the movie.  This isn’t to say they’re not welcomed, but there are just too many characters that go undeveloped to really understand any of the motivation for them to obtain what they desire.  It would be better to have a solid story with less martial arts, so when the martial arts does occur there will be a context instead of just displaying it as a spectacle.  

The use of the White male character as the focus of the movie was a waste.  It’s ridiculous to think of having a martial arts movie and casting martial arts stars, Jackie Chan and Jet Li in a movie together for the first time and not have them lead.  The consequence is clear with a movie that suffers from a story filled with formulations and generic tropes and contains no chemistry and no character development.  What’s worse is the subject matter the filmmakers were addressing.  They had no right to tell the tale of the Monkey King.  I would even go as far to call it blasphemy.  This is a story many Asian countries hold dear and it was treated with such disrespect.  Fusco said this was a story he told his children as a bedtime story and it was no doubt his fantasy to have such an adventure.  What many would call a White male’s fascination with another county I call Asian fetishism.  Hollywood embraces such eroticism because it has a history of raping Asian and other countries of their stories for centuries.  It’s a shame this story had to be depicted the way it was, because Jackie Chan and Jet Li and the rest of the cast deserve much more.  Hollywood may not be able to be stopped from causing such atrocities now, but once behind the scenes production gets more diversified, there will be hell to pay.  It won’t be long, but until then, I expect a letter of apology on my desk soon.