We just finished watching The Forbidden Kingdom (2008 – Rob Minkoff) as part two of our two night dvd treat. What a disappointment. I have great respect for Jackie Chan and Jet Li, between them they have some of my all-time favourite films. I really admire their martial arts choreography and, in the case of Jackie Chan, his penchant for comedic thrills. From the few interviews/biographies i’ve seen on t.v., they both come across as really down to earth individuals.
It was a surprise then, given their combined legendary status, that they appeared in a film of such low calibre. If you were to take all that is exotic about Chinese culture, combine it with the high-kicking kung fu we’ve come to expect from Asian martial arts films, and a healthy dose of mystical forces. Take all that, and then water it down into some dumbed down Western cliche, you’d have a pretty good idea of what The Forbidden Kingdom is like.
It was worse even than Bulletproof Monk. A film that was unashamedly Westernised but nevertheless enjoyable for its entertainment value. I tried to enjoy this film, the fight sequences were very well done, but the wooden acting and cheesy dialogue from all those involved was hard to stomach. Oddly, the dialogue randomly jumps between English and Mandarin (it’s expected that in an Americanized film the characters will speak English around the American character, but they also randomly speak English to their Chinese counterparts too?!) and Jet Li’s English is delivered very uncomfortably, despite both himself and Jackie Chan speaking fluent English on other occasions. The Forbidden Kingdom could have been so much more and yet failed to take itself seriously. I get the impression that Mr Chan and Mr Li only took part in this film as a favour (one would hope). It would have to be a pretty large favour!
I think Western Audiences are smarter than this film gives credit for, and I would be very surprised if Eastern audiences were happy with the stereotypes on show here. In fact, I have to give the director credit for showboating almost every film cliché possible in the time allowed (Including the hero-stance close up of the lead character stepping up to fight back). Its time that i’m wishing was more well spent. It is seriously worrying that a film this bad made it to No. 1 in the US box office. This certainly won’t be the last Jackie Chan or Jet Li film I watch, and my impression of them hasn’t been tarnished by this outing. I sincerely hope this isn’t the last collaboration between the two masters.
Stray Dog Strut rating: 2 paws.
The other film on our roundup was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008 – Steven Spielberg). I avoided this film when it first came out, expecting that the ageing Indy would be outstarred by his younger sidekick. My concerns weren’t altogether unfounded, but Shia LaBeouf surprised me. I haven’t seen him in a lot of films and i’ve carried misgivings since seeing Transformers: The Movie, but reading his filmography just now has reminded me that he was in Constantine and I, Robot, both of which I favour highly. He does well in IJ, playing the role just enough to complement Harrison Ford but not outshine him. Harrison himself does well to leap around like Indy and delivers the expected quips on cue.
Overall though, the film left a lot to be desired. The plot is preposterous and steamrolls in that direction as it goes. There seemed to be quite a few elements borrowed from other films/tv, not a cut and paste job but i’d seen it before. To be honest, I got the feeling I wasn’t watching a real Indiana Jones film. This is probably tied up with the addition of a younger side kick as I feel this tends to spoil the ‘seriousness’ of these films more often than not. I got the same feeling watching Die Hard 4.0. An enjoyable film, but it just didn’t feel like a Die Hard film. Overall, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a very watchable film (compared to The Forbidden Kingdom which had me itching to turn it off half way through), but easily missable too. I would recommend the original trilogy over this any day.
Stray Dog Strut rating: 4 paws.
