The Forbidden Kingdom

I had the opportunity to see the Film that has finally brought the two martial arts legends, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, under one roof, The Forbidden Kingdom today. I was skeptical to go and see it initially because it was an American movie directed by a westerner, and it was in English. In past years, it has been my opinion that American producers have failed to grasp the concept of, and thereby failed at turning out a Kung-fu movie that was worth seeing. There are exceptions to this that come in the form of movies like the Rush Hour series. But Movies like The One or The Tuxedo hardly capture the physical prowess the and capabilities of the leads featured in the marquee. To my surprise and relief, Forbidden Kingdom successfully creates intricate and believable fight scenes with just a touch of whimsical wire fighting.

But, though this movie has positive attributes, so does it have its flaws. The writers and producers had to fit fit a very unnecessary, and distracting white lead character that serves little more as a punching bag and enforces the argument that Hollywood doesn't think that western audiences can watch a movie that doesn't have westerners in it. Which is dumb when you think about the bank roll that motion picture masterpieces like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero pulled in. But worst than the fact that the cracker character had to be written in is that the way he enters the story is so played out and boring that it really needs to be addressed. Please Hollywood Writers, no more A Modern Day Yankee in King Aurthur's Court rip-offs, and quit making every white dude in a Kung-Fu movie be freaking Daniele son from Karate-Kid. (Besides Daniele-son was supposed to be Latino.) I mean really fella', I'm a cracker, and I hate those round-eyes that keep ruining my English speaking Kung-fu movies. I have no culture so why don't you let me enjoy someone else's for a couple of minutes and quit trying to white-wash that ish.

Luckily, the corny white boy was outweighed by the Gorgeous lead good and bad women in this movie. My Mothra list was instantly changed when I saw this feature. I mean how I've never seen either of these girls before in my life is awe-inspiring. Bing Bing Li and Yifei Lui can fight with me, or more preferably, over me any day. (The pictures I found hardly do either of these ladies justice. See the movie and you'll know what I'm saying.)

Bing Big Li

Yifei Lui