It’s a good thing “The Forbidden Kingdom,” the long-awaited first-ever collaboration between Hong Kong legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li, is so much fun, because deep down it’s a little depressing.
The delightful mythical story: about an irreverent martial arts master called the Monkey King, who is held captive by the Jade Warlord until the prophesied Seeker returns his magic staff to the Five Elements Mountain: is bookended by the modern-day story of Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano), a Boston teen obsessed with old kung fu movies. Jason frequents the Chinatown memorabilia shop of Old Hop (Chan in terrific make-up), and one day in a back room he stumbles upon the real-life version of the dusty old staff that belonged to the Monkey King, and finds himself catapulted into the fantastical world of the Middle Kingdom, where the Jade Warlord is crushing all who fall in his path.
The aim is that Jason will be a “Last Action Hero”-esque conduit for our Western reverie of Hong Kong kung fu kitsch: and “Forbidden Kingdom” abounds with it: but the trouble is that Jason, and there is no other way to put this, is the biggest tool on the planet. He is unattractive, dimwitted, unappreciative, and obnoxiously slow on the uptake. And the contrast between his numskullery and Chan and Li’s aplomb, is, well, a little depressing, because on some level it reminds us that all the adoring kung fu geeks out there, God bless ’em, spent their lives watching movies instead of actually learning kung fu. And where are they now?
Such morbid thoughts aside, “The Forbidden Kingdom” is terrific popcorn entertainment. Those same geeks (and I count myself an enthusiastic member of their periphery) have waited decades to see a match-up between Chan and Li, and while the two are buddies for most of the film, their central eight-minute fight scene against each other doesn’t disappoint. (It also won’t settle any barstool debates about who would win this titanic face-off.)
One only wishes fighting of their caliber would continue throughout the movie and stomp out the often-beleaguered exposition. There are a lot of characters in the Middle Kingdom, including the pipa-playing Golden Sparrow, on a quest for vengeance, and the foxy, shimmering White Witch, a minion of the Jade Warlord. Eventually, things start to get bogged down with the keeping track of all these people: but soon enough we arrive at the final showdown, and the choreography, by Woo-ping Yuen of the “Matrix” and “Kill Bill” fame, is first rate.
Jackie Chan, to many, is the most beloved of all Hong Kong martial arts stars, even surpassing Bruce Lee, and I think the reason is that he rarely takes things seriously. On DVDs of Chan’s movies, the outtakes, in which he invariably narrowly escapes death but always winds up shaking a bruised hand and wincing, are often the most popular part. To its own good fortune, we may say that “The Forbidden Kingdom” is a Jackie Chan movie. From Chan’s own one-liners and drunken lollygagging (a nod to his most popular “Drunken Master” films) to gags with an unexpectedly funny Li, “Kingdom” keeps things silly and irreverent.
The only shame is that we laugh with the masters, but we are laughing at Angarano. I shudder to think that this actor was a finalist to play the young Anakin Skywalker in the new “Star Wars” films. Next time around, the guy needs to be properly cast as one of the nitwitted teens in a slasher movie who takes a dare to run naked through the old hermit’s house in the woods, never to return. Leave the kung fu to the old pros: and let’s hope we see much more of these old pros together in years to come.
