Since the first spool of silver nitrate ran through a magic box to produce flickering wonder on a screen, movie makers have loved a good gimmick. Whether it be the cowboy shooting a gun directly at the audience from "The Great Train Robbery", or "King Kong" swatting planes like flies atop the Empire State Building, offering some illicit thrill has put seats in the seats. Also since the early days of cinema, dollar sign eyed producers have often trotted out the dog and pony show known as the "TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME!" gimmick. Take two bankable "stars", throw 'em together in a film and voila!, box office gold. Sometimes. Too often these "powerhouse" pairings have resulted in ultimately mediocre movies with bad scripts and befuddled "stars" with no chemistry. For every Crawford/Davis, Pacino/DeNiro, Frankenstein/Wolfman success there's a Three Stooges/Hercules, Affleck/Lopez fiasco.
The latest celluloid twosome tempest in a teacup is "Forbidden Kingdom" featuring the formidable duo of martial arts greats Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Fans have long been clamoring for this team-up and the question now becomes was it worth the wait?
To answer this I had to bring TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME....the GEEK and the CRITIC! Sitting like the proverbial angel and devil on my shoulder while viewing this film, the geek was in heaven initially, simply seeing the two together, while the critic was skeptical from the start. Unfortunately this becomes the sticky wicket with "Forbidden Kingdom". It's ultimate success depends on whether the zowee! factor of battling icons can supercede the tired script and lazy direction.
Anyone who's watched even a handful of kung-fu flicks will be all too familiar with the plot. Whether veiwers will find this comforting or annoying is a matter of temperament. Jack (an innocuous but bland Michael Angarano) is a young man who is obsessed with martial arts movies and is a frequent customer of Old Hop (Jackie Chan in old age makeup). Old Hop runs a video/curio store in Jack's local Chinatown and is full of the usual chuckling mystical wisdom one expects from a kindly old shopkeeper named Old Hop. One day while admiring an antique staff in the back, Jack is informed that it was once the property of the magical, mirthful Monkey King (Jet Li). It seems the immortal trickster once ran afoul of an evil warlord five hundred years ago and wound up imprisoned in stone to await a "chosen one" to return the relic and free him. Do you see this one coming?
After local thugs strongarm Jack into helping them rob Old Hop, chaos ensues. Old Hop is shot and Jack manages to fall off a roof magic staff in hand. He awakens in ancient China clueless and immediately set upon by soldiers. Saved in the nick of time by drunken traveller Lu Yan (Chan, again) Jack's quest to return the staff begins. For Jack is the "chosen one" of prophecy and has alot to learn. Along the way these two meet Golden Sparrow (a charming Yifei Liu) "girl with a grudge" and a mystical Monk (Jet Li, again) a "monk with a mission". Thus, this ragtag group must come together and train the reluctant "Karate Kid" to defeat the evil warlord and free the Monkey.
This crusty plot plays out with no surprises and a dissappointing lack of excitement. There are a few comic moments and a fairly dazzling fight between Chan and Li at their first meeting but never any "House Of Flying Daggers", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" jaw-dropping show-stoppers. The sets and effects are lackluster also given the budget, hinting that it may have taken more money than good will to bring Chan and Li together.
The chemistry between the two mega stars is easygoing but somehow restrained. Both being known for choreographing their fights to ballet perfection, they appear hobbled here by the powers that be, as does the whole film. There was so much potential here for something truly awesome that the anticipation of a firecracker ready to explode hangs heavy in the air, which makes the eventual fizzle that much more painful.
Sadly the blame must fall on the Americans involved. From the plodding direction by Rob Minkoff (his first effort since 2003's awful "Haunted Mansion"), to the stale script by John Fusco ("Hildago"), "Forbidden Kingdom" is a "magic staff" stolen by dolts who have no idea what to do with it. It's interesting to note that the classic Ronny Yu film "The Bride With White Hair" is referenced more than once in "Forbidden Kingdom" making one sorely long for what a Yu or Woo or Hark could have done with this project.
RATING: 2 1/2 BANANAS
No comments:
Post a Comment