FOURSIDE » Impressions of "The Forbidden Kingdom"

[ IMDB Entry ] [ Apple.com Trailer ]

The short verdict is "see this movie in theatres."

The movie sort of feels like Jackie Chan and Jet Li wanted to leave their mark in a way that would stand the test of time while making a kung fu movie for kung fu fans. But, rather than giving it the typical kung fu movie budget, they gave it a normal budget, and made it a legitimate title which is assured to become a golden boy of the genre.

It also feels like they tried to keep it approachable to people who wouldn't get constant in-jokes and homages as is common to for-the-fan movies. Don't go into the movie with the expectation of it being epic. It's not an epic movie. It's very shonen-anime at times with long expositions about individual characters explaining their backstory and motivation (and the two female characters are given little face time, and are the only ones that either fail to achieve their goals or have to have a male character do it for them).

It's a "good" movie.

The main deal, why you need to see it in theatres specifically, is the quality of the action. If you watch this on your computer, TV, or home projector, you are going to say to yourself "it would have been better to have seen it in theatres." Don't hold any pride about the quality of your home setup; it's dangerous in this case. I'm willing to pay another ten dollars to see it again with everyone else in theatres, but I'd rather spend the time playing Brawl or Mario Kart than watch it on a TV or projector.

Great customes, great fights, great backgrounds. The production values are high. It's eye candy, and doesn't really have any notably aggravating or stupid scenes. It's obvious everyone involved cared about the end movie; nobody stands out as "they fucked up their acting" or anything.

Jack Thompson is so disbarred that his candy options are limited to M&Ms and Rolos.