Prior to Sylvester Stallone launching The Expendables franchise and hoovering up as many action icons as possible under the one roof, very rarely would two all-time greats of the genre cross paths to co-star in the same movie. That being said, 2008’s The Forbidden Kingdom did recruit two legendary ass-kickers, but the end product failed to live up to the expectations fans had in their heads.
The fantasy blockbuster was far from a disaster, though, earning close to $130 million at the box office on a $55 million budget and netting largely enthusiastic responses from both critics and audiences. However, there was still a tinge of disappointment that the marketing focused so heavily on the presence of Jackie Chan and Jet Li sharing the screen for the first time ever, only to leave viewers wishing they’d been given a more substantial story with which to realize the maiden meeting of martial arts masters.
A couple of the fight scenes to pop off the screen, but the story is severely lacking. Michael Angarano anchors the narrative as a kung fu-obsessed teenager who finds himself transported back to ancient China after stumbling upon an ancient golden staff. Saved by Chan’s booze-addled Lu Yan, the unlikely duo then find themselves paired up with Li’s silent monk to try and safeguard the future by defending their present from nefarious forces.
Entirely serviceable but frustratingly less than the sum of its parts, The Forbidden Kingdom remains a decent enough way to whittle away a couple of hours if you’ve got the time to spare. Seeing as Prime Video subscribers have seen fit to propel director Rob Minkoff’s forgotten fable onto the platform’s most-watched chart per FlixPatrol, it looks as though that time is now.
Published: Oct 1, 2022 12:05 pm