Which one to root for?

Jackie Chan. Jet Li. Together, in one film. Could I possibly not go on opening night? I choose not! So thusly, I did, heading out with a bunch of friends to see The Forbidden Kingdom last night.

Story wise, it wasn’t really a success. It is at its core a simple story, which is all well and good, but the telling of the story (or the execution of the story) is where the film lacked. Heavy handed in some places, holywood cliché’ed in others, and oddly expositional in yet others. A beautifully woven yarn this was not.

As a kung fu piece, here the film was much more successful. Yuen Woo-Ping was the fight choreographer, so, hey, you know the fight quality is going to be there. Of course the highlight of the film was the Jackie vs Jet duel, a prolonged, classic, scenery-damaging contest of great length and great technique. Mmmmm. (Interestingly, it wasn’t very later-style Jackie-ish, ie, not prop- and stunt-driven — I think that was the intent in hiring Woo-Ping, but it still surprised me that there was almost none)

Really, this film was one great long Kung Fu geek-out for me. Mostly internally geeking out, I only had one outburst (wherein I exclaimed “Hey, I know that set!” — the protagonist was doing, I’m pretty sure, Tong Bi Quan). Guan Daos, Ma Bu, great staff action… and the opening/title sequence was brilliantly done, a very nifty effect and idea. It’s a film that isn’t taking itself seriously, which really worked for it.  The sense of camraderie for the two J’s was evident;  I think they had a great time making this film.

Overall it really was a very fun film for me. Fortunately, I had already practiced earlier in the day and did not feel entranced to go work out for a few hours afterwards…