Ipinagbawal na Kaharian

Watched this at Mall of Asia's Premiere Cinema last Sunday...

*****

Forbidden Kingdom
Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!

A young kid, Jason, kung-fu fan and Chinese film geek, stumbles upon an antique metal staff that transports him back to ancient China. Later on, as he met the Drunken Master (Jacky Chan), he'll be aware of his destiny to return the relic to its rightful owner - the Monkey King (Jet Li) - which is in NO way easy as the grumpy Jade Warlord and his gazillion-strength Jade honchos together with his chick lieutenant (who has hairs like X-Men's Storm's crossed with Rapunsel's) will stop at none (except a good bargain bazaar in Binondo, maybe) to snatch the metal staff and destroy it for good. It's doubly hard for our hero too since the Jade Warlord's lair itself housed the legendary Monkey King who has been turned into a stone statue.

Ala "Fellowship of the Ring", the duo happens along the avenging cutey "marry-Obi-ten-times-please" Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei) and the Silent Monk (Jet Li, again) who share the same objectives with them... to kill the Jade Emperor and return the mystic staff to the Monkey King, respectively. The foursome journey towards the Jade Warlord's fortress and exhibited kung-fu prowess along the way as Jade minions after Jade minions sought for their heads. Jason also started his kung-fu training along their quest and started hitting on Golden Sparrow too (he sucks though... i mean, c'mon man... between him, an aging drunk, and a weird probably-celibate monk, how could he NOT make good progress on the pretty chinky chick. Tsk tsk... kelangan magpaturo neto kay Gerald Anderson!).

To make things short, they made their way to the Jade Fortress where a HUGE brawl happened typical kung-fu flick's many-is-to-one style, and awaken the Monkey King. The Jade Warlord died on the melee and so is Golden Sparrow (leaving Jason still score-less... HAHA... loser). Order was restored in the Kingdom and Jason was returned home.

As a film epilogue of sorts, back at the modern time, Jason meets a Golden Sparrow incarnation (I say, she's still prettier in Chinese garb). Maybe that's his chance to blow it up again.

To sum up the whole film in general, it's an Americanized old kung-fu movie. "Old kung-fu movie" in that apparently it's reminiscent of that time when Chinese martial arts movies hit international attention with the claim to fame of the likes of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee and Ramon Zamora (?? hehe). "Americanized" in that Chinese influences on the film has been dampened by Western humour and story development.

The plot's a no-brainer. Everything's made up as soon as Jason was transported back in time. No surprising twists, not even a subplot (unless you consider Jason's L-A-M-E attempt to create a love story with Golden Sparrow). But... BUT, still I'll have to admit I much enjoyed the movie (staring at Golden Sparrow aside).

The stunts are good (the "wire-works" are flawless). The fight scenes awesome! The cinematography... breathtaking. The humour... fun!

Jacky Chan and Jet Li are still good with their craft. Their kung-fu is nowhere as swift as during their younger years but their fight choreography are still impressive to watch, especially with Jacky Chan donning his "drunken fist" technique again. Jacky Chan versus Jet Li, nuff said. This is history, man!

I can't see much antagonism on the Jade Warlord's acting, same with his female lieutenant, but when I started remembering back what I can recall of the old kung-fu flicks I've watched when I was a kid, I realized you can't really hate most of their antagonists because of sheer ominousness. They simply lack the aura that will make you say "I soooo hate this guy" as soon as you see them. Lame acting goes to Jason. Mediocre acting goes to Miss Sparrow (whose role I don't really think necessary aside from having a pretty-face on board). Kudos to Jacky and Jet too for taking on two different roles.

Another thing to watch out is the Chinese-speaking characters' English dialogues. It threw me off in confusion in some scenes before I got a grip on what they meant but if you've watched a couple of Jacky Chan films before, you should already know what I'm saying.

Aside from two pretty chinky chicks (White-Haired Lieutenant versus Golden Sparrow) fighting over MY attention, this movie has lots of other fantasy lore to offer with a mix of humour and kung-fu to boot. If not for those, just watch it because of the Jet-Jacky tandem!

Nine chinky gulamans, for crying out loud!

*****

Tangena naman oh... what's with chinky chicks??

Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei) take me home!!!
Sakit na daw 'to sabi ng tropa ko. Tsk tsk.

Ipinagbawal na Kaharian

Watched this at Mall of Asia's Premiere Cinema last Sunday...

*****

Forbidden Kingdom
Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!

A young kid, Jason, kung-fu fan and Chinese film geek, stumbles upon an antique metal staff that transports him back to ancient China. Later on, as he met the Drunken Master (Jacky Chan), he'll be aware of his destiny to return the relic to its rightful owner - the Monkey King (Jet Li) - which is in NO way easy as the grumpy Jade Warlord and his gazillion-strength Jade honchos together with his chick lieutenant (who has hairs like X-Men's Storm's crossed with Rapunsel's) will stop at none (except a good bargain bazaar in Binondo, maybe) to snatch the metal staff and destroy it for good. It's doubly hard for our hero too since the Jade Warlord's lair itself housed the legendary Monkey King who has been turned into a stone statue.

Ala "Fellowship of the Ring", the duo happens along the avenging cutey "marry-Obi-ten-times-please" Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei) and the Silent Monk (Jet Li, again) who share the same objectives with them... to kill the Jade Emperor and return the mystic staff to the Monkey King, respectively. The foursome journey towards the Jade Warlord's fortress and exhibited kung-fu prowess along the way as Jade minions after Jade minions sought for their heads. Jason also started his kung-fu training along their quest and started hitting on Golden Sparrow too (he sucks though... i mean, c'mon man... between him, an aging drunk, and a weird probably-celibate monk, how could he NOT make good progress on the pretty chinky chick. Tsk tsk... kelangan magpaturo neto kay Gerald Anderson!).

To make things short, they made their way to the Jade Fortress where a HUGE brawl happened typical kung-fu flick's many-is-to-one style, and awaken the Monkey King. The Jade Warlord died on the melee and so is Golden Sparrow (leaving Jason still score-less... HAHA... loser). Order was restored in the Kingdom and Jason was returned home.

As a film epilogue of sorts, back at the modern time, Jason meets a Golden Sparrow incarnation (I say, she's still prettier in Chinese garb). Maybe that's his chance to blow it up again.

To sum up the whole film in general, it's an Americanized old kung-fu movie. "Old kung-fu movie" in that apparently it's reminiscent of that time when Chinese martial arts movies hit international attention with the claim to fame of the likes of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee and Ramon Zamora (?? hehe). "Americanized" in that Chinese influences on the film has been dampened by Western humour and story development.

The plot's a no-brainer. Everything's made up as soon as Jason was transported back in time. No surprising twists, not even a subplot (unless you consider Jason's L-A-M-E attempt to create a love story with Golden Sparrow). But... BUT, still I'll have to admit I much enjoyed the movie (staring at Golden Sparrow aside).

The stunts are good (the "wire-works" are flawless). The fight scenes awesome! The cinematography... breathtaking. The humour... fun!

Jacky Chan and Jet Li are still good with their craft. Their kung-fu is nowhere as swift as during their younger years but their fight choreography are still impressive to watch, especially with Jacky Chan donning his "drunken fist" technique again. Jacky Chan versus Jet Li, nuff said. This is history, man!

I can't see much antagonism on the Jade Warlord's acting, same with his female lieutenant, but when I started remembering back what I can recall of the old kung-fu flicks I've watched when I was a kid, I realized you can't really hate most of their antagonists because of sheer ominousness. They simply lack the aura that will make you say "I soooo hate this guy" as soon as you see them. Lame acting goes to Jason. Mediocre acting goes to Miss Sparrow (whose role I don't really think necessary aside from having a pretty-face on board). Kudos to Jacky and Jet too for taking on two different roles.

Another thing to watch out is the Chinese-speaking characters' English dialogues. It threw me off in confusion in some scenes before I got a grip on what they meant but if you've watched a couple of Jacky Chan films before, you should already know what I'm saying.

Aside from two pretty chinky chicks (White-Haired Lieutenant versus Golden Sparrow) fighting over MY attention, this movie has lots of other fantasy lore to offer with a mix of humour and kung-fu to boot. If not for those, just watch it because of the Jet-Jacky tandem!

Nine chinky gulamans, for crying out loud!

*****

Tangena naman oh... what's with chinky chicks??

Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei) take me home!!!
Sakit na daw 'to sabi ng tropa ko. Tsk tsk.