The Forbidden Kingdom
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| The Forbidden Kingdom | |
|---|---|
 The Forbidden Kingdom poster | |
| Directed by | Rob Minkoff |
| Produced by | Ryan Kavanaugh, Lynwood Spinks, Casey Silver, Yuen Woo-Ping Raffaella de Laurentis, David U. Lee, Philip Lee, Zhongjun Wang |
| Written by | John Fusco (screenplay) Wu Cheng'en (story) |
| Starring | Jackie Chan Jet Li Liu Yifei Collin Chou Li Bingbing Michael Angarano |
| Music by | David Buckley |
| Cinematography | Peter Pau |
| Editing by | Eric Strand |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate The Weinstein Company |
| Release date(s) |  April 17, 2008[1] April 17, 2008 April 18, 2008   April 24, 2008 June 25, 2008 July 11, 2008 [2] July 26, 2008 |
| Running time | 1 hour and 53 minutes |
| Country | United States China |
| Language | English / Mandarin |
| Budget | $55 million[3] |
| Followed by | The Forbidden Kingdom 2: Return to Five Elements Mountain (2010) |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Forbidden Kingdom (Chinese: 功夫之王) is a 2008 Hollywood martial arts-adventure film from Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company directed by Rob Minkoff. It is the first film to star together two of the best-known names in the martial arts film genre, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The action sequences were choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping.
The movie is distributed in the United States through Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company,[4] and through The Huayi Brothers Film & Taihe Investment Company in the People's Republic of China. It is set to be released on DVD on September 9, 2008.
Plot
The film opens during a battle between Sun Wukong, the Monkey King (Jet Li), and heavenly soldiers amongst the clouds. It is then revealed the sequence was a dream when a young teenager, Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano), awakens in his room plastered with vintage kung fu movie posters. After getting dressed, he makes his way to a pawn shop in South Boston's China town to buy some new kung fu DVDs. There, he converses with Hop (a prosthetics-laden Jackie Chan), the shop's elderly owner, and, while thumbing through some DVDs, he is drawn to a room full of antiques and notices a golden staff. Hop tells him that the staff is to be delivered to its rightful owner and then closes the door. On his way back home, Jason is attacked by local bully Lupo (Morgan Benoit) and his cronies who force him to take them to the store so they can steal some money from the old man. Feeling betrayed, Hop tries to attack the thieves with the staff, but is shot by Lupo (much to both Jason and Lupo's cronies' shock). He tells Jason that he must deliver the staff to its rightful owner. Jason takes the staff and runs from the thieves. On top of a building, he is surrounded by the bullies, with Lupo warning Jason that he "saw nothing" (out of fear Jason may turn them in to police). Before Lupo can shoot Jason, he is suddenly pulled off the roof by the staff and travels back through time.
When Jason wakes up he has been transported back to ancient China, dressed in old-century clothing. There he is attacked by Jade Warriors who try to take the staff from him. He is helped by the Drunken Immortal, traveling scholar Lu Yan (Jackie Chan). Later that night, seated in a teahouse, Lu tells Jason a story of how the Monkey King caused havoc at the banquet on the Five Elements Mountain celebrating the Jade Emperor's forthcoming 500 year period of meditation and drank of the elixir of immortality. The Emperor took a liking to the Monkey King and decided to award him a heavenly title, much to the chagrin of the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou), a heavenly general. The Emperor then left the Jade Warlord in charge of heaven before retreating to his period of seclusion. The Jade Warlord later challenged the Monkey King to a duel, and turned him into stone by tricking the Monkey King to setting aside his magic staff. But before he was fully immobilized, the Monkey King cast his staff into the mundane world. Lu Yan ends the tale by stating a person known as the "Seeker" will be the person to find the staff and free the Monkey King. Lu Yan and Jason then get into a fight with the Jade Warriors who track them to the restaurant and are saved by a mysterious young woman, who turns out to be the Orphaned Warrior, Golden Sparrow (Liu Yi Fei). Sparrow's family was killed by the Jade Warlord, and she has vowed vengeance against him.
The Jade Warlord is notified by his men that they have seen the magical staff. The Jade Warlord then sends his bounty hunter, the white-haired witch Ni Chang (Li Bingbing), to retrieve it for him. When Jason wakes up in the morning he is attacked by a person dressed in white clothes, who takes the staff away. Jason, Lu Yan, and Sparrow follow the trail of the mysterious man. They reach a temple where the man is meditating. There, Lu Yan and the man, the Silent Monk (Jet Li), fight for the staff. The Silent Monk later learns that the staff is meant for the traveler. The four head towards the Five Elements Mountain in a quest to free the Monkey King and end the reign of the Jade Warlord.
On the way to the Mountain, Lu Yan and the Silent Monk teach Jason kung fu. After crossing a great desert, they are attacked by Ni Chang and the Jade Warriors, but the four escape on their horses with the staff intact. Ni Chang fires an arrow after them, and Lu Yan is hit and falls from his horse. They take refuge in a monastery where they find out that only the Jade Warlord's elixir of immortality will heal Lu Yan, who admits to being a mere mortal. Jason, desperate to help Lu Yan, heads toward the palace with the staff to exchange it for the elixir. Once at the palace he learns that the elixir was promised to Ni Chang if she brought back the staff, but since Jason brought it he has to fight Ni Chang to the death, the winner getting the elixir. The Silent Monk discovers that Jason has left with the staff and pursues Jason along with Sparrow. Back at the palace, Jason and Ni Chang fight. Though Jason had developed a good measure of skill in the martial arts and holds his own, the more experienced Ni Chang defeats him. But before she can kill him, the Jade Warlord orders her to stop and, instead, sets his own men on Jason. The boy's life is once again saved when the Silent Monk and Sparrow arrive (with Lu Yan in the rear being carried by monks from the monastery who join in the fight with the Jade Army) and intervene. The Silent Monk duels the Jade Warlord while Sparrow fights Ni Chang. During the fight, Jason manages to grab hold of the elixir and throw it to Lu Yan, who drinks it and becomes immortal, regaining his strength and energy. Lu Yan then fights Ni Chang on the balcony. The Silent Monk is mortally wounded during his battle with the Jade Warlord and throws the staff to Jason. Jason takes the staff and shatters the Monkey King's statue form, freeing him from his imprisoned state. The Silent Monk dies of his injuries and reverts into a golden hair, revealing him to be a magical human familiar created by the Monkey King prior to his imprisonment. The fight between the Monkey King and the Jade Warlord commences. Sparrow tries to kill the Jade Warlord with a mystical jade dart, but is countered by chi. After a long battle, Lu Yan dispatches Ni Chang by sending her off the palace balcony and Jason is able to kill the Jade Warlord with the dart and dropping him into a pit of lava. Jason reaches Sparrow, who thanks him before dying. He is then praised by the Jade Emperor for fulfilling the people's prophecy. As his reward for his bravery, Jason chooses to be transported back home to modern day Boston.
When Jason wakes up, he is lying flat on the ground below the building he supposedly fell from and is attacked by Lupo's gang, but this time he uses his newfound kung fu skills, fights back, and defeats Lupo single-handedly. Hop manages to survive the gunshot (the medics stated that the bullet missed his heart), and is taken to the hospital, but not before stating he is immortal and thanking Jason for completing his mission. Before Jason leaves the scene, he sees a girl who looks like Sparrow. She congratulates him for his bravery and tells him she will see him later. She then goes into her store (the Golden Sparrow). Jason, surprised but delighted to see her, leaves and goes home, where he practices his kung fu on the roof with a staff.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Jackie Chan | Lu Yan, the Drunken Immortal/Hop, the pawn shop owner |
| Jet Li | Sun Wukong/The Silent Monk |
| Collin Chou | The Jade Warlord[5] |
| Michael Angarano | Jason Tripitikas, the Traveler[6] |
| Liu Yi Fei | Golden Sparrow, the Chinatown girl |
| Li Bingbing | Ni-Chang, the White-Haired Witch Assassin |
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