Was It Worth the Wait?

I watched a fair amount of Bruce Lee movies during my early teenage years, but I consider Jackie Chan to be the reason I began to love martial arts movies. Like so many other Westerners, my introduction to him was Rumble in the Bronx, a movie I immediately became obsessed with and led me to seek out every Jackie Chan title available in the states. The man who ran the store where I bought my videos eventually ran out of Chan movies to recommend and suggested I explore some other fighting styles. He ending up placing Fist of Legend in my hands, thus beginning my fascination with Jet Li.

It was inevitable, I guess, that one day Chan and Li would face off, although I kind of wondered how much fun it would be since they're styles are so different. Chan, who has played it straight on occasion, is known for bringing a hint of physical comedy to his movies while Li is always deathly serious (I can't recall having seen him smile more than a few times). After many years and many rumors, the two masters finally decided to join forces on screen, and just the confirmation of this was enough to stir excitement into my nostalgic eighteen-year-old heart. Despite my anticipation, a hint of disappointment arose when I learned that it was not going to be helmed by a Chinese director.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not saying there aren't American directors capable of pulling Chan and Li's first onscreen collaboration off with a bang. My concern comes from their histories in American movies; so far, they've both been mishandled (Li's only noteworthy non-Chinese release is Unleashed, which is British) and their English still is often hard to understand. Instead of bringing in a director known for shooting effective action sequences (I have a hard time believing Ronny Yu and Tsui Hark weren't available), the studio inexplicably hired Rob Minkoff, whose previous efforts include The Haunted Mansion, Stuart Little, and The Lion King. With a resume like that, Minkoff would not be my first choice, mostly because I'd be afraid of the movie being too cartoonish.

If anything was going to save this project, titled The Forbidden Kingdom, from complete disaster, it would be the inclusion of fight choreographer Woo-Ping Yuen. In his hands, at least Chan and Li would be utilized in the right way, particularly when they finally have a go at each other. It seems like the filmmakers were banking on this fight scene alone to sell the movie. Look at the story, the ridiculous CGI, and the bullshit philosophy and it's easy to realize that. While it's true Chan and Li's imports didn't have profound screenplays, at least they were sturdy enough to hang the fight scenes on.

My goal here is not to go too much into the movie itself, because it's just not worth the time. For the first half, at least it looks like Minkoff has a decent hold on the reigns, but after Chan and Li throw down, the whole thing collapses under itself. The movie becomes a truly boring affair, with horrid dialogue, a predictable and lazy Karate Kid plot device, and fight scenes that are shot too close up to care. I was with the movie for a good forty-five minutes, so it was a real shame when it finally became what I'd feared from the beginning.

The burning question is this: if the movie itself fails to live up as a whole, how is the first onscreen fight between Jackie Chan and Jet Li? To my surprise, it was quite wonderful. The stars let their limbs fly almost nonstop for roughly five minutes, causing the joy of seeing these two legends working their magic so blissful it feels like it lasts a welcome eternity. Wisely, Woo-Ping doesn't turn their styles against each other; call it a welcome compromise. The result is the best time I've had at the movies in quite a while - even if it only lasts a few moments.

If anything aside from the fight scene save The Forbidden Kingdom from being completely awful, it's the fact that Chan and Li look like they're having a blast. Chan gets to do a subtle recreation of his old Drunken Master routine, while Li goes against type by actually playing a mischievous character who laughs. Even though I was pleased with this, I was thrilled that they come off as if they enjoy working together, which was certainly a concern I had going in. Would one ego try to push the other one out of the way? Given their natural chemistry, I do hope they decide to make other movies together (especially before Chan, who is 54, decides to retire). Otherwise, Chan will never get his revenge on Li, who tries to humor him about summoning the rain by peeing on his head. Who's the master now?


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Copyright, Hell and Beyond, 2008