Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

The Forbidden Kingdom marks a milestone in martial arts film history, bringing together for the first time ever two of the genre's biggest stars in Jackie Chan and Jet Li. In theory, a martial arts film based on the Chinese legend of the Monkey King starring the two preeminent performers in the world of martial arts cinema should be an instant classic, but The Forbidden Kingdom, though an enjoyable film, comes across a bit silly and too focused on the film's young Western star, Michael Angarano playing Jason Triptikas, a geeky high school teen fascinated with the world of martial arts film and lore.

On the way home one night, Jason is forced into helping a gang of bullies  rob the Chinatown pawnshop Jason is found of visiting run by an elderly man, Old Hop (Jackie Chan).  Not willing to be robbed without a fight, Old Hop attacks the gang with a staff, but ends up being shot.  Old Hop hands the staff to Jason telling him he must now return it to its original owner, and Jason flees with Lupo, the leader of the gang, and his cronies in pursuit, fearing Jason might turn them in to the police.

Chasing Jason to a rooftop, Lupo pulls his gun on Jason with the intent to shoot him, but just before Lupo can shoot, Jason is pulled off the rooftop by a mysterious force and falls to the ground. When he awakes, Jason has been transported to a village in ancient China where soldiers begin to attack. When the soldiers notice the staff they try to seize it from him, but an inebriated traveler by the name of Lu Yan (also Chan) comes to his rescue.  Later the same night while at a teahouse, Lu Yan tells Jason of the legend of the Monkey King (Jet Li) whose magical staff made him an unbeatable warrior and how the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) tricked the Monkey King into laying down his staff and turned him into stone, but not before the Monkey King was able to cast his staff out into the world to hide it.

Later, while still at the teahouse, the soldiers find Lu Yan and Jason again and another spectacular struggle ensues. This time a young woman, Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), comes to their rescue just as the Jade Warlord's henchman are about to kill them. Together, the three set off to free the Monkey King and that is when they come across The Silent Monk (also Li) who steals the staff. This leads to one of the film's best sequences as Jackie Chan's and Jet Li's characters square off against each other in a marvelously choreographed Kung-Fu battle that ends in a stalemate. It is revealed, however, that The Silent Monk, is on the same mission to return the staff and free the Monkey King from his imprisonment by the Jade Warrior.

So, for much of the rest of the film, Lu Yan, The Silent Monk, Golden Sparrow, and Jason are pursued by the Jade Warrior's men and the White Haired Witch (Bingbing Li) as they journey to return the staff to its rightful owner. Forbidden Kingdom does offer some amazing cinematography and wonderfully energetic martial arts scenes, but the interactions between Jackie Chan and Jet Li are far too few. The film, overall, also comes across just a bit comical, rather than mythic. Still, it is entertaining even if not quite up to the standards one might expect from the first film to bring together Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Most of the Chinese mythology referenced in the film, by the screenwriters own admission, has been Westernized to appeal to audiences in the U.S. With that in mind, I suppose one could overlook the idea that an ancient Chinese mythological artifact would end up in South Boston, in the possession of a teen martial arts cinema fanatic and also the fact that everyone in ancient China magically speaks English. The filmmakers weren't going for authenticity, but rather, palatability amongst a certain audience. They succeeded in the latter, but to that extent, it will, I'm afraid, keep this from becoming a classic genre-film.

The Picture

With its AVC/MPEG-4 encoding in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1, The Forbidden Kingdom's pristine source leaps from the screen with sharp detail and dazzlingly vibrant colors, from the verdant day lit greens of the Wuyi Forest to the hazy blue of the forest at night, or the richly colored traditional Chinese garb, the transfer's color palette pops from the screen. Even with the film's saturated colors, flesh tones are still natural showing no evidence of red push. Black levels are good with excellent shadow details and contrast is also perfect.

The transfer's fine level of grain is consistent throughout the presentation and detail is excellent in both foreground and background shots. The transfer is thankfully free of any artifacts such as macroblocking, edge enhancement or motion jaggies making this a flawless transfer.

The Sound

Forbidden Kingdom comes with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. As one of the few, though ever-growing catalogue of titles with discrete 7.1 soundtracks, Forbidden Kingdom makes a grand argument for the extra two channels. Masterfully mixed with clear dialogue in the center channel and lush amounts of ambient effects in the surrounds, such as the sounds of the forest or the chattering of a Chinese teahouse, Forbidden Kingdom provides an engaging, fully encompassing soundscape. The mix makes strong use of the LFE channel with pounding low frequencies, lending much weight to the overall sound. Sound effects which are all mainly in the realm of foleyed sounds of the film's martial arts confrontations are often mixed discretely throughout the surround and main channels for an invigorating and lively mix.

The Extras

As is typical with most BD releases from Lionsgate, The Forbidden Kingdom comes with an abundance of supplemental materials. The title is also BonusView and BD-Live enabled for any viewers with compatible players. Apart from the few HD trailers, all extras are in standard definition, which is unfortunate.

Unlike most releases that load up on extras but offer more quantity than quality, The Forbidden Kingdom actual offers some very interesting featurettes that offer a look into the world of filmmaking in China and the connection of Chinese mythology to the martial arts.

The extras available on this release are:

• Commentary with director Rob Minkoff & Writer John Fusco -- Although the director and writer have a rather lively conversation over the film, much of the information they offer can be gleaned from the discs many other supplemental materials, such as the picture-in-picture feature or any of the featurettes.
• BonusView Picture-in-Picture -- The cast and filmmakers comment on the film and its story as a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the scenes is shown, from the green screen visual effects and practical effects to location scouting and more.
• Storyboarding and Previz (standard definition) -- The director and crew discuss their storyboarding process. There's also discussion of the process of pre-visualization, or previz, the process of turning the storyboards into rough 3D animated drafts of the entire scene.
• The Kung-Fu Dream Team (standard definition) -- This featurette is all about bringing together the legendary martial arts actors Jet Li and Jackie Chan for the very first time. The two actors and the choreographer also discuss their different approach to martial arts.
• Dangerous Beauty: The Women of the Forbidden Kingdom (standard definition) -- This featurette profiles the film's two main female actresses, Yifei Liu and Bingbing Li, and their characters in the film.
• Discovering China (standard definition) -- The cast and crew discuss their time filming on location in China at such natural landmarks as the Wuyi Mountains and Gobi Desert.
• Filming in Chinawood (standard definition) -- China has a burgeoning film industry and as a consequence they have built the largest film studio in Asia in the Hengdian World Studios. This featurette profiles the sprawling Hengdian facility.
• Monkey King and the Eight Immortals (standard definition) -- Screenwriter John Fusco, a martial artist himself, discusses the Chinese mythology that The Forbidden Kingdom is based on.
• Blooper Reel (standard definition) -- As its title implies, this supplement is a collection of bloopers from the filming of Forbidden Kingdom that offers a surprising bit of amusement.
• Deleted Scenes (2.40:1/high definition) -- Six deleted scenes with optional commentary from writer John Fusco and director Rob Minkoff.
• MoLog -- BD-Live feature that allows you to insert graphics and animate, text, and audio into the film and share them with other users.
• Also from Lionsgate (high definition) -- Trailers for Blu-ray releases from Lionsgate:
  • Bangkok Dangerous
  • War
  • The Bank Job
• Digital Copy -- This release contains a second disc with access to a digital copy of the film for transfer to a Mac/PC, video enabled iPod/iPhone or PlayForSure portable devices.

Final Thoughts

Wonderful choreography and cinematography are the strengths of this film. As a debut for bringing together Jackie Chan and Jet Li, it falters, but its playful, almost silly tone at least keeps it from being overbearing and helps to make it entertaining. Lionsgate's fine video transfer and lossless surround mix mean this BD release is at the very least very strong rental material.

Where to Buy

• The Forbidden Kingdom on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Jackie Chan, Yifei Liu, Juana Collignon
• Directors: Rob Minkoff
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Audio/Language: English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: PG-13
• Studio: Lions Gate
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: September 9, 2008
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• List Price:$39.99
• Extas:
  • BonusView Picture-in-Picture Feature:
    • Exploration into the film's casting, locations, and other filmmaking secrets with interviews by director Rob Minkoff, writer John Fusco, producer Casey  Silver, actors Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and more!
  • The Kung Fu Dream Team
  • Dangerous Beauty
  • Discovering China
  • Filming in Chinawood
  • Monkey King and the Eight Immortals
  • Blooper Reel
  • Deleted Scenes with commentary by Rob Minkoff and John Fusco
  • Feature Commentary with Rob Minkoff and John Fusco
  • Previsualization Featurette with commentary by Rob Minkoff
  • MoLog™is the first Blu-ray Disc Live application that allows users to insert and animate shapes, text, audio, and other graphics right into the film to create "blogs" to share with other MoLog users!