Review of The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) by Elaine C — 05 Jan 2010

Surprisingly good action film pairing Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The film's biggest problem are the bookends, with the rather silly explanation as to how the modern-day teenage protagonist ends up in ancient China trying to return a sacred staff to its rightful owner, and then the way he gets back to modern day.

The movie would have been so much better had they stuck with the "meat" of the film, which are the spectacular fight scenes combined with some fantasy elements. Although it's always a bit irksome that in so many of these kung fu movies, punches and kicks have absolutely no real damaging effect on the fighters, and you basically have to get shot, stabbed, or fall into an abyss in order to actually get hurt.