In fact, they were made for each other. One is a master of slapstick and slapstick, the other impresses with seriousness and dignity, even when he’s kicking bad guys. On paper, it’s the perfect buddy movie combination. Despite this, action legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li have only made one film together in their long careers. You can currently catch up on the fun adventure Forbidden Kingdom from 2008.
Forbidden Kingdom is a fantasy adventure – and a fan dream
The story of the film is told from the perspective of a martial arts fan, which is why Forbidden Kingdom is a fan’s dream in two ways. Because Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) loves the kind of films that made Jackie Chan and Jet Li famous, i.e. Hong Kong sword fighting and kung fu action. While browsing for DVDs in a pawn shop, Jason comes across a golden stick A little later he travels through time rather involuntarily.
When he arrives in ancient China, he meets the perpetually drunk scholar Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), who tells him the story of the staff and its rightful owner: the Monkey King (Jet Li). Together with the Silent Monk (also Jet Li) and a mysterious young woman (Liu Yifei, who would later play Disney’s Mulan), they go on a search for the Monkey King, which the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) doesn’t like at all comfortable.
Film fan Jason experiences the adventure of his dreams and the audience is promised something similar when Jet Li and Jackie Chan meet. Both stars appear with their classic character typesJackie Chan as a playful Drunken Master, while Jet Li once again plays the more serious Tai Chi Master. Of course, a fight between the two – even though the characters are on the same side – should not be missed.
So you can watch the fantasy adventure via stream
Forbidden Kingdom is currently part of Pluto TV’s on-demand offering. You can find our channel with the free, ad-financed provider Moviepilot TV with Pluto TV. Only films that do well in the Moviepilot community are shown here. With 6.4 out of 10 points from over 2,300 votes, the adventure is part of it.
At the time of this article, The Meeting of the Action Giants is part of Pluto TV’s streaming catalog, which you can use without a subscription or additional costs. You can watch Pluto TV on your TV using the app or via stream, right here on Moviepilot. To watch Forbidden Kingdom via the on-demand catalog, you need to open Pluto TV and enter the film title in the search field.
Forbidden Kingdom offers classic adventure entertainment
Forbidden Kingdom has two drawbacks that need to be overlooked. It is an American-Chinese co-production with a strong Hollywood influence and a rather inconspicuous director (Rob Minkoff). And secondly, he is fifteen years too late. In 2008, Jackie Chan and Jet Li were no longer at the peak of their physical abilities, so don’t expect a 100-minute full-throttle brawl.
Once you accept these compromises, you can still expect an entertaining fantasy adventure for the whole family, led by two legends who play their greatest hits again in a stripped-down form. They are helped by a long-time companion, namely the no less legendary action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping.
Yuen directed Jackie Chan’s first Drunken Master film and Jet Li’s Tai Chi Master, and designed the fight choreos in Tiger and Dragon, Matrix and Kill Bill. That’s probably one of the reasons why the elegant action scenes in Forbidden Kingdom are impressive – despite the Hollywood influence. That can’t be said about many English-language films Jackie Chan and Jet Li have made over the years. If Forbidden Kingdom is their first and last starring film together – and it looks like it will be, given Jet Li’s increasing retreat from the film business – then they could have done a lot worse.