Just a couple of days ago, a friend of mine at work sent me an Outlook invite titled “Girlie Lunch” and she has extended the invite to a few other guys. In the end, I was the only guy who turned up. Last evening might as well be qualified as a “Girlie Dinner” as my guy friend couldn’t make it for dinner and joined us for movie later instead. I must say not often I am privileged for such outings and it is rather interesting to observe the topics that girls like to talk about and things they do on a dining table. The “Girlie Bonding” is somewhat as strong as the binding of the neutrons and protons in the semi-absence of men. The phrase the table has turned has a whole new meaning to me.
The story of the Monkey King or better known as Sun Wukong (孫悟空) in Chinese is based on an epic literature Journey to the West (西遊記) that I have read a couple of times when I was young (100 chapters!). Ever since it was published in the 1950s, the story has been told and retold, packaged and repackaged in a hundred million ways on TV and on big screens. And now, we get to see the Monkey King once again in “The Forbidden Kingdom”.
From a purist viewpoint, “The Forbidden Kingdom” watched almost like a blasphemy to the legendary characters so well known to those who have a deep Chinese background. At times I find it hard to watch how some characters are teamed up against one another. Also, having a bunch of well respected Chinese actors grouped together speaking in not-too-fluent English with an acting delivery less than conviction, to me, is hard to watch too. The action sequence though is pleasant to our senses certainly not as artistic and original as some of the other Chinese films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “House of Flying Daggers”, or “Hero”.
These aside, I can also understand why some (strangely all the girls in our group) found the movie entertaining – especially so with Jackie Chan’s hilarious performance. The scripts can be humorous to both with Chinese background and the ones without. Just like the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique in “Kill Bill” – a direct word-by-word translation so hilariously strange to the foreigner and yet so funnily ridiculous to the Chinese – “The Forbidden Kingdom” has tons of references that when directly translated, are pure madness. My favorite is certainly the translated phrase of “Gate of No Gate” and some of those odd English dialogues like “you bitch!” meets with a “you orphan bitch!” reply. A fellowship of a Westerner, a monk, a drunken scholar, and an orphan girl on a mission to return the magical staff to the Monkey King surely invokes some kind of resemblance to the “Lord of the Ring”. Some may like the familiarity (and what’s up with the must-have cat fight scenes like “Charlie’s Angels” or “James Bond”?).
I was actually quite intrigued by the actress Liu Yifei who has quite an achievement prior to this film. I was once tempted by her Japanese album back in 2006 (she has a Chinese album too) but I gave it a miss. Also, in the same year, I resisted borrowing her highly recommended TV drama “The Return of the Condor Heroes (神雕侠侣)” from my buddy. Perhaps I shall reconsider the offer.
Fortunately, the storyline is not too unbelievable (which ironically the traditional Cantonese movies usually are when it comes down to this genre). You may probably have to read the subtitles to make out the strange English accents. And if you are not too much of a purist, some of those absurd dialogues may stick onto your mind for days to come.
4 replies on “The Forbidden Kingdom – “Gate Of No Gate” Cracks Me Up Big Time”
Hey i found this movie very entertaining too!! 😉 Though crappy and it kind of deviate a little too much from the original tale, i was laughing happily thru the movie.
And yes, Liu Yifei caught my attention too. very pretty young lady!
Suet – Ya! All the girls, too, in my group were laughing happily through the movie. I guess having so many ‘old faces’ on the screen, it really wouldn’t hurt to have an eye candy on the show.
Initially I found the look of Liu Yifei a bit odd. But I guess she does have certain x-factor when it comes to the ancient backdrop. Oh, for me, I actually prefer the “witch” with white hair. I just love her attitude.
haha! i just read at some other blogs that Jason Tripitikas really supposed to be 唐山藏! *faint*
The witch died quite a funny death though! like Jackie cut off her hair? haha! the ancient little sparrow looks lovely, but the modern day version with ‘maggi mee’ hair, just didn’t work for me!
Suet – Good point! The surname of Tripitikas does have a reference to 唐三藏. Now, that is ridiculous to say the least. Perhaps there was no need to look for the Elixir of Immortality after all, just eat Jason’s flesh!