Forbidden Kingdom

The only film I know of that has Jackie Chan and Jet Li working together and this is brilliant.

The story centres around Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano - 24, Will and Grace) who has a recurrent dream about ancient China, though that's hardly surprising since all he seems to think about is kung fu, making regular visits to an old pawn shop to buy as many kung fu movies as he can.

He gets into trouble with a local gang, who force him to take them to the pawn shop with the sole objective to rob the old Chinese owner. During the robbery, the old man gets shot and gives Jason a ceremonial staff he's been keeping safe, ready to return to the rightful owner, telling him this is now his duty.

Jason has no alternative but to run from the gang, winding up on top of the building with nowhere to go then pulled off the top by an unseen force.

When Jason comes round, he finds himself with the staff in ancient China, where he meets a drunk (Jackie Chan - too many to name, but try The Medallion with Lee Evans for a start), Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu - nothing I know) and the Silent Monk (Jet Li - Kiss of the Dragon, The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, War). Together, they have to travel to the Jade Kingdom, fight the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou, Seraph from the Matrix movies) and release the Monkey King.

The tale is one that many people may recognise as based around the story of the seventies series 'Monkey' or Saiyûki as it was known originally, but with much more up-to-date effects.

The fight scenes are well choreographed and film generally is well put together - a kind of coming of age for Jason and a damned good action film for the rest of us.

If you're into the martial arts films then this is definitely one to look out for as it's a most enjoyable, entertaining tale with Chan in fine form and working well with Jet Li - who's awesome.