Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a master of its art, and people willing to exploit it for the sake of greed: sound like a great action movie? It isn't, and that is why it works.
WARNING!
Before you even think of seeing this movie, stop. Leave the world behind you before you enter, and embrace what you see as though it was your first time. If you come with expectations, then you will be disappointed. Leave them behind you and find yourself in a new experience you may not be prepared for yet.
This movie is not about impressing you with flying roundhouse kicks, flurries of punches and tightly-choreographed spins and blows that are covered with a shaky camera and multiple stuntmen. This is a movie about martial arts, and what it means to really understand it.
Still Here? Then Let me Explain:
Chiwotel Ejiofor is Mike Terry. He is a trained master in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a man who strives to find perfection in his martial art and teach his knowledge to those willing to learn. He seeks purity in his art, and hopefully to instruct purity in his pupils, but there is a flaw in his belief: this is reality, and reality does not approve of purity.
When things go awry, he takes it with the calmness of a spring breeze. When things are good, he thinks of others before himself. When things get violent, he only acts when he needs to, and he never fights for money because it sells out his art.
Because of his purity, there is an endless tension throughout the film. While he has a quiet acknowledgement of greatness among those who have seen him fight (from his brother-in-law, to the police officers who have seen him in action, and to his students who look up to him with the honor of a sensei), he is still a nobody whom no one can understand for his endless altruism. Even his own wife, Sondra Terry (Alice Braga) is a rising new fabric designer in the world, his support, and unfortunately one of the biggest strangers in his life. She comes from a life of wants, and finds him living on needs to be frustrating. The truth of the matter is that you might too, if you had him for a husband.
When he sees celebrity Chet Frank (a surprisingly good performance by Tim Allen), he befriends the man who soon begins to ruin everything in his life that he barely had himself. Along the way, he gains a new friend; a nervous attorney who actually almost ruins his life from the very beginning, and eventually begins to see what so few do in Mike.
Martial Arts for the Sake of Martial Arts
If there is one thing that might put people off the most about this movie, it is that this is not a movie that glorifies martial arts for what it can do, as much as what sort of discipline is required to master it. The fighting choreographed in the film is some of the most realistic you could hope to see, and like the people who see Mike Terry’s prowess, these scenes are few and far between. This may even explain why the struggle throughout the entire movie is lowly as his status as a pariah, as people really begin to understand just how amazing he truly is only when he fights, which is only something he can do when he really is in a situation where one needs to defend themselves.
It seems almost alien to consider a movie that takes such a cliché concept and follows it to the end. When we consider the many movies out there that have followed this tradition, such as Ong Bak, we usually find the protagonist breaking the rule within thirty minutes of the film. To find a movie that actually emphasizes restraint seems almost difficult to believe. For some, that can also make it difficult to watch.
Verdict
This is not a movie for everyone, for obvious reasons. The pace is painful, and there is almost no action. If you are looking for a film that has action, drama, and excitement, then Forbidden Kingdom would gladly fulfill that need. If you are looking for a film that is all about the glory of fighting, then see Never Back Down. If you are looking for something different, something that tries to emphasize what martial arts are really about, then this may just be the movie for you.
