The Forbidden Kingdom: We take a look at the fight that finally pit Jackie Chan and Jet Li against each other
For martial arts fans around the world, arguably two of the biggest names next to Bruce Lee in the genre are Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Both are men of undeniably entertaining martial arts action and while they’re similar in many ways, Li and Chan have established their own identities with their resumes, and the film world was big enough for the two of them at their peaks, much like how American action cinema had both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The dream, of course, was to get both Chan and Li in a movie together and see them fight — either side-by-side or face off in an epic rivalry. In 2008, that dream would come into fruition and both stars finally got to go toe-to-toe in a martial arts match. Today, we take a look at how the movie The Forbidden Kingdom put both icons in a fight scene that was years in the making.
Jackie
Jackie Chan rose to fame in the 70s when he and his Peking Opera brother, Sammo Hung, perfected their own style of action, which was majorly stylistic and acrobatic. It’s how you think superheroes or Jedis would fight with seemingly quick reflexes and immaculate timing. Their style was also comedic. Jackie’s unique brand of action perfectly intertwined complicated choreography with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin-like slapstick. Jackie’s 80s and 90s run is among the best in the martial arts action scene and he would finally have a mass hit in America in 1996 when New Line Cinema imported Rumble in the Bronx as a way to introduce him to a new generation of audiences. This would open the door for more Chan movies and other Chinese stars to come.
Jet
While Jackie was trained for performing in the theatre, Jet Li was a National Champion in the Chinese sport of Wushu. At age 11, Jet won his first Championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. This gave him the chance to come to America for the first time as the team performed for President Nixon. Jet’s notariety in the sport caught the eye of a movie producer and when he was older, Jet became the star of his very first movie, The Shaolin Temple, in 1982. His career was an instant success, but his major breakthrough would come in the early 90s when he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei Hung in the Once Upon a Time in China series.
Jet’s action scenes geared toward more over-the-top wirework use as opposed to Jackie’s. This is because a lot of Jet’s movies were in the Wuxia subgenre, which was fantasy-driven and characters possessed superhuman abilities. But it was the grounded intensity in Fist of Legend that captured him at his very best. In 1998, Jet crossed over into American shores when he played his first villain role in Lethal Weapon 4. Whatever the consensus for that movie is, it’s almost unanimous that Jet’s debut was the highlight, and it paved the way for his U.S. movies like Romeo Must Die.
The Forbidden Kingdom
The Forbidden Kingdom is a love letter to Chinese cinema and culture. The film is a fish-out-of-water magical journey story like The Wizard of Oz or A Kid in King Arthur’s Court. Here, a Boston teen, who’s obsessed with martial arts films, gets transported to ancient China, where mystical characters reign. Jason, the main protagonist, is played by the star and director of the recent film Sacramento, Michael Angarano, and he would embark on a hero’s journey in this kung fu fable. Jason’s joined by a drunken wanderer, Lu Yan, played by Jackie, and a Silent Monk, played by Jet. They’re also accompanied by a young female warrior named Sparrow. Sparrow, here, is played by Liu Yifei, who would later go on to star in Disney’s live-action Mulan remake.
Next to Jet and Jackie, another major Hong Kong action star who’s in this movie is Collin Chou, who plays the main villain, the Jade Warlord. Chou is an icon in his own right, and had already collaborated with Jet Li on a number of films. Also, he had recently faced off against Donnie Yen in the popular action film, Flashpoint, just prior to making this movie. American audiences may also recognize him, as he played the Oracle’s right-hand, Seraph, from the Matrix sequels.
Additionally, the film was also able to assemble a pretty incredible creative team. The Lion King director, Rob Minkoff, helms the film with John Fusco, writer of the Young Guns movies, Hidalgo and the Netflix Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel, penning the screenplay. Fusco’s script drew from many facets of Chinese culture, including history and mythology. There are also references to iconic kung fu movies, like Five Elements Mountain, the White-Haired Witch, Bruce Lee’s philosophy, the line “Come Drink with Me,” and much more. Both Jackie and Jet also go through the different kung fu animal styles when training Jason, which are usually the focus of many martial arts classics. The only thing that felt missing is dubbing everyone with the fun, cheesy voices.
Although The Forbidden Kingdom was an American product, Minkoff and producer Casey Silver were smart to get the best names in Chinese cinema to work on the production. Cinematographer Peter Pau, whose credits include The Killer and The Bride with White Hair, lent his talents to the film and gave it an authentic look. And of course, the film’s dream team is completed with fight choreographer, Yuen Woo Ping, arranging the fight scenes. Woo Ping is possibly one of the most beloved choreographer in Hong Kong cinema with his immaculately put together exchanges. His work with Li in Fist of Legend is still celebrated to this day.He, then, achieved international attention when he was recognized for his work in The Matrix films, and then again when Tarantino brought him aboard for the Kill Bill movies.
The Fight
So, let’s get to it. While the movie was an epic adventure that transcended time and reality, the biggest draw was that not only are Jackie Chan and Jet Li starring in a movie together, but they have a big fight scene in the middle of it. Hardcore fans, including myself, were holding out hope that there would possibly be more than just one, since this was a rare event — like it could’ve been possible that Jackie’s character would fall victim to mind control from the bad guys during the finale and they make him go against his ally in an even grittier fight to the death, until the spell is broken. I don’t know. I’m spitballing.
Unfortunately, there’s just the one scene, but fortunately, they were smart enough to take their time on it. Usually, and especially in American productions, fight scenes last only a couple minutes. Obviously, in Jet and Jackie’s past films, they would exceed that time frame. But even as an American movie, The Forbidden Kingdom’s fight scene between the J’s lasts for about six minutes.
Here’s a bit of context. Jackie’s drunken wanderer agrees to help Jason return the Monkey King’s staff to Five Elements Mountain. One morning on their journey, a mysterious figure steals the staff. Lu Yan sees the figure riding off and follows him to a temple where he sought refuge. Now, up to this point, Jackie and Jet have had plenty of scenes in the movie, but both in their own story. I remember seeing the shot of Jackie entering the temple, then the camera lowering to get Jet into frame. When I saw this, I lost my mind for a bit. I couldn’t believe they were in the same frame! This is definitely not like Heat, where you don’t ever see Pacino and De Niro in the same shot.
So, let’s break it down. The fight can be seen as lasting a few rounds. At first, Jackie tries to take the staff back, but Jet keeps a grasp on it. Neither lose grip and we get them playing a kung fu tug-o-war before it gets stuck in a stone statue. Once their hands are free of it, the fists start flying and Jackie and Jet start doing what they do best. We get just a tiny bit of prop involvement with Jackie’s satchel, but he doesn’t get to let loose like in his own movies. This is a good time to point out that for most of his career, Jackie and his team usually choreograph their own fight scenes. With Yuen Woo Ping on board, this is the first time in years where Jackie performed under someone else’s action design. And it’s fitting too, as the last time he worked with Woo Ping, it was on the first Drunken Master, which sent Jackie into superstardom.
Speaking of which, in the next round, Jackie strikes his iconic drunken boxing pose and starts turning the fight in his direction. At this point, Jet goes old school as he breaks out Praying Mantis-style on Jackie. Then, Jackie counters with his Tiger Palm style and the next round becomes Mantis Fists and Tiger Claws, which happens to be the title of an old Wu-Tang film. The last round finishes things off with a bang with both getting increasingly aggressive — Jet uses his trusty back fist and Jackie breaks out a little Crane-style. The battle ends in a draw, because…how do you even choose who wins this? However, if you wanted to judge the fight on points, Jet does seem to control it on a whole more than Jackie did. It’s slightly disheartening, and it only furthers your desire for a rematch to see a Chan-dominant fight.
They join forces soon after when they realize they’re on the same journey and the scene ends with a wholesome hearty laugh between the legends. While they don’t fight again, they do have a fun love/hate relationship throughout when they clash as dual masters trying to simultaneously teach Jason kung fu. All the elements came together for this fight. Woo Ping and the crew truly made this scene like they would have in Hong Kong, and director Rob Minkoff said they way they shot this fight was like jazz. The team was improvisational with the choreography. They had the ability of two martial arts icons to work with and they did what they needed to make a shot work, even if it meant changing around the set during filming.
Jackie particularly found this scene to be a pleasure to shoot. As a perfectionist who indulges in a multitude of takes, he’s had a history of feeling tense with stuntmen not on his team and who don’t know his rhythms. It’s been shown how frustrated he’s gotten with skilled fighters with little experience in screen combat (Who am I?). Here, Jackie says that Jet’s timing was so on point, that they barely had any challenges filming the sequence and it had gone pretty smoothly. In fact, the only reason they would do more takes is when both of them were moving too fast for the camera.
Jackie and Jet have been wanting to collaborate for a long time. In an interview from April 2008, Jackie said he and Jet were trying to put plans in motion back in the early 90s while they were at the height of their powers, but studio politics prevented a project from happening. Then, as years rolled on, availability became a big issue for both stars, but things finally aligned for The Forbidden Kingdom. Cynically speaking, it’s a shame we didn’t get a team up back in the 90s with a contemporary action story were maybe they were both cops, but The Forbidden Kingdom was a good celebration of their legacy and putting them in a periond film was pretty fitting.
Today, Jackie continues to crank out films and can be seen in the recent Karate Kid: Legends. Meanwhile, Jet moreso retired after being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 2010, and even after recovering from the illness, he now concentrates on charity work.
In 2017, Jet made an appearance in the short film, Gong Shou Dao, which also featured Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, Jacky Wu and was choreographed by Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo Ping, and Tony Ching. However, they don’t actually appear together and the short is more of a dream project by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.
The Forbidden Kingdom may not be the balls-to-the-wall martial arts spectacular that fans hoped Chan and Li could do together, but it’s also far from “too little, too late” and it makes for a great audience-pleaser. Gānbēi!
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