Overlong but an entertaining fight flick
Summary
The Forbidden City has fantastic fight scenes that may be some of the best we’ll se this year, however, when the fists aren’t flying it is mildly less interesting and the pacing drags at times. It’s definitely worth watching as the characters are enjoyable, but it also feels like two movies spliced together which doesn’t always work.
Plot: From Gabriele Mainetti, director of They Call Me Jeeg Robot and Freaks Out, comes the action-packed tale of two strangers seeking the truth and vengeance. Mei arrives in Rome looking for her missing sister and, along the way, meets Marcello, who is desperate to find his father. Together, they will fight their way through the Roman underworld. Filled with lightning-paced martial arts, The Forbidden City is an action epic not to be missed.
Review: The Forbidden City is a unique film and unlike anything I’ve seen before; it’s half Italian and half Chinese, but that also means it feels like two different movies.
I found it a little uneven and the film really shines when its star Yaxi Liu is in kung fu mode, taking out the trash.
The film starts off strong with some incredible beatdowns and violence; Mei is a force of nature, and I love how everyone underestimates her, and she completely destroys them.
She is hunting for her sister who has disappeared, so she comes to Rome and will not let anyone get in her path including chef Marcello (Enrico Borello); he is looking for a way out of his dead-end life in the family restaurant. I won’t say anything else to avoid spoilers, but the film has a few twists and it’s at its best during the fight scenes.
I did find the pacing slowed a little too much and it went on for too long at just under 2 hours and 20 minutes. Despite that, I really liked the characters, and the film was surprisingly emotional at times. It’s all about family and what you would do for them, no matter what and it’s something we can all relate to.
The trailers made this look like it was going to be action packed and intense and the first 15-20 minutes are, however then the tone changes a little; there are a few humorous moments, but the film is less interesting when Mei isn’t beating people up.
Overall, The Forbidden City was a unique kung fu movie with revenge, romance and a new badass on the block with Yaxi Liu as Mei. It is too long, and the pacing does drag a little when the story isn’t focusing on Mei. This is still worth a watch even if it doesn’t always maintain the intensity of the opening 20 minutes.