If you’re a Marvel and/or DC Comic lover, then Iron Man is a movie that you must watch. For those who don’t know who Iron Man is, here’s a short description of this marvelous super hero. He’s eccentric, rich, a playboy, intelligent, master of technology, and has lots and lots of cool looking cars.
Tony Stark acted by Robert Downey Jr. was such a proud superhero character with an attitude who as opposed to many superheroes, revealed himself to the press as Iron Man. There was lots of action in the movie which is pretty much what I expect from a film like this. Effects was amazing and the Iron Man character wasn’t a bit disappointing at all.
I don’t want to spoil your excitement so just go ahead and watch it if you haven’t done so yet. It’s a 5 out of 5 to me.
Official Site: http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com/
I was so excited when I first heard about the movie Forbidden Kingdom mainly because it stars two of the most popular names in martial arts film Jackie Chan and Jet Li. While I did plan to watch the movie on its opening date, I wasn’t able to do so because I had so many important things to do.
Now that I was able to see the film, all I can say is that I’m not really happy with it. I was not really sure if it was the “Karate Kid” feeling that I didn’t want or the fantasy part of the film. I was never really a fan of both. I also think that the movie is lacking in kung-fu action between Jackie Chan and Jet Li himself. They did have one good fighting scene inside a temple but that was just it. I was also expecting to see them fight a common enemy (The Jade Warlord) together but that didn’t happen.
The actors however did well in their individual acts. Here’s my quick assessment of their acting:
- Jackie Chan (Hop, the thrift store owner/Lu Yan, the Drunken Immortal) - as usual, Jackie did well doing the drunken fist style. Quite reminiscing of his movies back in his early days.
- Jet Li (The Silent Monk/Sun Wukong, the Monkey King) - I was quite surprised to see Jet Li as the Monkey King. I first thought that Jackie would have been a better fit for the character but Jet Li did quite well.
- Collin Chou (The Jade Warlord) - evil and powerful, he was able to portray the character well enough.
- Michael Angarano (Jason Tripitikas, the Traveler) - he was good in martial arts and was a better actor than Ralph Macchio but somehow his young age and the fact that he’s an American still gave me the “Karate Kid” feeling.
- Liu Yi Fei (Golden Sparrow, the Orphan Warrior) - darn she’s gorgeous. She was also able to show that avenging heart that she’s supposed to show.
- Li Bingbing (Ni-Chang, the White-Haired Witch Assassin) - she was supposed to be evil but I somehow didn’t feel that in her character. I think it’d have been better if she was given more actual fight scenes instead of her just using her hair in fighting.
All in all, I may not be a great fan of Chinese fantasy stories but I’d say that the movie’s storyline is interesting - especially the immortals. I would have given it a good rating if more focus was given to the Chan and Li instead of trying to give equal attention to all the main characters.
For lack of action and focus, I give this movie a rating of 3 out of 5. I simply expect more.
Official Site: http://www.forbiddenkingdommovie.com/
