If you haven't heard of it, this movie stars Jet Li and Jackie Chan, as well as a few stars pretty much unkown in the U.S. but that are big names in China. The movie is a wuxia wire-fu martial arts flick. It came out in 2008 and was a reasonable box office success (it cost $55 million to make and made about $111-$128 million at the box office; I'd call that a success, but I'm not a studio executive).
The story goes like this: a young boy named Jason in south Boston (played by Michael Angarano) loves kung fu movies and games. He notices an ancient staff in the shop at Chinatown where he buys his bootleg movies from. The shopkeeper tells him that the staff has been there since his father ran the place, but the owner has never come to claim it. Later that night a group of thugs force Jason to get the shopkeeper to open his doors and then proceed to rob him. The shopkeeper uses the staff to brain one of the thugs and is then shot by the thugs' leader. The shopkeeper charges Jason with getting the staff back to its owner and the thugs start to chase Jason because they think he'll turn them in to the cops. Jason makes it to the roof but is cornered. Suddenly the staff pulls him off the roof an he hurtles to the ground...
... instead of impacting he awakens in mythical China. The village he is in gets attacked by the Jade Army. One of the Jade Army officers notices Jason's staff (he woke up with it) and orders the army to arrest him. Jason flees and is saved by a drunken scholar (played by Jackie Chan) who happens to be a martial arts master. The two flee to another town and in the local tavern Chan's character tells Jason the history of the staff. It was once the property of the immortal known as the Monkey King. The Jade Warlord was angry that the Jade Emperor gave the Monkey King a heavenly title and challenged the mischevious Monkey King to a martial arts competition to prove which of them was the better warrior and master of Chi-magic (this happens while the Jade Emperor is away for a 500-year meditation). The Jade Warlord tricks the Monkey King into dropping his staff and then turns the Monkey King into a statue, but not before the Monkey King used his power to hurtle the staff away so the Jade Warlord would not be able to use its power to conquer all of Heaven. The staff ended up in the modern world. A prophecy says that one day a seeker will return the staff to the Monkey King... and it looks like Jason is the seeker!
The Jade Army catches up to them at this point and they are forced to flee after an enjoyable battle. They are almost defeated but another martial artist, Golden Sparrow, comes to their aid. She is on a quest to assassinate the Jade Warlord to avenge the death of her parents. She possesses a jade dart that can kill even an immortal. The three travel for a time, but eventually Chan's character (I'd use his name, but it can be hard to understand Chan's English sometimes and I couldn't make it out) tries to leave, claiming that there will be no wine on the journey, and he needs wine to survive. Jason is confused, and Golden Sparrow claims that Chan is an immortal, and wine is the Elixer he needs to survive. Golden Sparrow asks how much Kung-Fu Jason has, and Chan tells her that he has none. Jason asks Chan to teach him, and Chan agrees.
They train for a time (funny line: Jason complains that Chan has been having him push grass/weeds around for three days and wants to know when he's going to teach him Kunf-Fu. Chan grabs Jason's staff and hits him with it. "That strike. Tomorrow teach block.") but get detoured when the Silent Monk (Jet Li) steals the staff from Jason. They track Silent Monk to the temple and Li and Chan have a GREAT fight for the staff. Eventually Silent Monk reveals that he isn't stealing the staff to give to the Jade Warlord (which is what the others assumed); he is on a quest to find the Seeker and return the staff to the Monkey King. Chan explains that Jason is the seeker and Silent Monk starts to laugh because Jason's Kung-Fu is horrible. He joins the group because he can lead them across the dessert called the River of Sand to the palace of the Jade Warlord. During that time Chan and Silent Monk continue Jason's education in Kung-Fu (they argue the whole time because they have very different styles; Chan argues that Jason can only have one teacher and the two decide to kill one another after the Monkey King is free to figure out which one is Jason's teacher... they then both continue training him).
Meanwhile, the Jade Warlord has learned about Jason and the staff and sends his Witch to find them. She goes to the inn where Jason and Chan fought the Jade Army and interrogates the innkeeper and his family, revealing some pretty intense issues with men and that she is a master with her whip. She learns that Golden Sparrow is with them and seems to recognize her.
The group is in the dessert, desperate for water. Golden Sparrow suggests that Chan could make rain since he is a Daoist Monk. Silent Monk doubts that he's capable of it. Chan tires to create a prayer scroll and drops of liquid begain to shower him. It's not rain. Silent Monk is peeing on Chan. Chan starts to yell at him, but Silent Monk spies the mountain where the Jade Warlord's palace is located and realizes that they are at the edge of the dessert. They depart the dessert but are stopped by the Witch who orders them to turn over the staff, explaining that if she brings the staff to the Jade Warlord he will give the Elixer of Immortality and she will become an Immortal. When the refuse she sicks her troops on them, but the group escapes. The Witch fires an arrow after them.
Chan is mortaly wounded. The group thinks all he needs is wine to survive, and find a shepard who leads them to a martial arts school. Jason learns from Chan that Chan isn't an immortal... he failed the test to be made an immortal by the Jade Emperor. The head of the school tells Jason that Chan will die because his wounds are too serious. Jason realizes that the Elixer of Immortality will save Chan and leaves alone to retrieve it. He encounters the Witch along the way who leads him to the Jade Warlord (since Jason is no longer trying to keep the staff from the Jade Warlord they don't fight). Jason offers to trade the staff to the Jade Warlord in return for the Elixer, but the Warlord explains that such a trade is impossible, because he has promised the Witch the Elixer for bringing the staff to him. Jason points out that he brought the Jade Warlord the staff, and that the Witch did nothing. The Jade Warlord agrees and then decides to resolve the issue by having Jason and the Witch fight to the death over the Elixer.
I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll some up the rest by saying that this kicks off several fight scenes including: Jason vs. the Witch, Silent Monk vs. Jade Warlord, Witch vs. Golden Sparrow, Chan vs. Witch, and Monkey King vs. Jade Warlord. All at the same time!
The fights were great, all the actors did a good job (barring Chan's heavily-accented English, but you just have to expect it from him), and it was great to see Jet Li play both Silent Monk and the Monkey King. I've never seen Jet Li look like he was having FUN in a movie... he always has that serious "I'm going to kick ass" look on his face. As the Monkey King he is constantly grinning and playing pranks on his opponents and has so much ENERGY it's almost unbelievable. Silent Monk is more of his typical role, and I was so expecting that more serious character for Li that I didn't realize he WAS playing the Monkey King until the end of the movie when I saw both characters at the same time.
If you like fun wuxia movies at least rent this. I loved it. Lisa doesn't like this genre and didn't think it was really her cup of tea even after watching it, so if you're not into these films I don't think you're opinion is going to change. But for those of us who like 'em: watch this movie.
End of Demented Rambling.
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