Blog Entry 5: The Forbidden Kingdom

                The film, The Forbidden Kingdom, is a story based on loosely on the Chinese novel, Journey to the West.  It is about a young man named Jason who is a huge fan of martial arts movies.  Some thugs grab him and force him to help them break into a pawn shop in order to steal the shop owner's possessions.  Once they break in, the shop owner, Hop, attacks them with a staff and is then shot by one of the thugs.  Hop gives Jason his staff and tells him to return it to its owner.  Jason then tries to escape by running up to the rooftop, but is thrown off the roof by the staff.  The staff is actually a magical weapon used by the Monkey King which then transports him to Ancient China where he regains consciousness after being thrown off the roof.  Soldiers spot Jason and immediately attack him.  He is then saved by a drunken self proclaimed immortal, Lu Yan.  Lu Yan tells Jason the story of the Monkey King and how he was encased in stone by the Jade Warlord.  A prophecy stats that a seeker will return the staff to the Monkey King and free him from his stone prison.  Jason must learn kung fu and fulfill the prophecy in order to return home.

                With the help of Lu Yan and a monk, Jason begins learning kung fu while traveling to the Five Elements Mountain where the Monkey King is trapped.  Jason and his friends encounter a silver haired witch named Ni-Chang accompanied by soldiers.  Ni-Chang mortally wounds Lu Yan while they were trying to escape.  Jason finds out that Lu Yan is not actually immortal and leaves for Five Elements Mountain alone in order to exchange the staff for an elixir that can save his life.  The Jade Warlord. promised the elixir to Ni-Chang for delivering the staff but decides to let Jason and Ni-Chang fight for it instead.  Jason is defeated by Ni-Chang and is about to be killed by the Jade Warlord when monks storm the palace.  Jason grabs the staff and smashes it against the Monkey King statue freeing him.  The Monkey King defeats the Jade Warlord and peace is restored to Ancient China.

                The Jade Emperor returns from his meditation upon the defeat of the Jade Warlord and returns Jason back home.  He wakes up below the roof he had fallen off of before teleporting to Ancient China.  The Thugs run down to him and attack him.  The kung fu Jason has learned during his travels allowed him to easily defeat them .  He then calls the police and an ambulance for the shop owner Hop.  While Hop is being taken away on a stretcher, he tells Jason not to worry because he is immortal.