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''The Forbidden Kingdom'' (: ''Gong Fu Zhi Wang'' (Mandarin) or ''Gung Fu Ji Wong'' (Cantonese) and translated ''King of Kung Fu'' (English); Working title: ''The J & J Project'') is a 2008 Chinese-American martial arts film written by John Fusco, and directed by Rob Minkoff, and starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. The film is loosely based on the novel ''Journey to the West'', it is the first film to star together two of the best known names in the martial arts film genre. The action sequences were choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping. The film is distributed in the United States through The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate Films,〔(Lionsgate has keys to the 'Kingdom' ) - ''Hollywood Reporter''〕 and through The Huayi Brothers Film & Taihe Investment Company in China. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the USA and Hong Kong on 9 September 2008 and the United Kingdom on 17 November 2008. ==Plot summary== South Boston teenager Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) is a fan of martial arts films and he awakens from a dream of a battle between the Monkey King (Jet Li) and celestial soldiers in the clouds. He visits a pawn shop in Chinatown to buy Wuxia DVDs and discovers a golden staff. On his way home, Jason is harassed by some hooligans, whose leader Lupo attempts to use him to help them rob the shop-owner Hop. Hop tries to fight the thieves with the staff, but is shot and wounded by Lupo. He tells Jason to deliver the staff to its rightful owner and Jason flees with the staff. He is cornered on the rooftop by the hooligans and almost shot too, but he is pulled off the roof by the staff and falls backwards onto the asphalt. When Jason regains consciousness, he finds himself in a village in ancient China that is under attack by armored soldiers. The soldiers see his staff and attempt to seize it. He is saved by the inebriated traveling scholar Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), a supposed "immortal," who remains alert and agile even when drunk. Lu brings Jason to a teahouse and tells him the story of the rivalry between the Monkey King and the Jade Warlord. The Jade Warlord tricked the Monkey King into setting aside his magic staff Ruyi Jingu Bang and transformed the immortal into a stone statue, but the Monkey King cast his staff far away before the transformation. Lu ends the tale with a prophecy about someone, a "Seeker", who will find the staff and free the Monkey King. Just then, they are attacked by the Jade Warlord's men again but manage to escape with the help of Golden Sparrow, a young girl who refers to herself in the third person. She reveals that her family was murdered by the Jade Warlord, against whom she has therefore sworn revenge. Meanwhile, the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou), upon learning that the staff has been sighted, sends the White-Haired Witch Ni-Chang to help him retrieve it in exchange for the elixir of immortality. Jason, Lu Yan and Golden Sparrow meet a strange man dressed in white, also played by Jet Li, who takes the staff away from them. Lu Yan fights with the man (later revealed to be the Silent Monk) for the staff until the latter realizes that Jason is the prophesied Seeker, and he joins them in their quest to free the Monkey King. As the four travel to Five Elements Mountain, Lu Yan and the Silent Monk teach Jason kung fu along the way. After crossing a desert, they encounter Ni-Chang and her henchmen and a battle ensues, in which Lu Yan is mortally wounded by Ni-Chang's arrow. The protagonists take refuge in a monastery, where they learn that Lu is actually not an immortal as he failed the test to become one. Only the Jade Warlord's elixir can save his life. In desperation, Jason goes to the Warlord's palace alone to exchange the staff for the elixir. In the palace, the Jade Warlord asks Jason to fight with Ni-Chang to the death, because he had promised to give the elixir to only one of them. Jason is defeated by Ni-Chang and the Warlord taunts him for his foolishness, and is about to decapitate him when the other protagonists and monks from the monastery arrive to join in the battle. Jason manages to grab the elixir and he tosses it to Lu Yan, who drinks it and recovers. The Silent Monk is wounded by the Jade Warlord's guandao during the fight and he passes the staff to Jason, who uses it to smash the Monkey King's statue. The Monkey King is freed and the Silent Monk is revealed to be actually one of the Monkey's clones. Lu Yan battles Ni-Chang and kills her by throwing her off the cliff hundreds of feet below. After another long battle between the Monkey King and the Jade Warlord, the Warlord is eventually stabbed by Jason and falls into a lava pit to his death. However, Golden Sparrow has been seriously injured by the Warlord and she dies in Jason's arms, thanking him in the first person before dying. By then, the Jade Emperor has returned from his meditation and he praises Jason for fulfilling the prophecy and allows him for one wish, which he asked is to return home. Jason finds himself back in 21st century Boston after passing through a magical portal at the exact moment and location of his earlier fall. He defeats Lupo easily by using the kung fu moves he was taught and drives the other hooligans away. He alerts the police and calls an ambulance for Hop, who survives from the gunshot wound and brushes off Jason's concerns, claiming that he is immortal (hinting that he is actually Lu Yan; a fact which also would have been hinted by the name of the pawn shop as seen in the beginning: "Lu Yan's Pawn Shop"). Before the film ends, Jason is delighted to see a girl who resembles Golden Sparrow and speaks to her briefly, before she heads back to her shop, called "Golden Sparrow Chinese Merchandise". The final scene shows Jason on a rooftop at night practicing his staffwork and continuing to hone his kung fu skills while Lu Yan narrates the Monkey King travels to the west in search of truth (Referring Journey to the West) while Jason walk the path of the warrior and find his own truth. The film ends as Lu Yan states: "As one tale ends, so another begins". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Forbidden Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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