Forbidden Kingdom trailer and character posters

Alright, I’ll be honest with you here. When I first heard about The Forbidden Kingdom I thought it was going to be a stodgy, unenjoyable martial arts flick. (The genre really peaked with Kurosawa. I haven’t seen a movie made not by him that I’ve actually, legitimately enjoyed, but that’s because the focus there was on the characters and not the action, something no one else gets right. But I digress).

But this trailer, while it still shows an emphasis on action special effects and still counts on the audience not wanting to sucker punch Jackie Chan, is pretty good. There’s some sort of quest that a variety of characters, including an un-serious slacker played by a Chan and an uber-discliplined monk played by Jet Li, must embark on but that’s just an excuse for the action sequences and jokes.

I found myself watching it twice, which is unusual, so it must not be all bad.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGXwVjd-x9E[/youtube]

Those variety of characters are also each featured in their own character posters, which were released a while ago but which I’ve failed to mention until now. Each one is color-coded to differentiate them in the eye of the audience and each one gives a two or three word description of the character being featured.

They’re actually quite good.