THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

from 2nd May to a theatre near you.!!!!

In the azure mist of winter, a lone figure crouches and moves in hypnotic, poetic beauty.   The Great Sage, also known as The Monkey King, expertly cuts the air with his bo staff, carefully watched by Macaque monkeys.  Suddenly several Jade Warriors attack him, but he expertly dispatches them one by one with his staff, as the monkeys screech in witness to the exchange.

In the present day, 17-year-old Jason Tripitikas' bedroom is covered with posters of movie stars and martial arts heroes.  As a kungfu fanatic, Jason often dreams of The Monkey King and frequents a Chinatown pawn shop, run by a mysterious blind old man named Old Hop, for low-priced kungfu DVDs.  One day, he chances upon a six-foot-long bo staff with a bronze monkey carved onto the end at the shop – just like the one the Great Sage uses in his dreams.  Old Hop tells him the staff has been in the store since his grandfather opened it a hundred years ago and is not for sale – a man was supposed to come and collect it to return it to its rightful owner, but has never showed up.

Later on, some street gang members accost Jason and force him to help them break into Old Hop's shop to plunder it for cash.  Old Hop gets shot by one of the gang members, Lupo.  Before he falls to the ground, he thrusts the staff to Jason and urges him to return it to its rightful owner.  In the back alley, Lupo threatens Jason for fear he will tell the police.  As Jason flees, fearing for his life, he falls from the rooftop gripping tightly to the staff. When he awakes, Jason realizes that he has been transported back to a village in ancient China together with the staff.  When he gets into trouble with a horde of mounted Jade Warriors, a drunken man, Lu Yan, comes to his rescue with Drunken Fist Kungfu, swiftly dispatching the soldiers.

Five hundred years ago, the Great Sage was so impressive in battle that the great Jade Emperor invited him to come before him at his palace.  At the Peach Banquet held at the royal orchard, the irreverent Great Sage mocked the Jade Warlord.  Infuriated, the Warlord challenged the Great Sage to a duel and tricked him into setting down his staff, and turned him into a statue of solid rock.  Amidst the fight, the staff was thrown off Five Elements Mountain and disappeared.

Recognizing the staff, Lu Yan believes that as according to a prophecy foretold, Jason is the one who has to take the staff to Five Elements Mountain, free the Great Sage and fulfill the prophecy – only then will he be able to return home. Pursued by Jade Warriors coming after the staff and unable to defend himself, Jason asks to be taken under Lu Yan's wings.  Along the way, they meet Golden Sparrow, a young girl apt with lethal darts out to avenge her parents' death by the evil Warlord.  She joins them on their journey while Jason starts his kungfu training under Lu Yan's tutelage. Meanwhile, the Jade Warlord summons the help of a deadly assassin – the White-Haired Demoness, to regain the staff and stop it from reaching the Great Sage. One day, the travelers meet a figure on a white horse – the Silent Monk, who attempts to take the staff from them.  After Lu Yan and the Silent Monk engage in a duel, they soon realize that the Silent Monk is also on the path to free the Great Sage and decide to join forces.

As time passes, seasons change.  Jason continues his training under both Lu Yan and the Silent Monk.  As the travelers press onward, they are suddenly confronted by the ominous White-Haired Demoness, who demands that they hand over the staff so she may exchange it for the elixir of immortality from the Jade Warlord.  A fight ensues, and although the travelers manage to escape with the staff, Lu Yan is wounded with a poisonous arrow in his back.

The travelers take the wounded Lu Yan to a temple, but he is dying.  Jason wants to retrieve the immortal elixir from the palace to save Lu Yan but the Silent Monk refuses, declaring that their mission to return the staff is more important than one man's life.  That night, Jason sneaks off to confronts the Jade Warlord at his palace and is caught by the White-Haired Demoness.  Jason offers the Warlord the staff in exchange for the elixir but the White-Haired Demoness is livid at losing her potion of immortality as promised by the Warlord.  The scheming Warlord sets them up for a duel with the winner to be the recipient of the elixir.

As a brutal fight ensues, Jason loses the staff to the Warlord and is defeated by the Demoness.  As he is about to be beheaded by a guard, Golden Sparrow and the Silent Monk arrive just in time to save him.  The Warlord is determined to destroy the staff and throws it into the Eight Trigram Furnace.  However, the Silent Monk manages to leap into the Furnace to make a gravity-defying save.  Seething with rage, the Warlord and the Silent Monk continue to fight for possession of the staff. Meanwhile, the White-Haired Demoness goes after the elixir placed at the throne.  Jason and Golden Sparrow try to stop her but being no match for her prowess, they desperately fight for their lives against her and the soldiers.  Suddenly, thirteen temple monks armed with staffs arrive to help them.  They manage to secure the vial of elixir and pass it on to a figure on a stretcher they had carried in – it is Lu Yan.

In his drunken stupor, Lu Yan and the monks take on the White-Haired Demoness and the guards.  Lu Yan defeats the Demoness and throws her to her death off the Five Elements Mountain.

At this time, the Silent Monk armed with the staff attempts to reach for the stone statue of the Monkey King.  Unwittingly, he gets speared by the Warlord but manages to pass the staff to Jason before he collapses.  Jason swings the staff at the stone statue and shatters it into a thousand pieces.  A blast of blinding white light reveals the Monkey King in his original form!  Jason realizes that he has awakened the Great Sage. The Warlord launches a surprise attack on the Monkey King but is quickly deflected and instead, he gets hurled to the ground.  Golden Sparrow jumps before the Warlord to avenge her parents' deaths but takes a lethal blow from him.  A ferocious combat continues between the Warlord and the Monkey King.  When the Warlord gets thrown near Jason, he puts an end to the evil one's life with Golden Sparrow's jade dart.

The Jade Emperor arrives from the skies and surveys the aftermath.  He declares to the Monkey King that he has served his time, and must now do good on earth by leading the journey to find the scriptures of illumination.  As for Lu Yan, the Emperor declares him the Eighth Immortal.  The Monkey King then uses his powers and his staff to send Jason home.

Jason wakes up in an alley in the city, surrounded by trash.  He stands up to Lupo and the gang and defends himself with newfound power and confidence.  As he practices kungfu on the rooftop of his apartment against the sunrise, Jason is ready to walk the path of the warrior and find his own truth.