Sunday 5 April 2020

Enter the Warrior's Gate

In 2008, the movie Forbidden Kingdom teamed up Jackie Chan and Jet Li to tell a fun tale based on the Taoist Monkey King legend...

2016 and we get Enter the Warrior's Gate. A sort of re-make of Forbidden Kingdom and with it the values/attitudes of a different age.

In 2008 the kid had to undertake an arduous journey, learn kung fu and endure many hardships. Not anymore! The modern version offers a kid brimming with unearned confidence c/o 'gaming'. No more kung fu training. No journey of self discovery. He begins with the skills he needs, gets the girl and more.

The 2016 millennial even serves as mentor to his own warrior guru. Huh? When he seeks kung fu tuition and is told to do the basic training he responds by saying that he doesn't want the menu. Just a taste. Just enough to give him fighting ability. WTF?

Wow! So, young millennials expect to get good at kung fu without any formal training at all? Now, that's fantasy TV for you!