Marcello`s (Enrico Borello) father has disappeared leaving behind him debts that have been passed onto to his wife and son. All they have is their family run restaurant; Marcello spends his days in the kitchen cooking; all he knows is his safe family run business. Mei (Yaxi Liu) has travelled from China to find her sister, leading her to a restaurant called The Forbidden City which is run by Mr Wang and his gang. Both Mei and Marcello paths will cross; this is their destiny. Together they search the city for their loved ones, fighting for their lives against the most devious and brutal members of the cities gangs both Italian and Chinese. Trying to unravel the deceit and lies to the truth behind a father and sister`s disappearance.
Both leads are solid with Enrico Borello giving us a sweet, nice guy who is just unlucky to get tangled up in a mess, created by his father`s actions. Yaxi Liu`s Mei from the first scene that we are introduced to her is just kick ass. Her fight scenes are well staged, inventive, and vicious. She is the centre of the film as she negotiates the city using her phone translator to converse with people and indeed with Marcello when circumstance throws them together. There is intrigue as both leads try to unravel the truth behind their loved ones going missing. Great support from Marco Giallini who plays Annibale, a childhood friend of Marcello`s father and an old love of his Mum`s Lorella played by the excellent Sabrina Ferilli. Annibale also happens to be the local Italian villain, but Marcello and his mum treat him like family. Shanshan Chunyu plays Mr Wang, and he plays this character with total menace, you know he is dangerous from the first time Mei sees him.
Directed by Gabriele Mainetti, who also co-wrote the film; his direction gives us an explosive introduction to Mei and to what she can do. As she comes up against multiple opponents which leads to a running battle climaxing in one of the most relentless savage kitchen fight that I have ever seen. Then he slows the pace down to give us a bit of insight to the characters, also to build the plot in the second act of the film. We have lighter moments provided by Marcello plus the inevitable bonding between him and Mei which is very sweet. Within these moments you can see that they were both lost and have found each other. I have read that people found these scenes dull. I think they were essential to the structuring of the film. For the big reveals for both Marcello and Mei in the excellent finale that shows just how much they have grown to care for each other. With all this in mind I thought the pacing and structuring of the film was ace, and also essential as these moments made you care about both Mei and Marcello. Not only is the film a Kung Fu film it is also a crime drama, this is balanced well by its director.
On a side note; the bar has been raised for film fight scenes over the years. I think that The Forbidden City rose to the challenge, because the fight scenes are some of the best I`ve seen and that opening fight from Mei had me on the edge of my seat. This film comes Highly Recommended.
