The Forbidden City 4K 2025

Gabriele Mainetti's fun mixed film bowl (of roman holiday, italian family values, restaurants and kickass martial arts) set in a central but little known ethnic part of town, deserves more success and love than it actually garnered. This was supposed to be the comercial comeback of a maverick filmmaker who exactly 10 years ago smashed the box office with his unlikely super hero "Jeeg Robot", which also launched the career of actor Luca Marinelli ("M"; "Martin Eden"). This time on hand a cast of beloved local stars includes Sabrina Ferilli ("La grande bellezza"), Marco Giallini (best at playing baddies in the Lee Van Cleef mood) paired with likable newcomer Enrico Borello and to die for stuntwoman turned actress Yaxi Liu (plus new handsome italo-chinese thesps), on a revenge blitz to the Eternal City. And that is what all the well penned characters in the film bargain for: danger, death, spectacular martial fights (that give Jason Statham or even Jackie Chan a run for their money) and true love...So I loved and recommend this fast and furious take on my hometown bathed in asian scent rarely seen since my childhood hero Bruce Lee's shoot in Rome in 1972 ("The Way of the Dragon").