The Hong Kong/Mainland/US co-production My Kingdom starts out promisingly enough, with a setup about two dueling opera troupes vying to become known as the best in the land. With each side led by Yuen Biao and Yu Rong-Guang, with action scenes helmed by Sammo Hung, the first half-hour or so of My Kingdom is fun stuff. But, sadly, after the first act, things begin to run downhill, eventually wallowing in a shallow pit of mediocrity.

My Kingdom takes place in early 1900's Shanghai, where opera students Er-Kui (Han Geng) and Yi-Long (Wu Chun) have come to take back the title of "Mightiest of the Opera Warriors", which is currently held by Yue Jiangtian (Yu Rong-Guang), who defeated their master, Yu (Yuen Biao), fifteen years ago. Er-Kui and Yi-Long succeed in their quest, but their fame comes at a price, as they become targets for revenge by Yue's protege and lover, Mulan (Barbie Hsu), and a corrupt police chief, Lu (Louis Liu).

While the story still depends on the usual revenge motif commonplace in many kung fu cinema releases over the years, the opera twist adds an extra dimension that could have made My Kingdom something special, at least if the director had some sort of talent. Instead, Gao Xiao-Song seems content to pretty much put the camera down and have the actors mope around and spout rote lines of extremely obvious exposition. Once the action does occur, it does throw some life into the proceedings, but there really isn't enough on display to offset the miasma of melodrama presented towards the viewer for the majority of My Kingdom's running time.

There are some -- well, okay, many -- other flaws I could go into detail here, such as Louis Liu's ultra-hipsterish and punchable haircut, which seems as appropriate for 1900's Shanghai as an iPhone or a Starbucks double mocha latte. But, honestly, My Kingdom is so decidedly bland and average, content for aiming squarely down the middle of the road, that it's hard to write anything about it, beyond the fact that there's not too much to offer the viewer here. It's not great, it's not terrible. The movie is just sort of there. By the time My Kingdom ends, most viewers aren't going to be left with any sort of feelings, positive or negative. Ultimately, My Kingdom is a prime example of a motion picture that is literally just going through the motions.

RATING: 5