The film’s plot is too complicated by half... But it ultimately results in several memorable fight scenes and a reasonably well-earned love story.

With all its elaborate plotting, memorable performances, and stunningly choreographed fight scenes, "The Forbidden City" is an entertaining female-led martial arts action film worth watching.

Although the martial-arts movie The Forbidden City is mostly predictable, the film has a unique cross-section of Chinese and Italian cultures. It's an intriguing story about a woman on a mission to find out what happened to her sex-trafficked sister.

"The Forbidden City" (2025), originally titled "La Citta Probita," is two hours nineteen minutes and will leave you wanting more. It feels like a new genre, kung fu dark romance, got invented, and it works.