The Forbidden City Trailer: Yaxi Liu Leads Italian Martial Arts Epic

Well Go USA continues its commitment to bringing high-impact international action cinema to North American audiences with the upcoming release of The Forbidden City. The distributor has exclusively premiered the first trailer for director Gabriele Mainetti’s transcontinental thriller, which stars martial artist and Disney veteran Yaxi Liu in her debut leading role. Scheduled for a digital streaming release on March 17, 2026, the film synthesizes the emotional stakes of kidnapping narratives with the kinetic precision of modern martial arts choreography, creating a genre hybrid that has already distinguished itself on the global festival circuit.

The trailer introduces viewers to a propulsive revenge saga that unfolds across the ancient streets and shadowed underworld of Rome. Liu portrays Mei, a determined woman who arrives in Italy searching for her missing sister, only to forge an alliance with Marcello, played by Enrico Borello, a local man equally desperate to locate his vanished father. Together, this unlikely pair navigates a criminal labyrinth, delivering what early reviews describe as ferocious fight sequences that balance technical martial arts expertise with raw emotional intensity.

From Festival Prestige to Digital Streaming

Prior to its commercial release, The Forbidden City secured prominent placement at two major genre festivals in 2025. The film served as an official selection at both the Fantasia International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, venues known for championing boundary-pushing action and speculative cinema. The dual selection carries particular weight within the action community; Fantasia, held annually in Montreal, has historically served as a launching pad for cult action titles that subsequently achieve mainstream recognition, while Austin’s Fantastic Fest maintains a reputation for programming the most audacious and technically accomplished international genre cinema. Securing placement at both venues positioned The Forbidden City within a curated lineage of films that balance artistic ambition with crowd-pleasing spectacle.

These screenings provided the first public glimpse of Mainetti’s vision, allowing critics and genre enthusiasts to evaluate its ambitious fusion of Italian crime drama and Hong Kong-style combat choreography. Well Go USA, which has built its reputation distributing hard-hitting Asian and international action titles, secured the rights for this theatrical-quality digital release. The March 17, 2026 launch date positions the film as a major early-year acquisition for the distributor, offering subscribers a theatrical-scale action experience on streaming platforms. This release strategy reflects the company’s ongoing effort to bridge the gap between festival acclaim and accessible home entertainment for North American viewers seeking alternatives to franchise-dominated studio action.

Genre Fusion and Narrative Setup

Marketing materials and early critical assessments explicitly frame The Forbidden City as a synthesis of two distinct modern action archetypes. The narrative borrows the desperate familial stakes popularized by Taken, centering on Mei’s urgent quest to recover her abducted sibling. Simultaneously, the visual and choreographic approach draws comparisons to the John Wick franchise, emphasizing slickly orchestrated brawls and fluid combat cinematography that showcases Liu’s physical capabilities. While contemporary action marketing frequently invokes the “John Wick-esque” descriptor—often to the point of diminishing returns—the comparison appears substantiated in this instance by the specific quality of the hand-to-hand combat staging visible in the trailer footage.

This hybrid approach extends beyond simple homage. Director Gabriele Mainetti, working from a screenplay co-written with Stefano Bises and Davide Serino, constructs what reviewers have termed a “genre-smashing” narrative that incorporates elements of Italian romantic comedy alongside traditional martial arts storytelling. The director brings significant genre credentials to the project, having previously helmed the superhero drama They Call Me Jeeg Robot and the carnival-themed fantasy Freaks Out. His established facility with action spectacle and character-driven narratives informs this latest work, which demands both technical precision in fight staging and genuine emotional investment in the central mystery.

The result is a tonal mixture that juxtaposes brutal criminal violence against the backdrop of Rome’s architectural grandeur with moments of character-driven warmth between the two protagonists. The film distinguishes itself through its incorporation of Chinese wushu techniques and practical stunt work, filtered through an Italian neorealist-influenced approach to location shooting within Rome’s actual urban environments.

Cast and Production Details

At the center of The Forbidden City stands Yaxi Liu, whose casting represents a strategic fusion of mainstream recognition and specialized combat expertise. Following her appearance in Disney’s live-action Mulan, Liu steps into her first leading role, leveraging her background as a trained martial artist to perform the demanding physical sequences that define the character of Mei. This ascension marks a significant trajectory from her previous high-profile supporting role, placing her physical capabilities and dramatic range at the absolute center of the narrative. This casting follows Well Go USA’s established pattern of identifying performers with legitimate combat training—previous releases have spotlighted veterans from Hong Kong, South Korean, and Indonesian action cinemas—and positioning them within narratives that showcase authentic martial arts execution.

She is supported by an ensemble blending established Italian talent with international performers:

• Enrico Borello as Marcello, the Rome-based ally who partners with Mei in her investigation
• Marco Giallini, a veteran of Italian cinema, in a supporting role within the criminal underworld
• Sabrina Ferilli, adding dramatic depth to the ensemble
• Chunyu Shanshan, contributing to the film’s transnational cast
• Luca Zingaretti, rounding out the key adult performers

The production marks a significant development for Italian cinema’s relationship with action filmmaking. While the country’s industry has historically excelled in drama, comedy, and giallo horror, The Forbidden City represents a deliberate pivot toward the kinetic, stunt-intensive style typically associated with East Asian and American productions. This cultural cross-pollination extends to the narrative itself, which explicitly positions a Chinese protagonist within the distinctly Roman criminal ecosystem, creating a transcontinental dynamic that reviewers have identified as the film’s most distinctive commercial attribute.

Critical Accolades and Early Reviews

Festival audiences and select critics have responded enthusiastically to the film’s action mechanics and narrative ambition. Review aggregation and specialty outlets have awarded the picture marks that place it among the higher-rated action titles of the current cycle, with particular praise centered on Liu’s screen presence and the successful marriage of emotional narrative stakes with visceral combat set pieces.

Key critical assessments include:

• But Why Tho? A Geek Community: Awarded 9.5/10, praising the film as “One part Italian rom-com and one part Chinese martial arts film,” concluding that it “pays off big” as a genre experiment
• In Their Own League: Rated 4/5, describing the work as “an extremely entertaining genre mix of hard-hitting martial arts, compelling family drama and brutal crime violence that compels, exhilarates and emotionally stirs all at once”
• Letterboxd Festival Attendees: Multiple users highlighted Liu’s physical performance, with one review noting the film delivers “blistering, well-choreographed action scenes led by the amazing Liu Yaxi as a one-woman wrecking crew”

The characterization of Liu as a “one-woman wrecking crew” in early responses signals a broader shift in action cinema’s approach to female-led physical performance. Unlike the firearm-dependent tactics often associated with Western action heroines, the reviews emphasize Liu’s deployment of traditional martial arts disciplines within close-quarters combat scenarios. This approach aligns the film with recent South Korean and Indonesian action trends that prioritize physical prowess and technical execution over CGI enhancement or rapid-fire editing.

Several observers expressed surprise at the technical sophistication of the action sequences given the production’s Italian origins, with one viewer noting the presence of “cool action the likes of which is not at all common in Italian cinema, very dynamic and fluid.” This reception suggests The Forbidden City may serve as a watershed moment for action production within the country’s film industry, potentially opening avenues for future high-concept martial arts projects that merge European locations with Eastern fighting styles.

What’s After the Movie?

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