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Forbidden City

Play trailer Poster for Forbidden City 2025 2h 18m Action Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 6 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings

Critics Reviews

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Scott Phillips Forbes Mainetti’s films have an epic scale and grandeur that belie their very reasonable budgets. Be sure to see this one on the big screen if it plays an arthouse near you. Aug 7, 2025 Full Review Harris Dang Their Own League The Forbidden City is 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 with a fantastic debut lead performance from Liu Yaxi. Rated: 4/5 Aug 4, 2025 Full Review Maxance Vincent Awards Radar Once all the characters are introduced, and the main dramatic throughline of The Forbidden City is properly laid out, Mainetti’s film sadly takes a nosedive and never recovers. Rated: 2.5/4 Aug 2, 2025 Full Review Kurt Halfyard ScreenAnarchy The real deal, and leading contender for action picture of the year. From its superb opening ‘bait and switch’ involving China’s One-Child policy, to its operatic show-down climax, Forbidden City (La Città Proibita) delivers full package entertainment. 

 Jul 29, 2025 Full Review Ricardo Gallegos La Estatuilla The Forbidden City is a varied and well-balanced dish that celebrates Rome's diversity, entertains in spades, introduces us to a new star in Yaxi Liu, and even has the luxury of subverting the martial arts movie formula. [Full Review in Spanish] Jul 27, 2025 Full Review Douglas Davidson Elements of Madness The narrative, the stunt work, and the performances are strong on their own merits, but, together, they create something that has something to say about the state of the world while not being afraid to punch a motherf**ker out. Rated: 4.5/5 Jul 26, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Un film emozionante e avvincente. Sono rimasta incollata alle scene di combattimento e alla storia della ragazza che ahimè ricorda abusi e crimini verso l’umanità che non dovrebbero mai più accadere. Trovo la regia di Gabriele Mainetti profonda, al pari di registi americani e addirittura con qualcosa in più: Mainetti mette (ciò si respira profondamente guardando il film) la “semplicità” e grandiosità poetica italiana che appartiene al nostro DNA, alla ns memoria storica di raccontare. Roma e Mainetti sono un connubio meraviglioso che ci fa sognare e questo suo nuovo film ne è la prova che mi lega ad ogni personaggio e attore scelto nel nuovo film, da Giallini alla Ferilli. L’Attrice protagonista è epica! Godetevelo Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/14/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Forbidden City

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Cast & Crew

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Gabriele Mainetti

Director

Yaxi Liu

Actor

Enrico Borello

Actor

Sabrina Ferilli

Actor

Marco Giallini

Actor

Shanshan Chunyu

Actor
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Forbidden City

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Movie Info

Director
Gabriele Mainetti
Producer
Vindhya Sagar, Lorenzo Gangarossa, Mario Gianani, Sonia Rovai
Screenwriter
Stefano Bises, Gabriele Mainetti, Davide Serino
Production Co
PiperFilm
Genre
Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
Italian
Runtime
2h 18m