It’s another week of Direct to DVD Dissection, here at the F.A.N. This time, we go back to the Chinese historical movies with 1911.
Released January 10th, 2012
The Plot:
A retelling of the Xinhai Revolution, that tells the story of how China overthrew the last Dynasty and became a republic.
The Cast:
Jackie Chan as Huang Xing, one of the leaders of the revolution who serves on the battle lines. Jackie Chan is probably one of the most well known martial artists that has crossed over to American shores.
Bingbing Li as Xu Zonghan, a member of the revolution. She was actually the person who played Jing’er in “Detective Dee” and will be seen in the new Resident Evil movie coming in September this year as Ada Wong. The movie, Resident Evil: Retribution, will surely continue the tradition of the last 4 films of being critically panned but making major profits.
Winston Chao as Sun Yat-Sen, a revolutionary and *spoiler alert* the first provisional President of China. He was given fame for his role in “The Wedding Banquet”, a movie about a gay man marrying a woman in order to secure her a green card and hi jinks that ensue. I think that’s also the next Adam Sandler movie.
Joan Chen as Empress Dowager Longyu, the empress who is in charge of the Dynasty as her infant son and official ruler waits to take charge. She is best known for her work in The Last Emperor, though she did appear in the surreal Twin Peak TV show.
The Dissection:
When it comes to historical movies, there are usually two types. There are those that make historical moments and spices them up with crazy action or adds something fantastical. An earlier review, Detective Dee, is an example of this. Then, there are straight historical dramas, that stay true to the material given and are about telling the story. 1911 is that kind of movie.
Really, the movie is already at two strikes for most viewers. First off, this is a movie that is starring Jackie Chan and he is featured on the cover and in the ads and trailers, but you aren’t going to see the typical Jackie Chan fair. This is a serious movie, no real comedic tone or relief in it. It’s a serious docudrama through and through. Secondly, there is the issue that pretty much all of the fights in the movie are done by artillery and gunfire. It’s not a martial arts movie at all. These are the important aspects of the movie you need to understand before going into it and expecting Jackie Chan to perform some kind of fight slapstick routine with a Chris Tucker comedic sidekick or even pulling off some amazing stunt that keeps you in shock over how he survived it. No, this is literally serious business.
Huang Xing (Jackie Chan) during a trench battle. No "Singing in the Rain" references here.
As for the movie itself, as a movie that is trying to retell such an important moment in China’s history, it kind of drops the ball on explaining a lot of it. The basics are easy enough to get, having a revolution over ridding the country of the old Dynasty system, and having both sides be shown trying to decide how the beat the other. The main issue, though, is that it’s buried under a bunch of characters, historical figures, and a ton of information being tossed into the viewer’s face with no regard if they can process it.
In fact, new characters and information happen frequently. All characters are also introduced with a title by them when they are first scene. It also has moments where it has a scene of battle with text on screen explaining a historical moment. An issue is that, since the text is both in Mandarin and English, the text is smaller than usual so it might be harder to read if you aren’t glued to the TV.
On the outside, it looks fine. The camera work is great, the costumes look good, the music work is superb, the actors do a fine job and it generally feels like a movie worthy of it. The big albatross of the movie, though, is the core of the movie, all the story elements and editing. The editing itself is bad, especially when they try to transition between scenes. A scene when Chan’s character, Huang Xing, is cutting off a destroying finger while a woman near him cries out for him to stop and is full of yelling and pain, then it switches to a scene where Chao’s character, Sun Yat-Sen, is having fun with some children walking along the street to a new historical character. It’s a big shift in tone. It’s the same later, when they do throw in a Jackie Chan style fight scene. Considering the way the movie was built before, it almost feels like out of place to see him shimmy down a pipe and get into a legit fight that ends with having a guy’s arm twisted around so he can use him as a turret.
Sun Yat-Sen (Winston Chao) swearing in as President of China. Also, bringing on the soul power hand sign.
As I mentioned, it doesn’t really work well as a way to educate people on what occurred during the revolution. It bounces around moments without any kind of clarification. The worst part is that big stretches of time and major incidents are glossed over and switched around. Even after two viewings, one in English and another in the original Mandarin with the English subtitles, the true story of the movie is still lost.
In that sense, the movie fails to teach anything and seems more like a movie for those that already understand the history it is showing. It’s really a movie for those that has niche appeal, to those that known about the Xinhai Revolution and want to see it shown in a movie with actors.
Regarding the DVD itself, the movie starts off with a few trailers for other movies. There’s Let the Bullets Fly, a similar historical movie with Chow Yun-Fat that looks more action oriented. There’s also some man on a mission films like “A Better Tomorrow’ and ‘The Man from Nowhere’. There is finally a movie that is more suspense driven with ‘The Stool Pigeon’.
On the DVD itself, there are several deleted scenes that help a little to explain things, but not much. There are also a behind the scenes that also mixes comedic flubs and just seeing scenes being shot. There are no interviews, though, so it’s just those moments. There’s also 2 trailers for the movie. Before closing, there should be special mention of the language choices. The movie has English subtitles, along with Mandarin and simple Chinese. Audio wise, it’s Mandarin or English dubbed. While the Mandarin track looks fine, the English dub is almost comedic on some of the voices they use and the inflections they give not only the Cinese actors, but the actors from other countries that are given to represent France, Germany, Great Britain, and even America. Plus, it is strange to hear someone else’s voice coming out of the mouth of Jackie Chan.
The Verdict:
It’s a movie that looks good, but feels hollow overall. It’s a movie that really needs a prior knowledge of the event to truly be able to understand it and enjoy it. 1911 marks Jackie Chan’s 100th film. You can probably look for any of his 99 other movies for a better time.
Overall, Pass.