1911 Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 10.07.2011

Jackie Chan takes a dramatic turn and even steps behind the camera to help direct this tale of the Chinese Revolution of 1911. But is it worth checking out? 411's Jeremy Thomas checks in with his full review!

Directed by: Zhang Li
Written by: Wang Xingdong & Chen Baoguang

Starring:
Jackie Chan - Huang Xing
Lee Bing Bing - Xu Zonghan
Winston Chao - Sun Yat-Sen aka Sun Wen
Joan Chen - Empress Dowager Longyu
Jaycee Chan - Zhang Zhenwu
Dennis Tao - Xiong Bingkun
Wu Jiang Li - Yuanhong
Ning Jing - Qui Jin
Yu Shaoqun - Wang Jingwei
Ge Hu - Lin Juemin
Winli Jang - Soon Ching-ling
Chun Sun - Yuan Shikai
Ming Hu - Liao Zhongkai
Ya’nan Wang - Yuan Keding



Running Time: 118 minutes
Rated R for war violence

Jackie Chan is one of the most recognizable faces of martial arts the world over. From the Police Story films, Drunken Master and other hits like Project A in Hong Kong to his U.S. successes like the Rush Hour films, Chan is at a level of fame that is perhaps only reached by Bruce Lee and Chan's contemporaries in Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. Whereas all of those actors are primarily known for their dramatic roles, Chan took his martial arts skills in another direction and has largely portrayed a comedic side of his fighting abilities. There have, of course, been some exceptions, notably last year's well-received remake of The Karate Kid; another of those is his latest film 1911. With Chan taking on the role of General Director behind the camera alongside Zhang Li and the role of Huang Xing in front, Chan has another chance to spread his dramatic wings.

The film takes place, as the title would suggest, at the beginning of the 20th century. With China split apart by war, its people are suffering under the yoke of starvation. With a seven year-old on the throne and his ruthless mother Longyu (Chen) in ruling, the country is ripe for rebellion and a new, more modern army is being readied to stamp such a revolt out. As the Qing leaders sell off large swaths of land in exchange for weapons against the rebellion, Huang Xing (Chan) has recently come home from Japan and is helping Sun Yat-Sen (Chao) with the revolutionaries; Xing is the military mind and leads the battles while Sun, the founding father of the rebellion, works to change the hearts and minds of people to their side, as well as much-needed financial support.

Early uprising attempts fail, including one particularly devastating attempt in Guangzhou where Xing is badly injured. The failure bolsters the Qing Dynasty's confidence and they attempt to redouble their efforts to crush the rebellion, but after several members of the army defect and help an uprising in Wuchang succeed, the revolutionaries find themselves on a collision course with the Qing forces, led by Yuan Shikai (Chun), with both their and China's future on the line.

1911 is an ambitious attempt to tell the story of China's reinvention from the old monarchy into the Republic that it still stands as today. Wang Xingdong & Chen Baoguang have tried to condense the information down into a two-hour film and that may be their biggest downfall. This is a film that would have excelled if it had been told in a two-part epic a la John Woo's equally ambitious Red Cliff from 2008, but condensed down it simply doesn't work as much as the filmmakers want it to. Because of the time period entailed and the complex real-life twists to the story, there is a lot of information tossed up on the screen as captions alongside the subtitles. The many people who are involved in the story are often introduced in the midst of battle or planning by a quick caption as two who they were, and large swaths of the story's development are delivered in written information. This was necessary to condense the story down to the more essential parts, but it does hurt the overall product as it ends up breaking the cardinal rule of film: show, don't tell.

With the story condensed down, the tale plays out like a history lesson. The camera jumps around from Huang Xing's military battles against the Qing's army, Sun's efforts oversees to prevent foreign banks from granting the Qing Dynasty a loan that would allow them to crush the rebellion, the growth of Xing's romance with fellow revolutionary Xu Zonghan (Bing Bing) and Shikai's skillful manipulation of both sides of the war. There are a lot of plot threads to follow and it is easy to get lost in the constantly-shifting narrative. The characterizations are solid throughout and all the main characters are memorable—never in the film did I have to think "Okay, which is this person again" the way some movies with multiple plot threads do—but the film tends to lose grounding, especially in the early acts. It is only after the Wuchang Uprising begins that things seem to settle down enough and the plot really starts to become interesting.

Fans of Chan's drawn into this film may be disappointed to realize that it is not a martial arts film. Indeed, Chan only breaks out his hand-to-hand fighting skills once, late in the film; instead we see him with a gun in his hand leading his troops into battle. While Chan is known for comedy, he has shown that he has a talent for dramatic roles with The Karate Kid and this is another venture down that road. His performance as Huang Xing may not be on par with that of Mr. Han, but he still lends a solid amount of gravitas to the role and he matches well with Lee Bing Bing as his love interest. Of the principal characters Bing Bing has the least to do but she makes the most of it, while Sun Chun is fun to watch as Yuan Shikai. Joan Chen is overly histrionic as the Empress Dowager, while Chan's song Jaycee does admirably as revolutionary Zhang Zhenwu.

Of all the performances in the film, the best goes to Winston Chao as Sun Yat-Sen. Chao has played the role before more than once, and the ease in which he slips into the role makes that obvious. Chao probably has the trickiest role in the film as he is often placed up against the foreigners, whom in typical Chinese government-sponsored film fashion are left to be more or less caricatures. Chao elevates his Western counterparts into something far better than they otherwise would have been and certainly lifts the film by the nobility of his performance.

While Chao may give the best performance, where the film shines most brightly is not in the political grandstanding moments but in the battle scenes. Chan served as General Director to Zhang Li's main director position, though he has described it as more of a consulting position to balance the visuals of the battles with the reality of the scenes. He does quite well as the battle scenes are top-notch. The budget for the film was $30 million but it looks much higher thanks to Chan and Li's successful staging of the film's action set pieces. The scenes are certainly appropriately brutal and there are moments that stick in the mind, such as an overhead, straight-down shot of dozens of bodies left in the mud after the failed Guangzhou uprising. These dead are referred to as the "72 Martyrs" (though a caption tells us the number was later amended to 86) and the famous moment is given its proper due. The cinematography by Huang Wei is top-notch and the Hai Zhao's art direction, as well as the special effects from The Moving Picture Company follow suit, adding some very helpful technical expertise to help lift the film.

The 411: Jackie Chan and Zhang Li's epic telling of the 1911 Chinese revolution that made way for the country's Republic era is not as successful as it would like to be, simply because it tries to cram too much into one two-hour film. The film would have been better split into two parts and then the films need to tell its audience what happens instead of showing it would not have seemed as egregious. However, generally good acting, particularly from Winston Chao, Chan and Chun Sun help the film immensely and the thrilling action sequences keep the movie afloat. As a historical account of an important era in Chinese history it is quite good; as an epic war drama it is simply alright.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]