Little Big Soldier (2010)

Be forewarned that while there are comic moments in the film, it is primarily a dark film about innocents being caught up in a war outside of their control. Jackie Chan plays a farmer who was drafted into his kingdom's army. He is the last surviving member of his family and wants nothing more than to return to the land and raise a family. He survives a horrible battle and captures the enemy general. If he can get the general back to the capital, he can get five acres of land as a reward and become a farmer again. It is one of Jackie Chan's best performances but don't go expecting Shanghai Knights. Beautifully photographed with a compelling story line it is, in the end a melancholy film.

Fmovies: Another goal by Jackie Chan. Not only does this movie deliver the usual martial arts extravaganza that is trademark of his movies, but it also delivers a really interesting story that is not just slack-stick humor. And that is a really great trait to the movie, and a great step towards the right approach for a movie of this type.

The story is about a peasant soldier in the Liang army (played by Jackie Chan) who saves himself from slaughter in a massive battle by feigning his death. As luck would have it, he manages to find a surviving general of the Wei army (played by Leehom Wang), the soldier seems to have it made, as he can hand in his captive for land and profit. But the road back to Liang is long and treacherous - the king's men are out searching for the missing general and the land is not at all a friendly place in itself.

A great story that Jackie Chan came up with here and it has been masterfully put to the screen. The story offers great action and just the right amount of comedy without it becoming too much in the usual genre that Jackie Chan operates.

What really makes "Little Big Soldier" work out is the chemistry and dialogue between the soldier and the general on their hard and long trek back towards Liang. And the spectacular landscape and scenery really adds a lot of flavor to the movie, and it is like you are right there back in time in ancient China.

This is one of the better Jackie Chan movies in the recent years, and it is great to see him take on other roles this late in his career. "Little Big Soldier" is well worthy of a place in the DVD collection of any fans of Jackie Chan or of Asian ancient war history movies in general.

Its been a long time since there was a Jackie movie with fun,story and good direction.

The movie "Little big soldier" stands up in terms of Jackie's Action scenes, his wonderful moves,and mannerism.

The movie would have gained critical acclaim if it was made in English language. Guess they wanted to make a historic/Traditional movie.

Nevertheless, The movie is good. Those who were disappointed after watching an old Jackie in "the karate kid" will be really happy to see him in this movie, with a great new load of stuff.

Waiting for the next action packed Jackie's movie in English.

Hope he pairs up to do another Rush Hour 4 or some cool movies where he doesn't drink much

Little Big Soldier fmovies. We all know Jackie Chan and his physical comedy, but in this it was even more, with his freedom as a writer of this movie he brought some really funny quotes in which made the movie even more fun to watch. Also he puts a great twist in where the plot jumps between comedy and drama.

Jackie Chan did a great job in this movie as the Producer, Screenwriter, Actor and Action Director.

Lee-Hom Wang with a weak performance in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution did a really good job here. Playing a young general Lee had a great chemistry with Jackie and his character. They made even a ridiculous fight between them by the river fun and enjoyable to watch.

Little Big Solider with the combination of action/adventure and the specific comedy of Jackie Chan is Great,Fun and Enjoyable movie.

Little Big Soldier continues to reinforce a point, that while one can afford to forgo Jackie Chan's rather dismal outing in any Hollywood flicks of late, his Asian films are a totally different story altogether. JC was said to have this story brewing for some two decades now, and initially his plan was to play the Big General himself, but good advice and probably with more confidence in his dramatic acting ability meant he takes on the Little Soldier role, and went with Wang Leehom for the other.

Maybe I'm crediting him too much since he came up with the story, but here's a film that would probably not work without JC taking on one of the characters, with the Little Soldier seem tailor made for him at this stage of his career, no longer needing to be the hero, but ever willing to be part of the underdogs, which Hollywood still frowns upon (hey, he's JC, he has to be a top notch cop/spy/secret agent/etc), as compared to everyday working man roles like that in Shinjuku Incident, Rob-B-Hood, and as a cowardly soldier whose self preservation instinct kicks into overdrive all the time.

Set prior to the unification of China by the Qin dynasty, the film opens with what seemed like a total annihilation in the battlefield between Wei and Liang troops, only to find Liang's Little Soldier being able to capture Wei's super Big General (Leehom) only because the latter is severely injured. With the promise of plenty of land for the live capture of an enemy general, Little Soldier makes it a point to cart Big General back to his country at all costs, so that he can settle down with new found wealth, coupled with an exemption from having to serve in the army. But of course Big General comes with a lot of baggage in knowing that his kindred had betrayed him and his elite troops in a battle, and are after him to ensure that he stays dead.

So lies the gist of the story, which to say anymore would be to spoil the fun and the depth of the story's development. Suffice to say JC's story contains enough to make you feel for the two lead characters, where their natural adversary would pave the way to inevitable friendship being forged by way of encountering and overcoming painful obstacles and challenges posed along the way, as the adage goes, two is better than one. JC too plays his character so well that you can't help but to endear to his multiple gimmicky toys he employs to survive in battles, plus the sheer luck and street smarts he has to rely on to get out of sticky situations. I'm not much of a Leehom fan, but he managed to pull of his role as the stoic general with aplomb, and shares some fine chemistry with JC, believable that these guys would be friends should they not be from different lands.

But the strength of the film comes from how the two characters contrast with, and how they rub off their respective ideals on each other. The Little Soldier aspires to lead a simple life of farming, to go back to his roots of a simple life, reminiscing upon his father's wise words, where rich means a plot of land to farm, two cows and a wife. Fighting in battles is not his cup of tea, and he'll do anything just to ensure that he comes out unscathed, even if it means being branded as a cowardly deserter. On the other hand, Big General aspires to conquer lands and if inevitable, to die gloriously in battle. Soon enough, he learns how having small but fulfilling, meaningful aspirations would be miles better than material wealth, of the joys that a simple, peaceful life can bring

As a big fan of Jackie's, its hard to stay subjective whenever it comes to the movies he makes. Sometimes the movies are great, other times they are quite terrible, and sometimes he just makes it land somewhere in between. I can say honestly that this movie is one of the movies you will want to place on the top shelf of your movie collection. Its old fashioned, wonderfully comical at times, and tells a story of a small part of a large history of China.

People say that Jackie Chan's acting is hollow. While I agree that this can sometimes be the case, its only because of the terrible "Hollywood" machine movies he is inclined to make versus the traditional Hong Kong action/drama/comedy flicks he is used to. Hollywood Jackie Chan can be quite terrible (The Tuxedo, The Medallion, Around the World in 80 Days, The Spy Next Door, etc). Traditional Jackie Chan is great (New Police Story, Rob-B-Hood, Who Am I?, along with all the Hong Kong classics Jackie Chan has under his belt like Drunken Master, Police Story, City Hunter) I'm rather frustrated at the implication that Jackie Chan cannot act, and that this or The Karate Kid are trumpeting his newfound skills as an actor, when in my opinion he has been a superb actor far before that. Just watch New Police Story.

In any case, this was an excellent watch, and has earned itself a spot on the top shelf of my collection. Hopefully, there will be an English dub sometime in the future so that more people will be able to watch this fine film.