A poster for Jackie Chan's Little Big Soldier (2010).
Jackie Chan has an undeservedly lackluster reputation as of late. The official guide to the 9th New York Asian Film Festival itself is saying his last great film was Drunken Master II released in 1994, and that he’s since turned himself into something of a joke. Granted, in the 16-year span between then and now, he has starred in a tremendous amount of movies whose titles contain the words “Police,” “Rice,” and/or “Kung Fu,” but that doesn’t change the facts: Jackie Chan is cinema gold, the closest thing we on Earth have to an Asian Mickey Mouse or Julia Roberts, the King Midas with the feel-good touch of modern movies. His presence is enough to attract audiences, and when this Chinese sweetheart is cast in a film impressive on its own merits, the results are spectacular.
Enter Little Big Soldier, the latest foray into Chinese historical drama directed by Ding Sheng. A buddy-cum-road-trip story set against the waning years of the Warring States Period in 226 BC, Little Big Soldier tells the tale of the two lone survivors of a particularly gruesome showdown between the armies of the Liang and Wei kingdoms. On the Liang side, we have the Old Soldier (Jackie Chan), a spritely farmer opposed to both war and dying in one, who naps his way to survival after faking his own death. On Team Wei, there’s the illustrious Wei General (Wang Lee-hom) with a battle-broken body but stubbornly intact fighting spirit. Chan gets the brilliant idea to drag the living general back to Liang in exchange for what he assumes are fabulous prizes (read: land on which to grow beans!), and the two embark on the longest walk across the country since Big Bird Goes to China. Along the way, they repeatedly clash with a troupe of slave-peddling barbarians and double-crossing Wei politicians gunning for the demise of the General, which adds significant depth to a movie that would otherwise consist of Jackie Chan dragging a stupidly good-looking curmudgeon from point A to point B.
A scene from the upcoming movie.
While the premise of the movie is entertaining, the real magic is in watching how Ding Sheng seamlessly alternates between humor and drama, all while incorporating beautiful cinematography and staggeringly quick pacing. On one hand, Chan’s elusive sense of comic timing is constantly at work, with his happy-go-lucky, fuggedaboutit attitude playing off the rigidly pragmatic General throughout, but this film is much more than an opportunist joke machine. Characters are depicted as so dimensional that no one is singularly good or bad, with internal conflicts abounding within all parties. The Wei General lives for honor, but what of the death he sponsors? His conniving little brother wants to off the General to ascend to his kingdom’s throne for the good of Wei, but, uh, should he be conspiring to kill his brother in the first place? Even Jackie Chan doesn’t get off with a clean conscience, as he tries to balance his strong will to live with personal doubts that he has betrayed his beloved homeland by consistently refusing to fight and/or die for it. The direction heavily emphasizes motivations and consequences of actions, which ultimately leaves the viewer to decide exactly who is and isn’t a decent person. It’s not a difficult ethical quandary, however, as everyone in this movie is somehow likeable.
Little Big Soldier has it all: an odd couple story, a road trip saga, a keen sense of wit and humanity, and best of all, an international film star who shows us all that it’s possible to kick some barbarian ass and still wax internal conflict at 56 years of age. So to everyone saying Jackie Chan is done: Give him a better script or hire him a better business manager, because while gold may collect dust, it doesn’t rust.
– Ben Milam
Little Big Soldier
Directed by Ding Sheng
Starring: Jackie Chan, Wang Lee-hom, Yu Rong-guang
Mandarin with English subtitles, China/Hong Kong, 2010, 95 minutes
