Two armies clash in ancient war-torn China; none survive but a young general from a royal house and a farmer foot soldier who binds the fallen leader to take him home and claim a reward. Many stand in their way: an abandoned songstress, the noble's own murderous younger brother, desperate beggars, rough slavers, and the pair's own differing agendas. Through it all, a bond forms between the two, and what will happen at journey's end becomes anyone's guess. An old soldier kidnaps a young general of an enemy state and takes him on a long journey to collect the reward. Well, to tell the truth, initially, I went to see the movie mostly because it features Wang Lee Hom, and I'm simply just a big fan of him. But the movie was much much captivating and deep, far beyond my expectation. I came to see my idol Hom, but instead, it turned out that my favorite character is indeed Jackie Chan's "bing". However, it doesn't mean I did not like Hom' "jiang". On the contrary, Hom and Chan make up the perfect duo, i.e "da bing xiao jiang". And the Korean Steve Yoo did a good job, too. And I don't want to give spoilers here, but please please watch till the end of the movie (at some point, you might have thought it was the end already, but it was not) to see what I mean. How marvelous! Jackie Chan, graverobber…? Indeed- and it's one of his finest performances ever. Chan is learning how to mellow with age, and LITTLE BIG SOLDIER enables him to rely more on his carefully-honed acting skills than his death-defying antics. (Surprisingly, there's a cgi/wirework sequence here, but it turns out to be nothing more than a dream sequence- thankfully.) Chan's funnier than ever, too. He wears a fake arrow-through-the-chest rig that comes in handy when he's captured. The barbarian bandits are easily the coolest characters we've seen this side of the original Robert E. Howard CONAN stories (which are NOT to be confused with the alleged "feature films") (nor the live-action nor the cartoon teleshows). When a captured general escapes, Chan, as "Samll Potato," observes: "Just a general. Next time, I'll catch a king." There are some GREAT locations throughout LITTLE BIG SOLDIER and the ending is very dramatic, indeed. Another winner.
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365 weeks ago