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Dreadfully Boring

Crappy film

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

China has been one of the primary driving forces in the world for almost two millennia. The incarnations known to recent generations are the People's Republic of China (the mainland) and the Republic of China (Taiwan). But these only emerged after two thousand years of monarchical rule. Jackie Chan's "Xinhài Gémìng" ("1911" in English) looks at the revolution that brought down the Qing dynasty. This topic briefly got touched on in "The Last Emperor", but here we get the full story of how Sun Yat-sen sought funds from the Chinese diaspora to counter the Western powers' support of the corrupt, dysfunctional royal family. Over the course of a year, the revolutionary movement waged repeated battles against the monarchy, eventually forcing Puyi's abdication in 1912.Chan plays Huang Xing, a Sun's second-in-command, with Winston Chao playing Sun. I should say that the movie's pace in some scenes is awkward, with words identifying the characters while they talk (making it hard to read the subtitles). But that's only a minor problem. The battle scenes, and the look at the 72 Martyrs make clear that the road from the Qing dynasty to republican China was no easy one. It's not a great movie, but I recommend it. A similar movie that I recommend is "The Soong Sisters".Also starring Jaycee Chan, Li Bingbing, Joan Chen and Hu Ge.

No matter what anyone says, this is utterly fantastic. A historical drama based on the founding of the Republic of China when nationalist forces led by Sun Yat-sen overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The metaphors in this movie are so abundant. It holds the attention but demands complete suspension of logic.From an artistic standpoint, there were some plot elements and character developments I didn't think were totally needed. They do however drive the story, which seemed to be their purpose, so I can accept them. By the end, we feel that we have learned a great deal about the characters and the community that produced them. What a concept that is. I give this one a final rating of 7 out of 10, and it deserves it.

Made to coincide with the centenary of the original event, 1911 REVOLUTION is a film that celebrates China's rise from the tyranny of the Qing dynasty into the modern era. It's an unashamedly patriotic movie, with clear-cut heroes and villains, and one that seeks to portray a politically complex situation in a massive country, on an international scale, in the space of two hours. The resultant film is an educational ride and historically interesting, but one that falls down when it comes to the basic facets of movie-making.The film tries to be both a gutsy war film dominated by explosive battle sequences and a compelling political epic, featuring scenes from both sides involved in the revolution. Unfortunately, the editing is quite choppy and the battle scenes, although technically proficient, end up disappointing as you're left wanting more. Characterisation is virtually nil; Jackie bags the best role as the rebellious leader and has a few great action scenes, but everybody else feels like a player in a historical drama, never really coming to full life as they should. There are lots of familiar Chinese actors in various parts, but none of them make much of an impact here.It's a shame, because there's a film with a similar focus, set five years previously, called BODYGUARDS & ASSASSINS, and I found it absolutely spellbinding. That movie manages to mix in the political intrigue and dramatic backdrop of the situation while at the same time telling a rollicking, action-packed storyline filled with melodrama and excitement. Yes, it was silly and over the top in places, but I'd rather that than this slightly stuffy and occasionally lifeless production that fails to engage the senses along with the intellect.

This film in a word is a mess.The problem with a lot of historical dramas in general is that their historical scopes are too big to fit neatly into the format of a film. 1911 suffers the same weakness as many other recent "propaganda" movies from mainland China: Irrespective of their propagandistic flairs or contents, they are all trying to cover everything and quickly into a usual 2 hrs duration, a task impossible if not improbable to do well. One has to question how much creative freedom Jackie really had with directing it but even without outside pressure, we can intuit that even Jackie won't want to be liberal with a source material so sensitive and "weighty". I am not going to delve into the history as you can find better information elsewhere but judging this historical film purely as film, it is unsatisfactory at best. If you want to learn about the 1911 Revolution then perhaps this film would give you a rundown of its historical development; it is mostly centred from the perspective of the revolutionary faction led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the founding father of modern nationhood and democracy in China. As required, you would see plenty of explosions and scenes of war, albeit distributed rather evenly throughout the film, providing as bits of "action" before or after the "civil" and political acts by Sun Yat Sen and the other "players" in the political manoeuvres. The film is littered with bits of textual information supposed to fill you in on the historical facts and significances, but if you are not a fast reader, all of it would fly past your head unless you are a professor in the study of the Revolution. So right off the bat you are witnessing an educational material that lacks substance and depth but only provides you with a general picture and even incomplete at that.With the typical colour filtering for battle scenes, you are treated with the usual grittiness of war. It is very apparent you are supposed to feel the up welling of emotion as men and women sacrificed their lives for the revolution but if anything, the scenes are so short that before you have the chance/time for up welling, it is over. All we know is that battles were fought, people died, and we move on to the (politic) next part. As a historical book, that is fine, as a movie, it does not work. (Granted some scenes might have been touching but within a film world crammed up with similar attempts at dragging out your inner weak spots, we are emotionally fatigued at best to be moved so easily.) One would also be appalled at the film's treatment of westerners. They are stereotyped/caricatured and acted awkwardly, seemingly only needed for their appearances and that none of the people hired to act knows how to act. (I mean come on, this is the 21th century, aren't we smart enough now to see through all the old stereotypes and know that people aren't paper cutouts?) Along with that comes some bad acting on the part of the Chinese casts, where most of them are either wooden or overly melodramatic, some even managed both. Even the Doctor at certain parts of the movie came out awkwardly.Cinematography. This might be much more centred on my own personal opinion but I find some of the cuts and techniques trying too hard, focusing on style rather than lending itself to the story and the scenes. A lot of potentially good scenes are ruined by fast cuts and awkward transitions which in some cases even provide some hilarious results on a film so centred on seriousness, making it somewhat a deadpan. I applaud Jackie for taking on directing but maybe perhaps this is not exactly the source material to work with. Personally I find historical films problematic in ways of execution, especially one about politics and dare I say revolutions? There is no way not to read a film like this in propagandistic terms. But then again can there be politic without propaganda? Maybe this one could be read as an irony? The solution to this is: Just don't take on so much, stop making epic political movies all together and give us something much more substantial than the emotionless husks we are always being offered in, dare I say, "sanctioned" art? (But in the case of China, this might be harder than one could imagine.) It is much better to focus on the smaller characters tangled within all these big events, see things from their eyes and get to understand the big picture. The detachment from human emotionality and focusing on the large picture history book-esque is only going to alienate people. For this story, as much as the personage of the doctor is "monumental" and of his endeavours, focus on Sun Yat Sen himself more, his personal struggles, what happens behind doors. Granted this would basically take the film into another direction but political epics just do not work.(At least I haven't seen it work. Western directors already understood the difficulty and infeasibility of trying to cover everything at once. Personally I haven't seen any western films done this way or similarly. If you have seen a successful one, please let me know, I want to learn.) If a metaphor could be used for this film, then it is akin to watch the scenes outside a fast moving train. Some scenes are nicely shot, well acted, and some sidelined characters having much more commanding presence than the main ones (In this case, I am speaking to the limited screen time roles played by Joan Chen as Empress Dowager Longyu and Chun Sun as Marshal Yuan Shi Kai), but the train is just going too fast for you to take a good look. All this makes you rather be out there...