1911

source: 1911

source: 1911

This movie was a boring cardboard cutout of a rousing historical movie. Textbook historical accuracy doesn't translate into an entertaining movie. If you are a history student who is currently learning about this period in China's history it might be interesting. Interesting in the way that watching a required movie during class instead of listening to a lecture might be interesting. In other words you may be able to sneak in a nap. Others who may like this movie are the Chinese or Chinese heritage people. Many other favorable reviews I have read of this movie seem to be written by that type. I don't doubt that the source material is interesting and compelling; it was just poorly done here. In short, if you are Chinese or a Chinese history buff, you'll probably like this movie.

This film could be so much more emotional and touching if the Chinese communist party is not still ruling the mainland China. The ccp's censors ruined the film. After watching this film, the audiences (especially the young mainland students) will hardly be motivated to pursue for the Three Principles of the People for a better China. For one thing, this is about the founding of Republic of China, (the first democratic republic in the entire Asia), however, the name of "Republic of China" or the Three Principles of the People were hardly ever mentioned, they were probably mentioned for less than ten times throughout the film. In one scene, the subtitle in Chinese and English was "Republic of China", but the dialogue was talking about "revolution". So did the censor ask the filmmakers to change the name of ROC to revolution? No one will know until after the ccp is to be destroyed for good in the future. Jackie chan's voice was dubbed by someone else. That was a good choice, because it made his character more believable. Even though his face looks familiar, but the character he portrayed looked brand new. He wasn't a bad actor in this film even though it is not his regular comedy, action film role. overall, i enjoyed watching it. It could be a much bigger epic film if they didn't have to worry about the CCP's censors. Just like the rest of the mainland Chinese films, they can't make great films, because everything they make must first be approved by the evil CCP censors! Until the day when CCP is overthrown by its people, mainland Chinese filmmakers can never make a great touching film at all. They have all the money, human power, they just don't have the creation freedom.

*****SPOILER ALERT!***** This movie is pre-spoiled. Oh, and the revolution succeeds. I gave it 2 stars because Jackie Chan did get one fighting scene in. That was worth one star. The other star is for... well, I'm not entirely sure what it's for. Effort maybe. Comically bad effects certainly. I guess this is Communist China's version on Patton. So instead of being epic and exciting it's epic and long windedly boring. Not that it's not entirely worth seeing. There are a few moments, but you have to add your own jokes, like an MST3K flick. Like the sound effects. They have the same cocking sound for every bolt action rifle, which wouldn't be too bad, except it sounds like a lever or pump action instead. That along with the sound of empty casings being dropped for fully loaded bullets, as well as spent casings, and a ricochet, that seems to be lifted directly from the Rainbow Six video game, used from everything from ricochets to cannons going off completely take you out of the film worse than every grenade in a Chuck Norris movie exploding with a big gas fireball. There are other things, like the "Go Pee" scene. Jackie Chan is leading one, of many, battles in the film and a Vicker's or Maxim type machine gun overheats and seizes up. He tells the soldier to pee on it. Not that this didn't happen, but he pees on the jacket of the water cooled gun, not in it. Not sure that would have worked for long and it would have been tough to keep a line of soldiers constantly urinating on it in the middle of a battle. And speaking of jackets, poor Jackie Chan has to lead a couple of battles without a uniform. And it seems like as soon as he gets one he gives it away to his politician friend before he even sets foot off the boat. That's another thing. Every ship in the film looks like a CG shot from Titanic. It's almost like this movie was made with a kit. Every sound and visual effect has a sameness to is. It's almost comical. Did I say almost? It IS comical. Almost as funny as the leader of the communist revolution begging the heads of the "Imperialist Bank" for money to help end Capitalism. Yep, that happens. So, if you want to see Jackie Chan direct and star in a War Epic sprinkled liberally with comically bad effects, that lots of speeches, and the most propaganda shots since the Battleship Potemkin, this is the movie for you. Otherwise it's a little like the Chinese film industry's attempt to make the Last Emperor from the other side. So despite lots of battle scenes, rather than being exciting, its a bit tedious. So while I feel I understand their attempt to escape oppression better, they seem to have only succeeded in trying to legitimize the new repression, and in making a epically long winded film that would rival and political speech. And speaking of speech. Jackie Chan has a very uncharacteristically gruff voice when speaking Chinese. Though it fits fine with the tough military officer character he plays in the movie, it makes it all the more surprising and funny when he speaks English and it's the same Jackie Chan from the V-8 commercials on TV. Goes good with The Last Emperor, 55 Days in Peking, The Sand Pebbles and or Reds.

Considering this is only a little more than an hour and a half in length, "1911" does a pretty decent job of offering the viewer a look at the 1911 revolution in China that toppled the Qing dynasty and inaugurated the Chinese Republic. The movie is heavy on battle scenes as the republicans and monarchists battle - and some of them are pretty graphic. The movie also gives a substantial look at some of the internal politics of the republican movement, which was not exactly a unified movement, except in its overall goal of toppling the monarchy. There's a few reflections on the place of foreigners and on repeated foreign interference in Chinese affairs. Basically this is pretty well acted by everyone involved, and it plays it pretty straight, with only one scene that I can recall that descends into Chinese martial arts. The fact that it is so short means that while it offers the viewer a good taste of the revolution, it lacks any real depth. Obviously, the era was far more complicated than is portrayed here. One thing that detracted from my enjoyment of the movies was the subtitles. I understand the need for them, of course, but there were two problems with them - first, they sometimes flashed by so fast that it was difficult to read them, and, second, there were many times when there were two different sets of subtitles on the screen - one translating dialogue, and one translating historical information that was being offered on screen. It was difficult to follow both, and the latter especially were written in a very small font. The movie was produced in mainland China to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1911 revolution. Unsurprisingly, then, the movie pays homage in its closing captions to the Chinese Communist Party as the inheritors of the revolutionary tradition. Aside from that, though, this didn't come across to me as a particularly heavy propaganda piece, which I appreciated. (6/10)

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.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed certain parts of this film with some superb performances from the main cast. But for the most part it was distinctly average verging on boring, mainly let down by the poor editing (although Singaporean censors may be partly to blame for that) and some laughable acting and scripting, A good example of the latter is the cringeworthy English dialogue for the character of Homer Lea, which is played by (what seems to be) an inexperienced Western actor. Maybe it's the script's fault, but he's the Jar Jar Binks of this production. Fortunately his scenes are very limited in number, but the film could have done without them altogether and be better for it. All in all, I learned a little Chinese history. I just wish it was more entertaining.

The most telling moment. It's nearly an hour into the film, and somewhere in the middle of this incoherent plot Jackie Chan actually slides down a pipe and does a Jackie Chan thing and beats up three assassins. It's like he went nearly a whole movie without doing typical Jackie Chan stuff, and he just couldn't help himself. I'd like to say this wasn't plot relevant, but that would work on the dubious assumption this film had a plot. It talks about the fall of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty, and frankly, we already did that movie. It was called "The Last Emperor", and it was a vastly better film. This one seems to revel in re-enactments of battles, but doesn't really flesh out the characters too much. The annoying flash cards explaining events and characters (many of whom weren't necessary, really) was really more of a distraction. I think this film is probably more interesting to Chinese Audiences, but I didn't give a darn about any of the characters or how this was going to all turn out. They end the movie on a happy note before Civil and world war and Communist dictatorship. WHich is kind of like Ending Titanic before they hit the Iceberg. I'm going to give it a 2 for period costumes and props.

I saw this film on Oct. 9th. 2011. It moves quite quickly at the beginning and there is a lot of war action portrayed in the failed attempts to overthrow the Qing Empire. Chartracters are all identified and that is the only part of the film that detracts from the viewing. The film is in Chinese and by the time you have read the subtitles the characters names are gone. The film is enjoyable if you know Chinese history of this period and if you don't it can be just a series of talking and action scenes and can be quite confusing. Sun yat-sen is the main character but Jackie Chan does get to be more than just an action figure. If you want to more about this period of Chinese this would be the movie to spur you on or illustrate better what was going on in China at this time. Yuan Shi-kai is one character who has appeared in a lot of historical films portraying this period and his actions are as always ones of greed and betrayal.