RhadeL

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...

What to say. I was definitely one of those people who had reservations with this movie before and when it came out without knowing the details. Even being one who is seeking a career in CG and one who by default always love 3Ds, I wasn't sure if it would pay off. Soon I gave up with all these good reviews and praises so I went to see it today. I am glad I went and that my money was well spent.

First of all, don't expect that the story is going to be revolutionary and blow you away with characterizations and deep deep meanings, but do expect to be blown away by the visuals, the level of details, and mesmerized by the character animations. This is the first time that I actually felt for the CGI characters, surely if you analyze it visually, you would find faults and inadequacy VS. a real human performance but damn it I was amazed that a non existing character could deliver so much. The character effects made the leap over the uncanny valley, it may be still suspended in midair over the abyss of the valley but it made the jump, it moved the whole industry standard up a notch. This is the the staple of the next gen., the forerunner to what's to come in CG.

At the end of the movie, you would feel abit depressed because Jake(The main character) found a new life but for us, we are back into the dream.(Watch the movie, you will know what I mean) This is what movie meant to do--to transport us into a world, to forget all the (real)vanities and trouble of the world and just relax and enjoy the scant glimpse of the good parts of life for a few hours. Surely you have to come back down but damn it enjoy the joy while it lasts.

I am a cynic; the story brings nothing new, cheesy dialogues, big eye candies but damn do I love it. This is a movie where good execution combining with a simple story end up make you feel more than what you expect yourself to be able to.

Just take this as a pop corn movie and enjoy the show! Reflection upon humanity might be a side effect, you are warned!

Like the title says, this is one of those movies. Good attempt with many bits of good elements but collaged together into a mess that depending on your tolerance, leave you unsatisfied at the very least.

First off, great scenery though heavily filtered that end up ruined the scenes.(At least for me). Music sounds great and make everything more atmospheric. Acting wasn't terrible but could definitely improved. Set design and everything else props wise looks solid. The only big thing then is how the director delivered the story through the film. I haven't read the novel by the original author which this movie is based on so I can't compare. Without getting into too much detail, the story sets during the Han Dynasty of China, revolving a man's journey and encounter at the western frontier where nomadic tribes kept pestering the empire's borders. The focus of the story is on the literal "transformation" of this man before, during and after. The movie involves a lot of fast and short cuts that I personally dislike. There were quite a few of shuffling around the time of the events to fast track the experience of the character(At the start of the movie)to the audience which might turn some people off but I actually liked. Though the cuts were rather short but the movie was a slow one which isn't a bad thing and I honestly liked the first half of the movie with its little guessing game of what happened and some rather good exploitations of inner emotions but as the movie went on, it started to go down hill, eventually ended up in a mess of a movie with too much extra footage that felt shouldn't be there and the ending made for a lot to be desired.

This is a movie that had good material to be sure. I am sure the novel would be better than this but this film isn't the worst either. In short, if the film had better editing and "tiding" up, it could have been an enjoyable movie.

So take that with a grain of salt.

If you do not like things to be dragged on abit then this movie might not be for you. I am by no means an adrenaline junkie and quite like quiet movies, but I can't help but feel bored at time with this film. The movie however had great cinematography, good set designs & costumes and a soundtrack that's light and enjoyable. This is not a movie where it made detail accounts of the battle of Chang Ping, a pivotal battle during the late Warring State period of China that more then probably determined and marked the beginning of the unification of China. But you are not going to get that from here. This movie is a small sketch of the lives of "minor" Characters before, during, and after the battle. On a personal note, I was put off by some of the exaggerated acting that didn't add anything to the movie but distracted. Seven Samurai influence can definitively be sniffed out but the film did not manage to fully maximize the potential of the premise of the story. However, if you like minimalistic films, great cinematography, or Chinese period movies in general then by means give it a go. This is a short poem of a film that could have had some revision to give maximum impact, something epic with the "few" and the "small".