LITTLE BIG SOLDIER (China/Hong Kong, 2010)
Directed by: Ding Sheng
Starring: Jackie Chan, Wang Lee-hom, Yu Rong-guang

It’s not easy being a Jackie Chan fan. One of cinema’s great masters, on a par with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin for sheer physical genius and filmmaking invention, Jackie’s let himself become something of a joke in recent years, appearing in a string of uninspired Hollywood movies and bloated big-budget misfires. Even he seems a bit embarrassed by the turn his life has taken. But, true believers rejoice! Because finally he’s made a movie that scrapes the rust from his legend and stands proudly with his greatest films. LITTLE BIG SOLDIER is the movie that any Jackie fan can show to an unbeliever and say, “There! That’s why this man is great.”

Twenty years in development, LITTLE BIG SOLDIER finally sees Jackie come to terms with his place in the Chinese film industry, his aging body, his legacy as an action star and even China’s place in the world. A sly satire on the endless string of period epics (like RED CLIFF) that are pouring out of China, it starts during the Warring States period immediately after a battle where the armies of Liang and Wen have just annihilated each other. The only two survivors are the Old Soldier (Jackie Chan) a conscripted farmer who has lived through countless battles with one unbeatable technique: the fighting starts and he pretends to be dead. The other survivor is the grievously wounded and helpless Wei General (Wang Lee-hom) a proud warrior whose one dream is death in battle.

Old Soldier sees the Wei General as a meal ticket: if he can turn him over to his king he'll get a fat reward and finally retire from the fighting life. The only hitch is that his king is hundreds of miles away across a no man's land full of barbarians. And the Wei General is also being hunted down by his power hungry little brother who wants to make sure that big bro really is dead so he can take over the throne.

Now 56 years old, Jackie abandons his self-destructive stunts, instead showing off his abilities with casually tossed off acrobatics that still take your breath away. And freed of the crutch of the big stunts it becomes clear that Jackie is still a great physical actor. There have always been better martial artists, better stuntmen and better daredevils out there, but what made Jackie great was his timing and his mastery of physical comedy. This is the first time in years (possibly since 1994's DRUNKEN MASTER II) that he's had to rely on nothing more than his chops, rather than lavish special effects or CGI and in setting all that junk aside, he's found greatness again.

If you know Jackie Chan movies, you know that an unhappy ending is coming. All of his best movies, from POLICE STORY and PROJECT A to DRUNKEN MASTER 2 and OPERATION CONDOR feature bleak or, at best, ambiguous endings, and LITTLE BIG SOLDIER is no exception. But, in a dizzying display of self-awareness, Jackie has made a movie whose message is “Change, or die.” Fortunately, for his fans, LITTLE BIG SOLDIER represents the joyous fact that at 56 years old, Jackie has chosen “change” and the result is one of his best movies ever.