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Little Big Soldier: A Jackie Chan Movie that Actually Made Me Feel Something

Jackie Chan’s movies – at least anything I’ve seen since Police Story 1 – are usually entertaining but ultimately forgettable fluff. I saw Little Big Soldier this week, and while it isn’t a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch, I think that it’s very well done as cinematic art. It is entertaining, and almost uniquely among Jackie Chan movies, actually got my emotions moving.

This is ultimately an enemies-become-friends movie, which has been done a number of times, of course. This one, however, is set in the China’s Warring States Period (475BC – 221BC) and the differences between the two main characters are not ultimately political or military. Yes, Jackie Chan’s character is an older, common footsoldier from the State of Liang, and Lee-Hom Wang’s chatacter is a young general from the State of Wei. The principal difference between them is one of life goal’s and outlook. Jackie Chan’s character is a farmer at heart – he longs to live in peace and tend his own farm. Lee-Hom’s character is an ambitious aristocrat with defeating the other nations and subsuming China under his personal rule. One is a commoner, through and through, who longs simply to live in peace. The other is a military man, who sees military conquest as the road to peace.

The story is not complicated, and of course has its own holes and shortcomings. The characters are not particularly deep, particularly all those other than the two principal characters. The fight scenes are nice, but nothing like the acrobatic & choreographic wonders that Jackie Chan used to do when he was young. What, then, redeems this film?

I found it entertaining and engaging because I liked the main characters and the dynamic between them. They are both good, honorable men who – through the film’s various trials and challenges, forge a strong bond together. They never become buddies, but they highly respect one another.

And… the ending. I found the ending of the film very touching, though it is not in any way a happy ending. One man’s world and dreams are shattered, and the other man is changed to the core forever.

I did not expect the ending, and I felt that it was very well done. One of the themes throughout the movie is about the very human cost of war, and seeing the demise of one of the main characters to whom I had grown attached personalized it.

Indeed, I found myself thinking this morning how very little our history books capture this very basic and immediate fact of history and warfare. “The Romans conquered France.” “Qin conquered and unified China.” These are statements of fact that entirely omit the human experience of those times. Films, however, are a medium that can be artfully used to truly move an audience to understand the human side of history. Anyone who has seen Schindler’s List, The Pianist, or Life is Beautiful has experienced this. Little Big Soldier cannot objectively be held to the same level as Schindler’s List, but to me the film brought home its message just as strongly – although having done so with humor throughout most of the movie.

I greatly enjoyed this movie, and I certainly would like to see more movies from Jackie Chan done with this level of heart and thought.