Born to Defense (1986)

Jet, a young soldier at the end of the second World War must overcome some abusive Americans who are bullying him as well as the Chinese people.

Director:

Jet Li

Writers:

Jia Er-Ge, Jack Maeby (english adaptation) (as J. Maeby)

Stars:

Jet Li, Keith Anthony, Kaiming Chen

Cast

Credited cast:
Jet Li	...	Jet
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Keith Anthony	...	(voice)
Kaiming Chen
Wing Cho
Cam Clarke	...	(voice)
John DeMita	...	Jet (voice)
Peter Doyle	...	(voice)
Dongyu Fan
Zhanghe Gao
Jessica Gee-George	...	(voice) (as Jessica Gee)
Yin Geng
Grant George	...	(voice)
Kerry Gutierrez	...	(voice)
Dean Harrington	...	US Marine
Mark King	...	GI Blue

Storyline

Jet, a young soldier at the end of the second World War must overcome some abusive Americans who are bullying him as well as the Chinese people.

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Plot Keywords:

victory | opening action scene | gun fu | bolt action rifle | infantry | 

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Taglines:

Once Upon A Time In China A New Hero Emerged...

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Genres:

Action | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Country:

Hong Kong China

Language:

English Cantonese

Release Date:

16 February 1986 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Born to Defense

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sil-Metropole Organisation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 87 min (USA) (dubbed)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jet Li broke his nose after being hit in one of the boxing scenes. On every movie after this one you can see a small scar on his nose.

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Connections

Featured in Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Movie (2011)

User Reviews

Dramatic AND plot-less!

Version: Some PAL VHS double-pack with 'Kids from Shaolin. English dub, accompanied by the worst quality soundtrack you will ever hear.

In the tradition of nearly every dubbed Jackie Chan movie up to 'First Strike' (and beyond), Jet Li gets to play Jet, a Chinese soldier returning from World War Two only to find that the accomplishments of he and his men are made meaningless when the American navy (the "real war heroes") rolls into town. Naturally, the American servicemen run around being arrogant jerks, and it is up to Jet to kick their collective arses. Woo!

Somehow, 'Born to Defend' is both one of the most dramatical Jet Li movies I've seen, yet at the same time is somehow one of the most plot-less Li movies I've seen. I would like to try and explain that in a convincing way, I really would, but you will just have to settle for this: You'll see people getting beaten up, then some drama, and then someone thrown through a table in a dramatical way. If Jet Li can direct such a perfectly plot-less drama about lots of people getting a good butt-kicking, why hasn't he directed any more movies? Come on, Jet, I know you can create more plot-less dramatical awesomeness.

So, after all the plot-less drama, 'Born to Defend' is just a bunch of fight scenes? Hey, I'm not complaining, and you shouldn't either. Unlike most of his movies in the 80s / early 90s, this is not a wu xia. Sure, he can get hit by a car and be perfectly fine, but most of the time Jet takes on his bearded foes in kick / boxing style fights. The fights are entertaining enough, but nowhere near the level of Li's later movie 'Fist of Legend'. Have I mentioned the beards yet? Basically, the more noticeable beard an American soldier has, the better fighter he is. I swear, I'm serious.

'Born to Defend' is not the finest, nor awesomest, Jet Li movie I have ever seen, but it certainly isn't the worst Li movie around - 6/10