Little Big Soldier (2010)

An old soldier kidnaps a young General of an enemy state and takes him on a long journey to collect the reward.

Director:

Sheng Ding

Writer:

Jackie Chan (screenplay)

Stars:

Jackie Chan, Leehom Wang, Sung-jun Yoo

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jackie Chan	...	The Soldier
Leehom Wang	...	the General
Sung-jun Yoo	...	Prince Wen (as Steve Yoo)
Peng Lin	...	Songster
Yuming Du	...	Guard Wu (as Du Yu Ming)
Song Jin	...	Lou Fan Wei
Dongmei Xu	...	Lou Fan Yan (as Xu Dong Mei)
Ken Lo	...	Guard Yong (as Low Houl Kang)
Rongguang Yu	...	Captain Yu (as Yu Rong Guang)
Yue Wu	...	Beggar Head
Baoqiang Wang	...	Messenger (as Wang Beo Qiang)
Ben Niu	...	the Scholar
Wing Lun Ng	...	Guard Zhuo (as Alan Ng)
Jack Tu	...	Imperial Bodyguard
Haixiang Wang	...	Imperial Bodyguard (as Wang Hai Xiang)

Storyline

Two armies clash in ancient war-torn China; none survive but a young general from a royal house and a farmer foot soldier who binds the fallen leader to take him home and claim a reward. Many stand in their way: an abandoned songstress, the noble's own murderous younger brother, desperate beggars, rough slavers, and the pair's own differing agendas. Through it all, a bond forms between the two, and what will happen at journey's end becomes anyone's guess.

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Plot Keywords:

general | soldier | china | wine | bound hand and foot | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence and action

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [China]

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

14 February 2010 (China)

Also Known As:

Little Big Soldier

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

CNY 15,000,000 (China), 14 February 2010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beijing Dragon Garden Culture & Art, Jackie & JJ Productions, Beijing Universe Starlight Culture Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At a conference in Beijing on November 20, 2009, Jackie Chan announced, along with Universal Culture Limited and EURO WEBSOFT, that an MMO was being released to promote the movie. Chan and Wang's characters in the game were also shown at the conference. On January 26, 2010, the MMO went online under the name FLASH Little Big Soldier. It is free to play under an account subscription. However, the game is available only in Chinese.

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Goofs

Approximately 55 minutes into film you can see cacti on the tops of & growing alongside the ruined town walls. Cacti are not native to China and were only introduced in the 1800's AD. The story line would coincide with approximately 300BC. A difference of almost 2000 years.

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Quotes

The Soldier: [to his bound captive] You know, when I was little, I caught a wild boar. My father set it free. Do you know why? It was pregnant. Are you pregnant?

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Crazy Credits

Outtakes from the film play during the end credits.

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Alternate Versions

UK versions are cut by 2 secs to remove a horsefall.

User Reviews

Little soldier with a big heart...

Another goal by Jackie Chan. Not only does this movie deliver the usual martial arts extravaganza that is trademark of his movies, but it also delivers a really interesting story that is not just slack-stick humor. And that is a really great trait to the movie, and a great step towards the right approach for a movie of this type.

The story is about a peasant soldier in the Liang army (played by Jackie Chan) who saves himself from slaughter in a massive battle by feigning his death. As luck would have it, he manages to find a surviving general of the Wei army (played by Leehom Wang), the soldier seems to have it made, as he can hand in his captive for land and profit. But the road back to Liang is long and treacherous - the king's men are out searching for the missing general and the land is not at all a friendly place in itself.

A great story that Jackie Chan came up with here and it has been masterfully put to the screen. The story offers great action and just the right amount of comedy without it becoming too much in the usual genre that Jackie Chan operates.

What really makes "Little Big Soldier" work out is the chemistry and dialogue between the soldier and the general on their hard and long trek back towards Liang. And the spectacular landscape and scenery really adds a lot of flavor to the movie, and it is like you are right there back in time in ancient China.

This is one of the better Jackie Chan movies in the recent years, and it is great to see him take on other roles this late in his career. "Little Big Soldier" is well worthy of a place in the DVD collection of any fans of Jackie Chan or of Asian ancient war history movies in general.