1911 [HD]

1911 Revolution
Dynamic actor Jackie Chan is working hard in trying to leave a firm and strong legacy in Chinese cinema and cinema in general. Perhaps he wants to demonstrate that his talents are not exclusively in martial arts films and comedies, but also in dramatic roles. And I'm happy to say that he successfully does that in "1911 Revolution," a formidable and epic film about one of China's defining moments in its tortured history. Historical movies just don't get better than this.

The film opens with the execution of Qiu Jin, in Shaoxing. She was a member of the Tongmenghui, a revolutionary council that wanted to end the imperial government. We are then taken to San Francisco, on April 26, 1911, when Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (Winston Chao) is speaking at a fundraiser to the Chinese community in that city, in order that money could be collected for the revolutionary army that was fighting the Qing Dynasty. It was thought, we learn, that "overseas Chinese people were the mothers of the...

I enjoyed it, but not because it's a great movie
I'm a world history teacher, and I am going to China later this summer for a three-week vacation/adventure. I spent a lot of time in my class covering Chinese history, so it was only natural that I would watch this. I enjoyed it a lot - but mostly because I was familiar with the basics of the material it covered. Otherwise, I would have been totally lost. The plot concerns how Sun Yat Sen and his followers fight a lot of battles to defeat the corrupt Qing dynasty and establish a Chinese republic. There's a little more to it, but not much. This is not really a martial arts movie, nor a real drama, but a curious mix of those things and a documentary.

What you get is a lot of hagiography about Sun Yat-Sen, and a lot of battles. The film is most certainly propaganda for the current regime in China, even it is somewhat veiled. Many historical figures are introduced and then. . . they disappear from view. I suspect a Chinese viewer would probably get a lot more out of it than a...

That's not the real run time
The run time for this movie is actually about 118 minutes, but the US Blu-Ray version is only 99 minutes. Why the heck is that? I was looking forward to this (especially for it's incredible run time, making it a true epic), but was let down by you guys at Amazon. Other than that, the movie was still good, but should have been 240 minutes, extending all the battle sequences in the movie

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