It’s hard to think of a martial arts star with the lasting
power and sheer magnitude of films to their credit as Donnie Yen. The name
might not be all that familiar to some but to fans of the genre he’s a legend.
He’s starred or been involved in films like IRON MONKEY, BLADE 2, SHANGHAI
KNIGHTS, HERO, XXX:THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE and the IP MAN movies. He’s not
only an amazing martial artists but an amazing actor as well. All of that comes
together in BIG BROTHER.
Yen plays Henry Chen, an ex-military man who signs up to be
a teacher at a school in trouble. Teaching a liberal studies class he arrives
on his first day to find that his students are among the worst the school has
to offer. They ignore his call to class, cook and sell food in the classroom, play
music instead of listening and more. Chen knows that standard teaching
disciplines won’t work with this group. He needs an in.
To do so he begins to learn about each of the students in
his group. He reads up their files, goes to their homes and we watch as he
gathers information about a few of these supposed malcontents. What he finds is
hardship in their lives from financial problems to family issues. Using the
information he forms a method of reaching out to the kids to help them develop
an interest in learning.
All of this may sound like the standard formula film about
troubled youths and accessible teachers and in some ways it is. But this isn’t
a normal teacher or scholar. We learn that Chen has a past with the school
having once been a troubled student there himself. Couple that with his
background after he left the school and joined the military and this is no
normal teacher.
One of this student in particular, Jack (Jack Lok), has
financial problems and works for a Triad running errands. Knowing this will
lead to nothing but heartache for the boy’s grandmother who works hard to
support the two of them, he tries to get Jack to leave the group. When Jack is
caught drugging the water of an MMA fighter at the instruction of his boss,
Chen comes to his aid displaying a fighting skill Jack was unaware of. He
rescues the boy but incurs the wrath of his boss, a man who has plans to make
the school fail so he can tear it down in a real estate deal. The only way to
stop this is for the students to succeed.
So the movie may sound like a cliché, it may sound like a
half dozen other films using the same themes, but it is entertaining from start
to finish. A pure sign of that is the fact I never once felt like I needed the
remote in my hand to get past the boring parts. The whole film was a blast.
It was also nice to see Yen moving into a role that required
him to do more than just throw fist and jump in the air. Sure, he’s been able
to show his acting skills in previous films but many movie goers are unwilling to
accept the performances displayed in martial arts period dramas. This one
places him in a current setting with current problems and he handles the role
well.
The movie ends with the potential for a sequel and that
would be a good thing. With a nice story, solid acting and a message that
delivers it might be a good thing to see this one carry on. It deserves as much
attention and the more violent pictures that Yen makes. I’m glad to see him
stretching out and making films like this. More power to him.
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