Wonderful Movie

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Reactionary Kung-Fu Revenge-Movie, thats quite heavy on the Anti-Americanism. On the one hand you got US-Soldiers racking pregnant women or kicking the crap out of invalid Rikscha-Drivers, on the other hand there's Jet Li fighting for the Honor of his compatriots. Action features some extremely gritty and bone-breaking choreographies in the best tradition of Tony Jaa. Story is quite emotional, full of unfortunate romantic involvement, good people dying, and kitschy depiction of friendship and affection. In the melodramatic scenes Hate and Pity are taken to the next level of Extremes. The MiramAxe-Version is short on some footage where people are getting peed on; wasn't too angry about missing that out, though.

Jet Li directs and stars in Born to Defend, a fight-packed martial arts movie set in China shortly after the end of the second world war. Li plays Jet, a soldier returning from the war who begins working with his pal (and ex-lieutenant), Zhang, helping with his rickshaw business. But when his wartime buddy is hospitalised in a fight with an American, and the rickshaw is trashed by a gang of US Navy bullies, Jet seeks revenge…I love the majority Jet Li's movies, so it is a shame to report that this one is a bit of a letdown action-wise, and also extremely xenophobic; every American is portrayed as a drunken, brawling, womanising, murderous thug without any redeeming features whatsoever, whilst the Chinese are (mostly) seen as hard-working and honourable people. I realise that foreigners are often used as bad-guys in this kind of movie, but the 'racism' in Born to Defend is taken to a ridiculous level which is totally unacceptable (and I'm not even an American).The fight action, although plentiful, doesn't live up to the standard that fans have come to expect from a Jet Li movie, and the fact that the hero gets his butt kicked for the majority of the running time makes the film even more disappointing. Jet's incredible martial arts skills take a back seat, with most of the early fights being boxing matches (with only a few kung fu kicks thrown in to occasionally spice things up).The finale sees events improve somewhat with a terrific showdown between Jet and his enemies in a factory, but it is a case of too little, too late.Jet handles the direction well and it is a shame that he hasn't tried helming a movie since; maybe his debut's lack of business at the box-office knocked his confidence—a shame, since he shows promise behind the camera, with an impressive explosive battle at the beginning and some lovely rain drenched scenes later on.Die hard Jet Li fans will probably want to check this out regardless, but casual viewers beware—this is not one of his better efforts.5.5/10 (which I will generously round up to 6 for the IMDb rating).

This movie seemed to primarily be trying to show what a fantastic guy Jet is, and how naughty everyone else is. Everyone in the American Navy is evil, and stereotypical. The sycophantic Chinese officers are obviously crooked and in league with the bad, evil American guys. Meanwhile, Jet is out trying to save everyone, and making life better for his friends and neighbors. What a sport! The martial arts isn't even all that terribly convincing, though it is very stylish. The super bad American office looks like a really angry Jason Lee crossed with Paul Bunyan. My personal favorite is the black guy they included. Seriously, they should have gave him a chunk of watermelon and some collard greens just to complete the stereotype. It is an understatement to say that nothing in this movie is subtle.The movie is a bit (unintentionally) funny at times. If you are a fan of bad dialogue and plot devices and have a lot of patience, it might be worth watching. Otherwise, I can't see how anyone could take this seriously in even the slightest way.

Born to Defend isn't a good movie by any means. The villains are crazily exaggerated, and the Chinese were just too victimized. I know the American military has done a crapload of bad stuff, but there's only so much a viewer can take. I'd be alright if the movie portrayed them as evil people rather than Satan spawn. candy's supposed to be sweet, that's why we like it, but it can be sickening if it's too sweet. Most movies have a villain, and it generally helps the movie, but if that character is taken overboard, it just gets redundant and disgusting.A Chinese person watching this movie must be some sort of masochist. I wouldn't want to see how terribly any foreigners victimized me. An American watching this movie must be a bit horrified, and a bit annoyed at how evil the navy is. Overall, it's not entertaining.What i'm conflicted about is this: Why is it that such interesting action sequences are put in such a bad movie? I will say that while it is not edited well, and it's not of the highest quality in terms of lighting and camera work, The action scenes in "Born to Defend" are some of the best in any Jet Li movie. It's fast paced, contact is hard, and Jet Li moves like never before. The characters actually have very dramatic reactions to blows. The display of pain is well done. The characters also get winded when hit hard; that's something you don't see much in a movie. I'm not saying the fight scenes are realistic, no, far from it, but it's more dramatic with the sense of mortality it gives the characters.A lot of people say Fist of Legend has Jet's best work. I believe this movie to be superior in terms of action. Jet Li is far too stiff in fist of legend, and he doesn't really seem to get hurt, even after being hit 30 times by a guy who can break bricks. Born to Defend features a very fluid Jet Li who's clearly very fragile, as any human is anyway. The fight scenes are also not over the top. You won't 2 people simultaneously jumping 10 feet into the air and then kicking each other both in the face.While i can't bear the movie, many of the action scenes completely avoids my peeves with the genre.