Chan’s one hand-to-hand combat moment leaves you wishing he’d thrown in a little more old-school Jackie action.

Read more

 

Throughout "1911" the sense of dutiful intentions blocks any building momentum.

Read more

 

If 1911 doesn’t impress as historical spectacle, neither does it rank high as a Jackie Chan film.

Read more

 

There's lots of battle scenes, well-filmed, but only one martial arts scene. It seems out of place, but is most welcome nonetheless.

Read more

 

Breaking the Chains of Chinese Feudalism

A patriotic epic about the Chinese struggle to shake off imperial rule, “1911” starts with black-and-white still images of the suffering of the people.

Read more

 

A historical revolution is turned into a hysterical star vehicle

“Chinese revolution is the only thing that can make exciting history”—a baffling statement that makes him, like the rest of this one-note film, seem more than a little simpleminded.

Read more

 

1911 isn’t propaganda but more a relentless, serious, fiercely nationalistic bit of historical mythmaking.

Read more

 

An erratic, laborious interpretation of Chinese revolutionary history that lets down its epic subject.

Read more

 

Review without score. The score is calculated by the review's remarks.

Adhering to what is apparently a formula for national superproductions, 1911 throws dates and names on the screen with unceasing speed and frequent irrelevance -- gratuitously identifying a walk-on as "German diplomat."

Read more

 

You don’t need to know any Chinese history to see how things are going to turn out. Sun set? Sun rise.

Read more

 

If the success of epic storytelling were determined by the sheer number of unnecessary on-screen name tags, 1911 would be a masterpiece.

Read more

 

Resulting mish-mash of exposition and speechifying opts to summarize rather than dramatize; one spends nearly as much time reading indigestible lumps of onscreen text as one does listening to the often distractingly post-dubbed dialogue.

Read more