Born to Defence (1988)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Review: This movie seemed really dated and the acting was terrible. I know that it was made near the beginning of Jet Li's career and he also had the big task of directing the film so I can't completely slate it. The fighting scenes seemed a bit messy and the storyline wasn't that great. On the plus side, Jet Li's acting was impressive and he showed emotion in parts but for entertainment, it has to get the thumbs down. I found the American characters pretty annoying and the big showdown at the end was disappointing. Basically it wasn't the greatest film from Jet Li, but you end up sticking with the movie because you want to see the American characters get a Jet Li seeing to. Average!Round-Up: This is the last movie in my Jet Li season and I was hoping for it to go out with a bang, but this movie was quite disappointing. I've been hunting for the 3 Shaolin Temple movies, which he made in the beginning of his career, but I'm having trouble finding the first movie so I've decided to leave them out of my collection. I will eventually start a Jackie Chan collection, which will be massive, but after watching these martial arts movies, I really want to go back to the earlier films which I enjoyed so much when I was young. In all, Jet Li is a great actor but a lot of his films have let his career down.Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$11.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a soldier who returns home to live with his uncle and gets picked on by American soldiers. 3/10

... or be a die-hard fan of some variety to sit through this farce.There are so many anachronisms in the first fifteen minutes that historical accuracy cannot have been a consideration. One reel, they're fighting the Imperial Japanese Army, the next, American sailors are driving around in a 1979 Cordoba.The only US sailors who wore beards were submariners. The "officer" wearing sunglasses and (in 1945) Vietnam campaign ribbons -- and a beard -- has no "dolphins" on his chest, but let's stop there.And considering how the Chinese have always treated each other worse than any "outlanders" ever have (you ever hear of the "Cultural Revolution"?), making Americans look like pigs seems gratuitous, particularly in Hong Kong where the British were the unloved white devils. Must have been some modish politics at work when this turkey was written.The choreography is unconvincing, Mr. Li's vigorous execution of same notwithstanding. This is just another uninspired actioner the script of which could not have stood on its own merits.

Born to Defense was the fourth movie Jet Li starred in, and the first one he directed. It's his first movie after the Shaolin Temple trilogy which rocketed him into instant fame. This movie is pretty awesome, I must say. Jet did a good job directing, and it's sad he hasn't directed more movies. I kind of like his directing preferences.The main reason people will probably hate this movie is because of it's dark atmosphere. There are hardly any happy moments in the film, and the tone is constantly kept serious. However, I think the dark tone is perfect for the setting of the movie. The movie is about Jet returning home to China after World War 2 and finding out the American sailors are oppressing his home and his people. The plot was carried out well, as were the subplots.Due to the injuries Jet received while filming, this was the last movie where he did pretty much all of his own stunts. It's also one of the last movies where Jet pulls out all of the stops in his fight scenes. He pulled off a good combo of kick-boxing, Kungfu, and grappling. There's also plenty of super flashy and aerobatic kicks in this movie. The scene in the final fight where Jet uses the chain in a WuShu type of technique could easily be a classic part of Jet's best action scenes. Action of this caliber and quality would not be seen by Jet again for about eight years until he made Fist of Legend. The majority of the fights are one-on-one, and they involve American sailors. One thing Jet Li fans may dislike about the action though is that Jet is not invincible at all. He receives several beatings in a lot of his fights.Personally, I love this movie, but I can see why so many have hated it. This is one of those love or hate it type movies. I give it a 10/10. I highly recommend it to Jet Li fans or action fans.

Jet Li's own and uncredited adaptation of popular HK Manhua/Novel "Zhonghua Yingxiong" by Ma Yingcheng (1983), later brought to us as "A Man Called Hero" with more charismatic Ekin Cheng as leading actor. The original story had great success both in China and Hong Kong, but the little one Jet Li gained with this film -he stopped directing and moved to San Francisco- shows how much it follows the "chinese pride" stuff contained on it. Even disappointing as a simple Jet Li action movie, it proves fighting can't save the party. Jet Li stars as -wow!- Jet, a Chinese soldier back to Tsing Dao after winning against Japanese devils (sic). Our "hero" finds Tsing Dao kind of invaded by American troops, so he inevitably begins kicking some bad guys who are, of course, American. It follows some boxing fighting that would make you laugh thinking what's the story supposed to be about. Stay away if you are looking for more Hua Ying-Xiong. There's none here.