a5c7b9f00b A railroad worker in China in 1941 leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese in order to get food for the poor.
In December 1941, The railway from Tianjin to Nanjing in East China became a key military transportation route, heavily guarded by Japanese soldiers. Ma Yuan, a railroad worker and his group of freedom fighters find themselves on the wrong side of the tracks when they decide to ambush a heavily armed military train filled with desperately needed provisions. Unarmed and outnumbered, they must rely on their wits to battle an entire army.
RAILROAD TIGERS is another Jackie Chan action comedy made on the Chinese mainland. It was directed by Sheng Ding, who previously directed Jackie in LITTLE BIG SOLDIER (his best pairing with the star) and POLICE STORY: LOCKDOWN. The quality is about on par with the latter film, as this is a somewhat aimless production that lacks basic directorial abilities: the music is non-exciting and never fits what's taking place on screen, and the comedy simply isn't funny.<br/><br/>Ding is a man all about style, whether it's incessant CGI shots of trains or the silly animated introductions for each character. The film is so spoon-fed that screens have to come up to tell you what's happening next. Chan is okay, but he feels like a supporting act here and he doesn't get to fight either. The usual modern-day gamut of CGI and wires are used to portray the stunts. Jaycee Chan appears to play Jackie's son, and comes across as a simpleton here, while Japanese villain Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (of IP MAN fame) is too good to be appearing in this dross. The ultra-boring first hour is the worst part of the production, and things at least pick up for the cheesy action of the extended, laboured, train battle climax.
All I can really say about this movie is that it is OK of a bit long. It is watchable and has some good moments but it could have been so much better. This is not a typical Jackie Chan movie but then not many of his later ones are. We have to appreciate that Mr Chan is getting older I suppose and can't be the martial arts genius we are used to but he is still a good comedic, slap stick actor and there is some of this in this movie.<br/><br/>I just felt the story was a good one and could have been much better had it been directed to move at a faster pace. Instead it got a bit tedious and boring in places.
The Chinese film industry’s insistence on proving that it can make blockbusters that are as dull and crummy as anything to come out of Hollywood (but at only half the cost) continues unabated with Railroad Tigers.