- Actors: Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan, Zitao Huang
- Director: Ding Sheng
- Disc Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, THX, Widescreen
- Language: Mandarin Chinese (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)
- Subtitles: English
- Dubbed: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Rated: Not Rated
- Studio: Well Go USA
- Release Date: June 20, 2017
- Run Time: 125 minutes
Jackie Chan has
often named Harold Lloyd as a major influencer in his career of physically
demanding action comedy, but it seems like Buster Keaton may have had more of
an impact on his latest film, Railroad
Tigers. Along with a healthy dose of humor parodying the Japanese that once
occupied China,
Railroad Tigers has endless scenes of
action hijinks aboard a train, bringing to mind Keaton’s iconic masterpiece, The General. Even though these films
share a great deal, including a finale with a massive train crash, Railroad Tigers is likely to leave many
longing for the cutting edge filmmaking of 1926, mostly because of how much
more convincing the effects were back then. Although Railroad Tigers has some
practical effects and physical stunt-work to keep it engaging, there are also
enough sequences of mediocre CGI to destroy any suspension of disbelief needed
for the desired emotional impact.
Chan heads up
the cast as Ma Yuan, a leader in a group of railroad workers (which include his
own son, Jaycee Chan) who secretly work as bandits stealing food and supplies
from the Japanese troops in 1941. Although they are quietly resisting the
Japanese, the group laments the fact that they can’t contribute more to the
fight, until a wounded resistance soldier stumbles into Ma Yuan’s home late one
night with a plan. He explains the importance of destroying a bridge that the
Japanese are using to deliver supplies, and the ragtag group of railroad
workers takes it upon themselves to complete this task.
Much of the film
is spent poking fun at the general incompetence of these amateur resistance
fighters, while making their bumbling enemy even less successful at stopping
them. Plan after plan fails, but they refuse to give up on the mission they
have adopted for themselves, even when the odds are clearly stacked against
them. This allows the film to balance between slapstick humor, impressive
action, and lighthearted sentimentality. While the humor and action often blend
with each other, there is less effectiveness in adding the drama to an
otherwise lighthearted film. Most of the character development is superficial,
so that we can laugh with ease, but it also makes caring about these characters
a hard sell. Railroad Tigers becomes
far more about the spectacle of set pieces and cleverness of its gags than plot
or character development, which aligns it even further to the structure of
silent comedies.
The Blu-ray
release comes with a DVD copy, as well as special features on the disc. A high
definition presentation is still the preferred format to watch the film,
especially in order to improve the visuals of the CGI effects in the climactic
sequence. The budget is noticeably lower than most Hollywood
blockbusters, and some of the stunts look even more artificial in standard
definition. The extras include a featurette on these visual effects, as well as
one on the stunts and a more generic making-of promotional feature. The last of
the extras is a featurette on the characters, which are not nearly developed
enough in the film to warrant this treatment in the special features.
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6.5/10
Historical
Significance: 4/10
Special Features: 4.5/10
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