Zhong hua ying xiong

whats with that? it was made after this movie so would that mean that it stole its soundtrack from this movie? and if so, i'm amazed as the nrns2 soundtrack is my favorite ever.

apart from that i thought the movie was pretty cool. nothing too amazing. jet li is a pretty short martial artist and therefore very quick but i don't think he has the screen presence of a loren avedon or mathias hues.

check it out but pay careful attention to the great soundtrack.

My vote - 6\10

GREAT SOUNDTRACK!

If you want to see a movie with intense, hard-hitting fight scenes, then "Born To Defend" has what you're looking for. It's interesting to see a young Jet Li acting well and incorporating a kick-boxing style into his fighting, and the main villain is a worthy opponent for him. However, there are two major problems with this film: 1) It's poorly lit, 2) It's poorly plotted. Problem #1 may of course be just the fault of my version, a DVD in Chinese with (generally awful) English subtitles. The lighting is at times so bad that it's hard to see what's going on - and that includes the climactic moments of the film! Problem #2, however, will appear in ANY version. The whole plot of the film is: Jet Li and friends are harassed by stereotypically scummy Americans, until Jet decides to harass them back. It's literally no more complicated than that. But if you can just concentrate on the fighting, then I suppose the film is worth a watch, especially for Jet Li fans. (**)

Version: Some PAL VHS double-pack with 'Kids from Shaolin. English dub, accompanied by the worst quality soundtrack you will ever hear.

In the tradition of nearly every dubbed Jackie Chan movie up to 'First Strike' (and beyond), Jet Li gets to play Jet, a Chinese soldier returning from World War Two only to find that the accomplishments of he and his men are made meaningless when the American navy (the "real war heroes") rolls into town. Naturally, the American servicemen run around being arrogant jerks, and it is up to Jet to kick their collective arses. Woo!

Somehow, 'Born to Defend' is both one of the most dramatical Jet Li movies I've seen, yet at the same time is somehow one of the most plot-less Li movies I've seen. I would like to try and explain that in a convincing way, I really would, but you will just have to settle for this: You'll see people getting beaten up, then some drama, and then someone thrown through a table in a dramatical way. If Jet Li can direct such a perfectly plot-less drama about lots of people getting a good butt-kicking, why hasn't he directed any more movies? Come on, Jet, I know you can create more plot-less dramatical awesomeness.

So, after all the plot-less drama, 'Born to Defend' is just a bunch of fight scenes? Hey, I'm not complaining, and you shouldn't either. Unlike most of his movies in the 80s / early 90s, this is not a wu xia. Sure, he can get hit by a car and be perfectly fine, but most of the time Jet takes on his bearded foes in kick / boxing style fights. The fights are entertaining enough, but nowhere near the level of Li's later movie 'Fist of Legend'. Have I mentioned the beards yet? Basically, the more noticeable beard an American soldier has, the better fighter he is. I swear, I'm serious.

'Born to Defend' is not the finest, nor awesomest, Jet Li movie I have ever seen, but it certainly isn't the worst Li movie around - 6/10

Out of the 20 or so Jet Li movies I've seen this, in my opinion,is his best. Many people may disagree with me, but I think it was fantastic. Jet Li did a great job directing for his first time and the fight scenes are great!

The plot is very basic. Jet plays a Chinese soldier returning home from the war. When he arrives home he meets up with his uncle and realizes everything has changed. The Americans there control everything with power and money. Jet eventually gets involved when the Captain of the sailors hits him with his car and things start from there. Jet has many battles with the sailors at the bar-boxing ring.

There is about 8 fight scenes in total, some are short and some are really long. All of the one-on-one fight scenes involve Jet fighting an American sailor. There is also a really good brawl room brawl after Jet fights the captain of the sailors for one of many times in the boxing ring at the bar. The fight scenes are boxing and Kickboxing scenes with Hong Kong style choreography. They are really good and resemble some of Cory Yuen's later work. Jet Li does throw in some traditional Kung Fu though, like his fighting stance he uses. The ending fight is great where Jet takes out each sailor one-on-one untill only the captain remains in the factory. The final fight is really fast paced and keeps you wanting more. Jet Li shows us a future trademark by using a chain in a Wu Shu type technique(such as the belt in Fist of Legend, the fire hose in Romeo must die, the rope in My father is a Hero a.k.a the Enforcer,etc.) They also start playing this cool music that you would hear in a movie like Rocky. So I suggest you buy this movie if you have the chance!

`Apart from using his advanced Kung-fu skills, Jet Li demonstrates an incredible US boxing style, a completely different fighting style in this movie.'

The above is a direct quote from the back of the DVD box of `Born to Defence'. It is also a bold faced lie. The closest Jet Li gets to American boxing in this film is when he puts on a pair of boxing gloves and steps into a boxing ring in the middle of a seedy bar. All similarities between American boxing and Jet Li's style end there. The closest you'll see to a boxing style is Jet Li kickboxing, which is much more of a Thai style than an American one.

With the hype the DVD box gave to Jet Li using an American boxing style this was a bit of a letdown. For fans of Jet Li wanting to see him stick, jab, and shuffle, I highly suggest the movie `Fist of Legend', as there's a scene in that movie where Jet Li actually DOES show off a good flyweight style of boxing. `Fist of Legend' also happens to be the best Jet Li movie I've seen to date; and outclasses and outshines `Born to Defence' in just about every aspect of filmmaking.

`Born to Defence' was the directorial debut for Jet Li. It also marks the last time he directed a film. I found it interesting that this film was in Cantonese as opposed to Mandarin. If you watch this movie on DVD I highly recommend watching it in the Original Cantonese with English subtitles as both the Mandarin and English dubbing on the DVD are really, really bad! So bad at times the dubbers completely miss dubbing in lines of dialogue as you're watching the actors lips move in complete silence. As a director Jet Li keeps this film simple, it's Jet Li's character (ironically named Jet in the English dubbing) against the evil bullies of the U.S. Navy. `Jet Li vs. The U.S. Navy Bullies' would be a very apt title for this movie indeed.

The martial arts in this movie are poor as compared to other Jet Li films I've seen. The film also lacked a certain cohesion as well. Several key fight scenes are interrupted by very poor editing. In no fewer than 2 fight scenes the camera cuts away from Jet Li at a critical point in the fight. When the camera cuts back to Jet, we join the fight already in progress; the action picks up in real time, instead of picking up where the cut left off. In a martial arts film, the spotlight should be on your superstar, and any cuts to background actions should not result in the audience missing out on what could have been a great fight scene. For the lack of cohesion in the fight scenes, and my disappointment with the alleged boxing style this movie fails to deliver, I give it 4/10 stars.