Sou jiu

A great drama that showcases a parents worst nightmare regarding their children especially as it happens while on a family vacation in the mountains during winter (a great visual motif that makes the film all the more harrowing). Donnie Yen plays the father of a young and unruly son that gets lost in the winter wilderness after the father wants to teach him a valuable lesson. Yen's character and his wife go through so much guilt and suffering as they try not to tell the police too much of how their son got lost and coming to terms that their son may have been kidnapped or something far worst. It's a great showcase for Yen as he plays an "Everyman" instead of the fighter and martial arts expert that he is.

Sou Jiu, internationally known as Come Back Home or Polar Rescue, is an intense family drama from the People's Republic of China. It shows legendary martial artist Donnie Yen in a completely new role as this film doesn't feature any fight sequences at all. To my very positive surprise, Donnie Yen stunningly delivers the goods as this drama turns out to be much better than its lukewarm reception might have indicated.

Let's focus on the story first. Donnie Yen is a family father with a hot temper who is on a winter holiday with his wife, his daughter and his son. The quartet plans on visiting a lake but has a minor car accident on the rough country road. His son is severely disappointed and criticizes his father harshly. The family father overreacts and decides to drive away with his daughter and his wife to teach his son a lesson. When he returns about five minutes later, his son has however disappeared. A search mission is organized as tension drastically increases over time. The family father prevents authorities from doing their job accurately, has frequent arguments with police officers, becomes a suspect in his son's disappearance, is bothered by influencers on social media and realizes how even his own wife alienates from him.

This film convinces on numerous levels. First and foremost, the story is dramatic, entertaining and gripping from start to finish. The movie has excellent pace and gets to the point in one hundred two minutes. The acting performances are excellent and especially Donnie Yen convinces as a family father on the edge. The locations in northern China are gorgeous and should appeal to anyone who admires winter time. The special effects in the movie are quite intense as they are used in small doses. The film's dramatic finale left a particularly lasting impression upon me.

On the negative side, one might criticize that some parts of the plot feel exaggerated to a point that they become unrealistic. This movie thus asks for a complete suspension of disbelief. As almost all contemporary Chinese productions, this movie here also includes a heavy dose of patriotism. The film points out the heroic actions of the rescue team when they remember past accomplishments and sing nationalistic songs. However, such minor flaws don't bother much in this very good film because they aren't heavily overused and don't take anything away from the positive elements mentioned above.

In the end, Sou Jiu, also known as Polar Rescue and Come Back Home, is an intense family drama set in wonderful landscapes and featuring a healthy dose of action sequences. Don't expect a traditional martial arts film since this movie involves Donnie Yen. This film should rather be seen as an emancipation for this underrated actor who is finally not typecast for another massive action spectacle.

This is one of the best movie of a man's responsibility and a beautiful sacrifice. A man can makes some mistakes in his life, but is it valued in what he will do to compensate that mistake, and whether he has the courage and persistency to complete what he has started against social criticism and everything else.

This may be most appropriate for people who prefer a movie with combination of dramatic, heroic, thrilled, unbreakable, hopeful elements.

Additional and personal opinion, the story takes place in Eastern society where is has many implicit rules of manners, prejudice, relationship between roles in family or workplace such as the younger or inferior have to respect the older or the superior even they are wrong sometimes. Therefore it may have deeper impact on the Eastern audience who can feel the character situation.

Donnie Yen is truly one of the greatest box office draws in the world. His contributions to martial arts and action films is immeasurable. His star status transcends continents, language, and generations. In his latest film release he departs from his suave, devastating martial arts persona to give a memorable and moving performance as the head of a family torn apart by the disappearance of his eight (8) year old son.

This international action drama is distributed by Well Go USA and is in Chinese with English subtitles.

This dramatic film is not without its share of action and adventure, as Yen and the search party must face the treacherous elements of an Avalanche prone mountainside in the midst of a storm that threatens to disrupt the "time is of the essence" search for Yen's son.

The film is, somewhat, of a risk for Yen and the filmmakers as audiences normally come into a Yen film expecting to see some martial arts. There are several scenes in this one where you expect that a martial arts melee might break out, but then we are reminded that this is a dramatic film, not a martial arts one. Yet Yen, the cast, and the Director sell it. It is a very moving and engaging film. We are reminded that Donnie Yen is not just a good martial arts movie star, but that he is a good actor, as well.

The supporting cast is very good. In fact, there are times their roles are more prominent that Yen's, as the lead.

The film is laden with many typical Chinese made themes, including Nationalism, positive messaging, respect for authority etc. These characteristics run through all Chinese made films that are intended for worldwide Distribution. While the storytelling is good, it clearly is within the parameters of what the Chinese government outlines for these films. Those themes are not a distraction, but I was aware of them, throughout.

Additionally, without providing any spoilers, there are many moments during the film where it became necessary to suspend belief . Those moments did not detract from my viewing of it. It is still a powerful and well done film.

If you are prone to tears, I suggest you have the tissues handy when viewing.

The cinematography throughout Polar Rescue is visually stunning.

A rare purely dramatic role for action star Donnie Yen (though Big Brother from a few years ago had him as a teacher, but that did have action as well), Come Back Home allows Yen to flex his acting chops and shine. Really just a family drama, Yen elevates the proceedings just by being Donnie with his intensity. It's also great to hear his own voice in Mandarin. Production values are decent, capturing the snowy cinematography. Overall a nice departure from the usual Donnie kicking ass and taking names all the time. It's definitely worth a viewing, though replay value is not so much as it's not one of those movies where you can keep watching over and over (like Yen's other action movies).