Railroad Tigers

Jackie Chan leads a motley crew of Chinese resistance fighters, called the Tigers, against their Japanese occupiers. Their main mission will be to sabotage and blow up a railroad bridge that is a vital Japanese supply route.

Although some of the slapstick comedy works at times, I felt the movie was severely hampered by very drawn out action sequences that become quite tedious. In my opinion, this could have been a better film with a 90 minute running time, instead of being over 2 hours.

All in all, this movie, directed by Ding Sheng, just meanders way too much and loses focus. Therefore, the rather low rating on my part.

One is never too late for a Jackie Chan's movie, especially a comedy action movie of his. First of all, the way the story plot being presented is very straight forward like, literally doing a presentation with sub-titles of what to expect in the scenes as we go along. It's clean cut in such a way and you won't feel any interruptions. And with the theme on, 'let's do something big in this lifetime' coming out from average railroad workers, you know you are going to be in for rides filled with laughters. The bgm matched well with the scenes and helped to raise the dramatic-ness from the comedic aspects.

To me, the most crucial point of this movie fell on the good chemistry among the quite star-studded casts. They matched each other so well in their rhythms and one can really feel their comrades and brotherhood, which at times really what made their actions/sayings funny. There were many times that I was really laughing my heads off and I knew this movie is such feel-good humor movie worth watching. I like how Jackie Chan was not a one-man show in this movie and helped to bring out the acting skills of others casted in this movie through their interactions. In fact, it was an eye opening for me to see Wang Kai with his supposedly 'cool-I-know-what-I'm-doing-in-war' Fan Chuan character turned out to be a hilarious character with his constant 'rational' thinking. Another hilarious character akin to Fan Chuan was the Japanese Captain played by Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, which I see in the movie as to now wonder why he and Fan Chuan 'battling' it out the most.

I got to admit that my initial thought before I started to watch this movie was half expecting it to be typical China-produced war era movie, focusing much on patriotism. However, despite this movie having its patriotic moment, it wasn't shove down the audience throat like the usual ones. The feeling of "patriotism" (wanting for the freedom fighters to win despite their average tricks and fighting skills) was somewhat built into me as I watched the progress of how desperate this group of average men, dreaming of doing big things as they kept putting it in the movie, wanted to help the army to blow up the bridge.

I am not the type who rewatch but if I ever do catch this movie on TV or something, I won't mind rewatching just for the laughters.

An action/comedy/war/drama film with a heart and actually funny moments, dialogues and acting.. Laughed out loud many times..

Don't know who rated it this low, probably the people who think comedies should have sex to be funny...

Extremely entertaining.. Criminally underrated...

7.5+/10

I watched this movie with very low expectation. It was not hollywood big budget movie and not so much dramatization. It was a simple story about few freedom fighters but showed in a very lighter way (Jackie Chan way). Not much stunts and action sequences by the legend Jackie Chan but his presence is still enough. If you had high expectations and think there would have been something new then don't watch it but if you just watch it as a Jackie Chan fan or chinese movie fan , you won't be disappointed. My recommendation is one time watchable with few laughters and few surprises.

The Bad: I'll start with the Bad because that's sort of how Railroad Tigers starts...badly. Within the first 30 minutes, we get at least 15 unnecessary character title cards, detailing every single person involved in the narrative. It's clunky, ugly, and distracting, as is the incessant editing. My GOD, does Ding Sheng love cutting. There are so many unnecessary cuts that it actively makes the film feel longer than it is.

The movie takes a while to get going, but I'd say the when Jackie Chan and his band of brothers go to steal explosives from the Japanese Army, the film finds its footing. But man, the first bit of this movie is very rough. It's hard to tell what's happening, we're constantly getting introduced to characters, and no scene is ever left to breathe. I also felt the film had a few too many characters, not all of whom are given time to develop.

The Good: But, Railroad Tigers transforms into a genuinely fun, interesting, often hilarious action comedy when the train gets rolling. I was impressed with the stunts and physical comedy; the slapstick is an art Hollywood has long forgotten, but I'm happy to see it's alive and well in Asia.

I like how lighthearted the film is, despite the heavy setting. It deftly manages its tone; being serious when necessary, funny when it has to be. The Japanese are not presented as hyper incompetent (so you question how they ever conquered so much of China in the first place, ala RRR and the British) but they are made fun of constantly and tastefully. It's poking the eye of fascists, but ensuring they are still a formidable threat. Hiroyuki Ikeuichi may be typecast as an OP Japanese general, but he's a genuinely fun villain.

Chan and his band of brothers are great. I really grew to like these guys and felt genuinely moved by their dedicated to their country, putting themselves and their personal interests aside for the greater good. It is an admirable moment in Chinese history and i think it's a story - especially in our world of rising geopolitical tensions - many non-Chinese viewers could benefit from as well. In that spirit, Jackie Chan is *in* this movie, but it's not a Jackie Chan movie. He's one part of a whole - and barely a main character at times - and the film is better for it.

I also liked how tasteful the violence was; it was realistic at points, funny and slapstick at others, but didn't go overboard with the gore. I find a lot of Chinese films have this issue (The Mermaid, anyone?) where they are tonally inconsistent because the filmmakers insist of a bevy of blood and gore, for no reason. Thankfully, we're spared that here.

The Ugly: I love scallion pancakes, and if you do too, you'll be disappointed by how they're depicted in this movie. These guys eat A LOT of them, and you're expecting a golden brown, crispy pancake with little flicks of green scallion and deep brown hoisin sauce, right? Well, here they appear more like folded paper with big sticks of celery. A shame. These things should be presented as gloriously as they taste.