Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Rating: 7 Acres of Farmland

The story of an Old Soldier who kidnaps a younger enemy General and takes him on a long journey to collect the reward of his ransom.

Despite the relatively simple-looking premise, it’s a very good movie. Beautifully shot, no real goofy CGI to get in the way, and since yes it is a Jackie Chan movie, the wire-fu is minimal and amusing stunts abound.

So yes, the Old Soldier part is acted by Jackie Chan, and I would like to stress that, acted. Just because The Karate Kid 2010 had him as a sobbing violent janitor, and Mr. Chan is known for his fun stunts in any action movie that he always does himself, doesn’t mean the man can’t act. His performance in Little Big Soldier proves that the man can still move your heart. The kidnapped General is ably performed by Leehom Wang, unfortunately noone I’ve ever heard of, but still well done. The movie itself has enough twists, both plot and action wise to keep the viewer interested, but please bear in mind it is a Chinese movie and yes that does mean that, sadly, it will not have what we Americans think of as a happy ending. (That’s not a spoiler, it’s a generalized factoid.) The General character does well as the idealized version of impetuous youth, whereas the Old Soldier comes across very convincingly as the learned one who just wants to retire to live in peace, and there is an underlying lesson of the worth of both throughout the movie.

Little Big Soldier gets a rating of 7 acres of farmland; see the movie and understand the reference.