Big Brother

Are you serious? Although this movie is a very positive movie, it still have A LOT OF problems.

Donnie yen comes back in this film as a teacher. A great and wonderful teacher for certain reasons at that.

He does a wonderful job at potraying someone wise and witty and has gone through a lot of stuff for his age and he shows that he truly wishes to teach his students well.

The film's plot itself might be a little overused and cliche, but it's still a fun and sad film to watch. I would have given the film 9 stars just for Donnie Yen's performance. 8 stars because of the film's plot.

However, the film is still riddled with multiple action scenes, true to Donnie Yen's nature. The fights are exciting and unique as it incorporates modern day popular sports as well as some of Jackie Chan's famous prop fighting that adds to comedy.

Overall, it's 8.5/10 for me. 8 because there's no 8.5 but it's not so good that it deserves a 9.

Plot is all over the place, characters are boring and unlikeable, dialogue is clunky and cliche, acting is subpar. It's just not a good movie, the whole thing was very heavy-handed. I've seen and liked bad Donnie Yen movies before (Iceman for example) that still had good fight scenes and were endearing in their own silly ways. This is not one of them. If you're watching it because you're a hardcore Donnie fan like me you can suffer through it just to say you've seen every movie he's been in. But if you're watching this because you're looking for a good movie you won't find it here. The people giving it 10/10 are either paid bots or were part of the cast and crew lmao. There's no way anyone watched this and thought it was a masterpiece, it's not even a top 50 Donnie movie.

Overall the movie is predictable and pretty ordinary. But it was also refreshing to see Donnie Yen in this role. I am certain as he ages he can't go around beating up the world.

I liked the family elements in this film, which are universal. I think they did a decent job of exploring various difficulties that many families struggle with.

I found this change of pace to be refreshing versus a never ending conveyor belt of Asian martial arts films.

A favorite of mine is "Eat Drink Man Woman"

Anyway, if all you want is martial arts, you won't find much of it here, some, but not much. If you want to see how we all are the same no matter what language we speak and we face the same challenges, you might enjoy this film.

Big Brother is a highly entertaining movie that mixes social drama with some martial arts action elements. The movie tells the story of a veteran with a troubled past who comes back to his former Hong Kong high school to work there as a social science teacher. The school faces several problems such as reduced funds, obsolete infrastructures and difficult students. The protagonist uses quite unusual strategies to help his students and invests a lot of energy and time to solve their individual problems. While he soon gets along with his students, his colleagues and the principal are quick to criticize him and Henry Chen soon realizes that being a teacher might become his biggest challenge yet.

Donnie Yen's latest movie is so efficient because it combines social drama and action scenes in a very balanced way. The plot is quite mature, profound and serious. The occasional fight scenes offer welcome breaks from the intense content. The film convinces with intriguing characters that have troubled pasts. Viewers will connect with the war veteran who was everything but an obedient student, his former friend and antagonist who wasn't given the chance to realize his dreams and especially the students who have serious problems such as poverty, criminality and addictions. The film comes around with life-affirming, optimistic and positive message that are truly inspiring, especially if you are a student or teacher yourself.

Some people might criticize that this film features less spectacular fights than other movies starring Donnie Yen but this reduced and realistic approach suits the film very well. Other people might argue that such an intense social drama would be better off without any big fights at all but the serious content is much easier to digest with these vivid sequences. Big Brother leaves the trodden path, tries out an unusual combination of genres and succeeds almost perfectly to my very positive surprise.

If you like social dramas and martial arts films, you will adore this movie that turns out being one of the best in Donnie Yen's impressive career. The content, messages and vibe of the movie will make you think even long after the movie is over. Big Brother is a film for your body, brain and heart and one of the most positive surprises of the year.