37
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 50The New York TimesRachel SaltzThe New York TimesRachel SaltzWhat should be rousing stuff - a republic is born! the chains of feudalism thrown off! - remains a kind of lavishly illustrated history lesson. Even the irrepressible Mr. Chan (this is his 100th film) seems subdued.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleChan, though, is very good in an all-dramatic role as a rebel general. There's lots of battle scenes, well-filmed, but only one martial arts scene. It seems out of place, but is most welcome nonetheless.
- 50The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen ColeThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen ColeIf 1911 doesn't impress as historical spectacle, neither does it rank high as a Jackie Chan film.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterChan has not injected any of his playful charm or physical virtuosity into Wang Xingdong's and Chen Baoguang's insipid, poorly structured screenplay.
- 40Time OutNick SchagerTime OutNick SchagerThe star and co-director appears hopelessly out of place, trapped in a variety of awkward-fitting uniforms while forced to offer up laughably obvious battlefield advice ("Avoid gunfire!").
- 40MovielineMovieline1911 isn't propaganda but more a relentless, serious, fiercely nationalistic bit of historical mythmaking.
- 40New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThis drama, as traditional as its subject was epochal, is earnest and studious to a fault. Rarely has a film about upheaval felt more like a textbook.
- 38Boston GlobeMark FeeneyBoston GlobeMark FeeneyIt swoops, it pans, it noses around. The camerawork is almost as agitated as the editing. The directors seem to be trying to compensate for all the speechifying with as much random motion as possible.
- 30Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonIf the success of epic storytelling were determined by the sheer number of unnecessary on-screen name tags, 1911 would be a masterpiece. But the small matters of characterization, audience identification, and scene-making are entirely absent here.
- 30VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangResulting mish-mash of exposition and speechifying opts to summarize rather than dramatize; one spends nearly as much time reading indigestible lumps of onscreen text as one does listening to the often distractingly post-dubbed dialogue.