This is my first official review post so I am glad to review this. I like to note that this review is from the Well Go USA release of the film and not the Hong Kong release you may find in specialty shops that contain "official" releases of the film (if you don't get the quotation marks, it just means the "straight from the cinema" release rather than the home movie/streaming releases from the master films).
I've been a great fan of Donnie Yen since I first saw him in "Wing Chun" (also starring Michelle Yeoh as the titular character) back when the Montreal Fantasia festival started 23 years ago originally to showcase exclusively East Asian cinema (hence the original name Fant-Asia). His charismatic approach to martial arts heroes in television and film along with innovations in action and fight choreography renders the man to legendary status.
"Big Brother" is not a typical actioner. Actually, it is a dramedy, a departure of the films Yen does but I give him credit for exploring his filmographic range in the same vein as Jackie Chan (decades-long visibility of critically and commercially successful films that allows flexibility for participating in films against type). To tell the synopsis briefly, Yen portrays Henry Chan (Hap Chan by his Cantonese name), a war veteran turned teacher who was hired to teach a homeroom liberal studies class of "delinquents" at the underfunded Tak Chin High School with a low number of graduates leaving with an HKDSE (Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education). These "delinquents" in question are not the born-to-be-bad types whose sole purpose is to cause trouble for a self-gratifying high. As Chan soon discovers, they were in circumstances that hinder their progress due to their social-economic status (growing up poor), the ethno-racial prejudices they experienced (being a member of an ethnic group different from the rest), patriarchal nepotism (father favoring the son over the daughter, prevalent in some Asian cultures), alcohol abuse in a single parent home, and drug use for academic performance (using Ritalin to increase concentration only to return diminishing results after prolonged use). Further complicating matters, are the education board whose plan is to close the school in an effort to curb the turnover as well as Triad-affiliated real-estate moguls (Trump and Helmsley come to mind) with an eye on gentrifying the land the high school sits on. Consider this as "Dead Poets Society" and "Dangerous Minds" had a baby with a talent for the five fists of Hung Gar.
Because this is a Donnie Yen vehicle, "Big Brother" contains a fight scene at the stadium locker room filled with MMA fighters and the climactic battle at Tak Chin grounds set at the same day as the HKDSE exams. The fights scenes are signature Yen, fusing and implementing Hong Kong film fighting with wrestling and submission techniques (ie. Brazilian Jiu Jutsu) as show for his love of MMA (a trend that started with Sha Po Lan). The same MMA-style combat recurs in the climactic battle at Tak Chin. The fight scenes are not just there to make Yen heroic but human as well when he takes the shots and beatings. Again the choreography suits very well to the modern action movies Donnie Yen had been a part of.
The theme of the pressure to do well in school to get into top-tier, Ivy League-type schools does not just hold true in Hong Kong but in other Asian countries as well. This is not a new phenomena with recent reports of suicide among students in secondary and post-secondary schools raise alarm bells with educators and government searching for solutions to break the long-standing rigorous teaching of subjects solely in language, mathematics, and science, stimulating interest in other field subjects that were dismissed due to the social and economic rewards as a medical professional, an attorney, an engineer, and a businessperson would gain in their respective fields. These limitations serve to create so-called "delinquents" and when placing the weight of negative social factors creates a burden from which success is not guaranteed. This will lead down a dark path to criminality and suicide as all options get closed off. This gives our hero a challenge to change minds and attitudes and to get to the sympathetic heart of the matter to encourage success as we see Chan read essays of the "delinquents" background and aspirations and proactively meeting their parents/grandparents. It also furthers Chan's defense of his unconventional methods to help students succeed much to the opposition of the education board.
Another theme explored is the inevitable and never-ending gentrification of Hong Kong's neighborhoods as population and skyscrapers grow higher. The Triad getting into business with the real estate moguls is nothing new seeing as they accelerate the process of buying real estate through illicit means that drives cost down and returns up at the expense of those who live, work, and study in those lands. It also serves to elaborate the effects of said gentrification on the poorest of the student population as apartments for social housing are sparse.
As compelling as the themes are, there are some flaws in the movie as well given the running time of 101 minutes and noticeably holes in the story. Because Donnie Yen is branching into a genre far from the action genre, it would be serving to the movie to see a subplot involving Chan and Ms. Leung, a colleague and potential love interest, to develop further and as well as possibly partnering up in helping the students with their HKDSE preparation and more. Unfortunately, it was set aside and could have served as part of the story. Adding to the missed opportunity is the lack of interaction between Chan and his other colleagues as they could have added a dynamic to liven up the story, be it friendly or antagonistic.
Holes in the development of Chan's journey into the US Marine Corps after military school are apparent when it was not thought with due research or in consultation with a US military advisory (not necessarily an American). Even glaring is the qualifications of being a teacher requires them to have a university degree in education or equivalent. Given the dubious history of how Henry Chan became a Marine and a teacher without a Bachelor's degree, it requires the audience to suspend their belief and rely on the fact that he got the job solely from the reference letter of Tak Chin's former principal who recommended our hero to attend a military school in the US after his expulsion (again a forum topic of interest to open).
There are those who will compare this to "Dead Poets Society" and "Dangerous Minds", both excellent films about teachers who use unconventional methods to help their students achieve success while along the way experienced challenges in reaching their students and opposition from superiors who wish to maintain the status quo. Henry Chan is seemingly an amalgamation of Robin Williams' John Keating and Michelle Pfeiffer's LouAnne Johnson (real-life educator and former US Marine officer) but Donnie Yen managed to do his best to make Chan his own character despite the comparisons.
To sum up, PROS of the movie: -get action sequences despite two set pieces -Donnie Yen, charismatic as he is inspirational -exploration of themes and real life struggles -a view of the Hong Kong education system in parallel to other East Asian countries
CONS of the movie: -gaffes and inconsistencies with the Henry Chan's military background -romantic subplot between two teachers, interaction with other teachers insufficiently explored -if you viewed "Dead Poets Society" and "Dangerous Minds" already, you will be treading on familiar terrritory
I've been a great fan of Donnie Yen since I first saw him in "Wing Chun" (also starring Michelle Yeoh as the titular character) back when the Montreal Fantasia festival started 23 years ago originally to showcase exclusively East Asian cinema (hence the original name Fant-Asia). His charismatic approach to martial arts heroes in television and film along with innovations in action and fight choreography renders the man to legendary status.
"Big Brother" is not a typical actioner. Actually, it is a dramedy, a departure of the films Yen does but I give him credit for exploring his filmographic range in the same vein as Jackie Chan (decades-long visibility of critically and commercially successful films that allows flexibility for participating in films against type). To tell the synopsis briefly, Yen portrays Henry Chan (Hap Chan by his Cantonese name), a war veteran turned teacher who was hired to teach a homeroom liberal studies class of "delinquents" at the underfunded Tak Chin High School with a low number of graduates leaving with an HKDSE (Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education). These "delinquents" in question are not the born-to-be-bad types whose sole purpose is to cause trouble for a self-gratifying high. As Chan soon discovers, they were in circumstances that hinder their progress due to their social-economic status (growing up poor), the ethno-racial prejudices they experienced (being a member of an ethnic group different from the rest), patriarchal nepotism (father favoring the son over the daughter, prevalent in some Asian cultures), alcohol abuse in a single parent home, and drug use for academic performance (using Ritalin to increase concentration only to return diminishing results after prolonged use). Further complicating matters, are the education board whose plan is to close the school in an effort to curb the turnover as well as Triad-affiliated real-estate moguls (Trump and Helmsley come to mind) with an eye on gentrifying the land the high school sits on. Consider this as "Dead Poets Society" and "Dangerous Minds" had a baby with a talent for the five fists of Hung Gar.
Because this is a Donnie Yen vehicle, "Big Brother" contains a fight scene at the stadium locker room filled with MMA fighters and the climactic battle at Tak Chin grounds set at the same day as the HKDSE exams. The fights scenes are signature Yen, fusing and implementing Hong Kong film fighting with wrestling and submission techniques (ie. Brazilian Jiu Jutsu) as show for his love of MMA (a trend that started with Sha Po Lan). The same MMA-style combat recurs in the climactic battle at Tak Chin. The fight scenes are not just there to make Yen heroic but human as well when he takes the shots and beatings. Again the choreography suits very well to the modern action movies Donnie Yen had been a part of.
The theme of the pressure to do well in school to get into top-tier, Ivy League-type schools does not just hold true in Hong Kong but in other Asian countries as well. This is not a new phenomena with recent reports of suicide among students in secondary and post-secondary schools raise alarm bells with educators and government searching for solutions to break the long-standing rigorous teaching of subjects solely in language, mathematics, and science, stimulating interest in other field subjects that were dismissed due to the social and economic rewards as a medical professional, an attorney, an engineer, and a businessperson would gain in their respective fields. These limitations serve to create so-called "delinquents" and when placing the weight of negative social factors creates a burden from which success is not guaranteed. This will lead down a dark path to criminality and suicide as all options get closed off. This gives our hero a challenge to change minds and attitudes and to get to the sympathetic heart of the matter to encourage success as we see Chan read essays of the "delinquents" background and aspirations and proactively meeting their parents/grandparents. It also furthers Chan's defense of his unconventional methods to help students succeed much to the opposition of the education board.
Another theme explored is the inevitable and never-ending gentrification of Hong Kong's neighborhoods as population and skyscrapers grow higher. The Triad getting into business with the real estate moguls is nothing new seeing as they accelerate the process of buying real estate through illicit means that drives cost down and returns up at the expense of those who live, work, and study in those lands. It also serves to elaborate the effects of said gentrification on the poorest of the student population as apartments for social housing are sparse.
As compelling as the themes are, there are some flaws in the movie as well given the running time of 101 minutes and noticeably holes in the story. Because Donnie Yen is branching into a genre far from the action genre, it would be serving to the movie to see a subplot involving Chan and Ms. Leung, a colleague and potential love interest, to develop further and as well as possibly partnering up in helping the students with their HKDSE preparation and more. Unfortunately, it was set aside and could have served as part of the story. Adding to the missed opportunity is the lack of interaction between Chan and his other colleagues as they could have added a dynamic to liven up the story, be it friendly or antagonistic.
Holes in the development of Chan's journey into the US Marine Corps after military school are apparent when it was not thought with due research or in consultation with a US military advisory (not necessarily an American). Even glaring is the qualifications of being a teacher requires them to have a university degree in education or equivalent. Given the dubious history of how Henry Chan became a Marine and a teacher without a Bachelor's degree, it requires the audience to suspend their belief and rely on the fact that he got the job solely from the reference letter of Tak Chin's former principal who recommended our hero to attend a military school in the US after his expulsion (again a forum topic of interest to open).
There are those who will compare this to "Dead Poets Society" and "Dangerous Minds", both excellent films about teachers who use unconventional methods to help their students achieve success while along the way experienced challenges in reaching their students and opposition from superiors who wish to maintain the status quo. Henry Chan is seemingly an amalgamation of Robin Williams' John Keating and Michelle Pfeiffer's LouAnne Johnson (real-life educator and former US Marine officer) but Donnie Yen managed to do his best to make Chan his own character despite the comparisons.
To sum up, PROS of the movie: -get action sequences despite two set pieces -Donnie Yen, charismatic as he is inspirational -exploration of themes and real life struggles -a view of the Hong Kong education system in parallel to other East Asian countries
CONS of the movie: -gaffes and inconsistencies with the Henry Chan's military background -romantic subplot between two teachers, interaction with other teachers insufficiently explored -if you viewed "Dead Poets Society" and "Dangerous Minds" already, you will be treading on familiar terrritory