“Big Brother” Theatrical Poster

Director: Kam Ka-Wai
Cast: Donnie Yen, Joe Chen, Yu Kang, Brahim Achabbakhe, Tom Caserto, Alfred Cheung, Ye Fan, Semiquaver Iafeta, Tin-Lung Koo, Gladys Li, Ka Wah Lam, Mike Leeder, Jess Liaudin, Billy Lau Nam-Kwong, Fung Lee, Brahim Chab
Running Time: 101 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

In the last 3 years alone Donnie Yen has played a kung fu master, a wandering swordsman, a sci-fi version of Zatoichi, a kick ass secret agent, and a legendary crippled gangster. So hey, being the most inspirational high school teacher that’s ever graced the screen seems like a natural progression, and that’s exactly what we get with Big Brother. While Yen has spent virtually the whole of the 2010’s with his name attached to what feels like 10 or more productions at any one time, part of the fun is seeing exactly how many of them come to fruition. Big Rescue, which had Yen teamed up with a group of lovable dogs, didn’t happen. Sigh of relief. Noodle Man, which would have cast Yen alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, didn’t happen either. Cue a bigger sigh of relief. Yen cast as a kind of kung fu version of Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds? I was sure that wasn’t going to happen either, but in this case, I was dead wrong.

Thankfully Big Brother doesn’t come with either Michelle Pfeiffer or a soundtrack by Coolio (or a starring role either, China Strike Force was quite enough of that), however it does come with a huge lump of cheese that’s difficult to shake off. But let’s face it, if anyone’s capable of smashing a lump of cheese into pleasantly digestible bites, it’s Yen and his fists of fury, and luckily he doesn’t forget to bring them along with him. For anyone that’s wondering exactly what kind of movie Big Brother is, from the moment the upbeat opening song plays over the opening credits, declaring “When you believe, you can be whoever you want to be” over and over again, trust me when I say you’ll know pretty fast.

Yen plays a former US marine, who after realising the futility of war and questioning how humans can be so cruel to each other, returns to Hong Kong to teach in a public school ear marked for closure due to its poor performance. Why would a US marine choose to become a teacher in such a school? That’s one of Big Brother’s few cards that it plays close to its chest, and it’s a move that works well when compared to how it wears its heart, which is unabashedly on its sleeve. At the end of Special ID Yen jumps for joy on top of a building, fist punching the air and declaring how beautiful life is in a voiceover. It was a horrible moment that I’ve tried to forget many times. However maybe Big Brother is the reason why I haven’t, because to a large degree, it really feels like the character Yen plays in Special ID went on to become the school teacher that he’s playing here.

Constantly switching between Cantonese and English (usually consisting of “You can do it!”, “Remember, you can do it!”, & “I told you, you can do it!”), Yen dishes out an almost immeasurable amount of fist pumps, high fives, and yes, even a few joy filled jumps as well. However unlike Special ID, here the saccharine nature of it all somehow works. Truthfully, I thought there was going to be a twist at the end in which we find out he’s actually an angel, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, we spend 100 minutes witnessing Yen’s incredible talents, as he takes a group of troublesome students under his wing (and their extended families), and single handedly gets their lives back on the track. Alcoholism, sexism, class discrimination, gang violence, poverty – don’t you worry, have a sit down with Yen and he’ll put you right, usually with a beaming smile and one of those inspirational quotes you see on cards or stuck to fridges.

Most likely Big Brother will be a love it or hate it movie for many people. We’re talking about a production that features songs by James Blunt and Lukas Graham in its soundtrack, and every other line is something along the lines of “Knowledge is power” or “Follow your own beliefs.” If you’re susceptible to vomiting in your mouth, this isn’t the flick for you. However if you’re willing to buy into its good nature, and accept that Donnie Yen can turn your life around with his infinite wisdom and unconditional support, then there’s plenty to enjoy. The kids themselves tick all the stereotypical boxes – the tomboy girl, the quick tempered poor kid supporting his granny, the kid suffering from ADD, twins with an alcoholic father, and a HK born Pakistani kid who longs to be a Canto-pop star (ok, admittedly that last one is kind of unique). However the new faces on the block playing them fit the roles well, and are likable enough.

Helmed by Kam Ka-Wai, after serving as assistant director on the likes of Yen’s Ip Man and its sequel, he finally stepped into the director chair himself for his 2016 debut, the abysmal iGirl. Thankfully Ka-Wai appears to be someone who learns quickly from his mistakes, topping off Wong Jing’s Colour of… trilogy with the solid Colour of the Game a year later, so Big Brother provides him with his hat trick. While his latest solo effort as a director may be undeniably sweet, it’s also undeniably assured, with a pace that moves along at a good clip, and there’s a confidence behind the handling of the material. Despite its sugar coated delivery, Big Brother still delivers a scathing message of the Hong Kong education system, and doesn’t shy away from addressing teen suicides and other issues the authorities would rather turn a blind eye too. It’s a credit to Ka-Wai’s approach, and he’s certainly a director to keep an eye on.

However, this is also a Donnie Yen flick, so people need to be punched in the face. Ka-Wai knows this, and despite being 55, audiences still come with the lofty expectation of seeing Yen kick some butt whenever he appears in a movie, which is as much of a credit to him as it likely is a burden. There are only 2 fight scenes in Big Brother, and although many of his hardcore fans may cry foul at this, it’s worth remembering the action quota wasn’t that much higher in the likes of his classics SPL and Flash Point. Fight choreography duties have gone to Yen’s long-time collaborator Kenji Tanagaki, who most recently worked on God of War, and for many will be most recognizable as the Japanese fighter that Wu Jing faces off against in Fatal Contact. His work on Big Brother could well be considered to be his best yet, particularly in the integration of MMA locks and holds into the brawls.

For a taste of some action audiences will have to wait a whole 50 minutes, but when it comes it hits hard, as Yen is forced to take on a locker room full of gweilo MMA fighters, culminating in him throwing down against human brick wall Jess Liaudin. In true HK movie style, the whole fight is set to gweilo mainstay Mike Leeder yelling “Easy money!” and “First round!” on constant rotation. In what feels like a subtle nod to Sammo Hung’s naked bathhouse fight scene from The Victim, Yen even gets to square off against some bare butted opponents, although thankfully we’re spared any Eastern Promises style exposure. It’s a great fight, and feels very scrappy and desperate, with everyone involved delivering top drawer physical performances. The second fight is saved for the finale, which pits Yen against a group of gangsters one of the students got involved with, before seguing into a one-on-one rematch against Ice Man’s Yu Kang.

It may be a bold statement, but I’d rank Yen’s fight against Kang here above the finales of both Flash Point and Special ID in terms of his MMA themed work. The fact that the fight is prefaced by an unexpected emotional gut punch adds some serious weight to it, however both of them really go at it, throwing each other every which way and clocking up some impressive collateral damage. The amount of damaged property brought to mind when Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren faced off in Universal Soldier: Regeneration, except here we’re not dealing with invincible reanimated soldiers. It may not be intricate or stylish, but as an example of a screen fight which really feels like two people attempting to knock the living daylights out of each other, this is up there. Best of all? It feels evenly matched, which was my biggest gripe in both the finales of Flash Point and Special ID.

It’s strange to talk about Big Brother in the context of the way sometimes average old school kung fu flicks could redeem themselves with a final fight, but somehow the comparison fits with Big Brother. The terminally upbeat nature of it all does begin to show signs of grating in the later parts, however the finale reels everything in as if to say, ok, you’ve got this far – now we’ll give you what you’re waiting for. Until you get to that point though, you’ll have to witness Yen riding his motorbike alongside a field full of running horses, a mini-Yen versus a mini-Yu Kang flashback, and (maybe I mentioned it before), plenty of fist pumps. It’s not every day you come across a movie with the potential to have Dead Poets Society meets Special ID as its tagline, but Big Brother fits that criteria. High five.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10