Railroad Tigers - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Railroad Tigers

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
I have to say that Jackie Chan has been making some really questionable film choices over the last decade. He once was the god of Hong Kong cinema, rivaling the great Bruce Lee for market penetration and his ability to pull fans into seats. His comedy stylings and incredible stunt work made him a legend both in the U.S. and overseas, and he was actually the inspiration (along with Van Damme) for me to get into martial arts as a 14-year-old boy (and have continued for quite a few decades). So, watching his fall from grace has been a puzzling and saddening experience that hasn’t gotten better even though Jackie HAS made some fun movies (the latest Police Story film was actually rather good) recently. Railroad Tigers was a movie that really LOOKED good on paper, but fell apart when you actually started watching it. The movie left the viewer wondering whether it was a comedy, a drama, or an action movie by constantly changing the goal posts frequently, and blending all three genres together simultaneously without any sense of finesse or distinction.

The film opens with a modern day voiceover of a young group of students being show historical artifacts relating to the Chinese fight for independence from the Japanese invasion during World War II, but soon jumps back in time to the actual men and women who were fighting. We’re introduced to a whole bevy of characters (that are all annoyingly introduced with flash card style visual overlays, giving their names and “catchphrases” for some reason) that just continues to be introduced through most of the movie. Jackie is playing the leader of a group of Chinese peasants helping the soldiers resist the Japanese invasion, and his Robinhoodesque band of Merry men (too many to even remotely name, including his son Jaycee Chan) are waging guerilla war against the Japanese supply trains coming through the local area.

Borrowing a bit from The Bridge over the River Kwai, the group’s main goal is to actually blow a bridge that is vital to the war effort. The problem is getting it done. The local commander is cracking down on the rebels, and there is very little explosives that are available. The only thing Jackie’s crew can do is rob a Japanese supply depot, and use those explosives to try and bring down the train. When he and his second in command are captured, it sets up the perfect opportunity to sabotage the Japanese forces. If they can pull it off.

Railroad Tigers really DOES try, I’ll give it that. The movie is trying desperately to give Jackie Chan a vehicle to act as an action comeback for the legendary superstar, but the film is just too noisy and busy for its own good. Part of it may stem from the realization that Chan is no longer as nimble and spry as he once was, and that could explain why some of the film utilized quick cuts and edits, along with a nonstop barrage of chaos and action in an effort to distract the viewer from that realization. Jaycee sadly doesn’t have the acting chops, or charisma of his father, and even with his action sequences, I felt just a little bit underwhelmed. They all tried their best to bring the film up to his old standards, but this Jackie vehicle seemed destined to lumber around, barely on the road.

The strangest part of the whole enterprise was the thematic choice for the genre. Jackie Chan’s movies generally tend to pull in large quantities of slapstick action, but Railroad Tigers just couldn’t seem to really find its own identity. The movie makes you feel like you’re watching a drama, with deeply seriously moments, and the lack of slapstick cues that are so typical of a Jackie Chan film, but then we have the lightly lilting comedic music that has you wondering “wait? Am I supposed to be laughing at this scene?”), only to be changing it to up full on exciting action. I spent the entire film in a sense of confusion, wondering what I was supposed to feel, or how I was supposed to react with such conflicting audio and visual cues on screen The movie was a giant jumbled mess of action, comedy, drama and in no way could Director Ding Sheng separate them outside of a big soupy mixture.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Well Go USA has really been increasing the spit and polish on their Blu-rays lately. More and more I’m noticing a departure from the heavy banding ridden encodes, and more and more films that are really standing with some of the big boys. Railroad Tigers was a big deal over in China and were shot on high end digital cameras, giving the 2.40:1 framed Blu-ray a very clean and crystal-clear look. The highly stylized period piece has a light orange and olive-green tint to some of the colors, with lots of earthy browns thrown in as well. Primary colors are sharp and brightly saturated, and the dusty, earthy tones have a very organic and natural look to them. Especially the military uniforms of the Japanese officers and the dusty look of the little town. Blacks are deep and inky, with only minimal banding in some of the night time shots (not a whole lot I might add). Facial details is razor sharp, and fine detailing along intimate objects like clothing and beards all show more than enough to the naked eye.



Audio:

Just like the video, Well Go USA is getting more high end DTS:X and Atmos tracks by the day now. This time we’re given a REALLY nice DTS:X track in the original Mandarin, as well as a 5.1 DTS-HD MA lossless track in English, for those who don’t like reading subtitles. The English track is very robust and clean, but I did notice that the dialog was recorded just a little bit hot for my tastes, especially when comparing to the Mandarin track. The DTS:X track, on the other hand, is about as perfect as you can get. The vocals are above reproach, and the track has a really wide dynamic range that allows the listener to be enjoying a quiet conversation, only to explode into action with gunfire and martial arts roaring all around. The end 1/3rd of the movie with the train hijacking is probably one of the most bombastic action sequences that I’ve seen outside of a Transformers film. Gunfire is deep and guttural, and fists impact with incredible weight. The LFE is just PUNISHING, and surrounds are incredible with solid use of the overheads during the battle sequences.

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Extras:

• "Director's Featurette"
• "The Dangers of Shooting"
• "The Making of"
• "VFX Featurette"
• "The Characters"
• Original Trailers

Final Score: ​

Railroad Tigers is one of those films that I REALLY wanted to enjoy. I love Jackie Chan, and the trailer looked like a blast of action. The problem was that it couldn’t seem to find its identity and just floundered in that sea of mediocrity, never to find its footing. What makes it even sadder is that you can see the POTENTIAL for a fun movie under the sea of chaos and confusion, but the film just couldn’t quite grasp how to actually make that come to life. Technical specs are incredible, and the extras are decently entertaining, so if the trailer interests you then checking it out isn’t a bad thing. Otherwise I would just recommend skipping the film and moving on.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jackie Chan, Jaycee Chan, Zitao Huang
Directed by: Ding Sheng
Written by: Alex Jia, He Keke
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Mandarin: DTS:X, Mandarin DTS Headphone:X, Mandarin and English DD 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 124 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: June 20th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It