Big Brother (aka Dai si Hing)
2018
Cast: Donnie Yen, Joe Chan, Kang Yum, Jack Lok, Alfred Chang
Genre: Drama Comedy
'Badass Teacher & Fights, But Too Heavy On The Melodrama & Is Corny'
Big Brother is in the rich vein of other educational based films wherein out of control students are being reigned in by a new teacher, whose unorthodox methods of teaching wins over the hearts, as well as minds of the kids. It is evident as I watched this as to how Donnie Yen manages to integrate himself in a movie with a plot of this type, acting-wise, which also doubles up as a martial arts epic. Well, epic is an understatement, really, - and that frankly, this is not epic. Even though this was a 'passion' project for Donnie and judging by his performance the idea appealed to him to take up an interest in the film, Big Brother is burdened by its corniness, all too generic feel and not very well developed characters.
It appears as such as Big Brother drones on and on with its character subplots; yet as a movie, it was far from engrossing and that there was little in the way of charm and that the student characters' had me not wanting to care for each of them. Each of them is archetypes and tropes: the tomboy girl who has a thing for racing cars/karts - yet her dad doesn't approve of what she does, the guy who lives with his grandmother, the token minority Black kid, who speaks fluent Chinese Cantonese so perfectly, and who sings and plays the guitar and finally, a pair of twins whose dad is addicted to booze. Their individual subplots sounded intriguing on paper, but the manner in which they were conceived lacked a cutting edge and it was so superficial. Because they jumped around so often, meant that each of them just wasn't executed well enough
Like in Dead Poets Society, Dangerous Minds, Mona Lisa Smile, the film sees an eager and enthusiastic would-be educator who is hired to teach a group of plucky teens and to act as an influencer who also happens to change their lives, in more ways than one. Yen's character, Henry Chan wants to inspire the current crop of school kids, and so with that, he takes on the mantle by teaching a group, who have aspirations of their own.
But with this offering, it also comes across as hollow that doesn't go as deep as one would imagine, and the cloying James Blunt and Lukas Graham songs (one of them being ''7 Years'') even made the viewing more drawn out than I'd expected.
Big Brother is dripping in sentimentality that sometimes some of the reactions and actions of the characters not only seem forced, but it tries way too hard that the film is overdone in such a way that I found myself cringing at times. The conflicts themselves didn't seem that potent, serious or as hard-hitting as I'd expected that these are resolved in a swift fashion, meaning any semblance and brunt isn't truly felt and this didn't help by the pupils, of whom are severely underwritten. The razor-sharp critique of the education system is certainly omitted and sadly, Big Brother doesn't have any intention to verge upon its approaching themes and issues in a realistic & gritty manner, whilst still, remain grounded. Instead, its tone feels similar to your usual TVB (a Hong Kong TV channel) drama which cranks up the melodrama to high levels, and this was a bit unnecessary.
Yen, himself, does a respectable job by juggling both his dramatic acting abilities with his martial arts and kudos to him to undertaking a role such as this; unlike the majority of action stars, he can certainly act and show range in his delivery of the material and lines by branching out in less familiar territories. As for the action, it was watchable, although the martial arts action is nothing you haven't seen elsewhere; that and as it is mostly CGI, a lot of it is overdone as well.
Final Verdict:
As sincere as Big Brother intended to be, the story just didn't strike me as being emphatic and rich as I'd have liked and most of it, but for a few action scenes that include Donnie taking on a group of MMA fighters in a locker room, never truly grabbed me. It is heavily cliched and thus, it doesn't really do enough that is good or offer anything different to not only differentiate itself from other films of this type.
It treads on the same path as Dangerous Minds but it lacks the punch, weight and characters of whom I care for and like Kung Fu Chefs with Sammo Hung, it takes a theme, - which in this case for this movie, is the importance of education, and throws in a few martial arts fight scenes, and yet its execution isn't much to desire.
As far as educational based films I've sat through, I came away feeling wholly disappointed and that Big Brother wasn't enjoyable enough for me.
Overall:
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