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Born to Defense

Play trailer Poster for Born to Defense R 1986 1h 31m Action Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 54% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A war veteran (Jet Li) stands up to the foreign occupation forces who have been brutalizing his fellow villagers.
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Born to Defense

Critics Reviews

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Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Nov 5, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Japan has finally surrendered and World War II is over, but boorish American sailors are causing trouble inside a Chinese village they're occupying. The only man with the power to halt their bullying is a veteran with a heart of gold (Jet Li, who also directed). Born To Defense has a streak of rabid nationalism that I personally found fascinating, but its most memorable elements are definitely the brutal, visceral fight scenes. This film is one of the strongest of Jet Li's earlier movies. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member jet li in his directional debut delivers a solid enjoyable sympathetic martial arts film I really like this film Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Jet Li's dramatically riveting tale of suspenseful, inter ethnic conflict dares to venture where no other film has been. This movie is a testament to man's ability to create beauty through art, in this case a piece of cinematography that makes the Mona Lisa look like a mid-morning dump. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Review: This movie seemed really dated and the acting was terrible. I know that it was made near the beginning of Jet Li's career and he also had the big task of directing the film so I can't completely slate it. The fighting scenes seemed a bit messy and the storyline wasn't that great. On the plus side, Jet Li's acting was impressive and he showed emotion in parts but for entertainment, it has to get the thumbs down. I found the American characters pretty annoying and the big showdown at the end was disappointing. Basically it wasn't the greatest film from Jet Li, but you end up sticking with the movie because you want to see the American characters get a Jet Li seeing to. Average! Round-Up: This is the last movie in my Jet Li season and I was hoping for it to go out with a bang, but this movie was quite disappointing. I've been hunting for the 3 Shaolin Temple movies, which he made in the beginning of his career, but I'm having trouble finding the first movie so I've decided to leave them out of my collection. I will eventually start a Jackie Chan collection, which will be massive, but after watching these martial arts movies, I really want to go back to the earlier films which I enjoyed so much when I was young. In all, Jet Li is a great actor but a lot of his films have let his career down. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$11.5million I recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a soldier who returns home to live with his uncle and gets picked on by American soldiers. 3/10 Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member This 1986 movie is one the earliest Jet Li movies, in fact it's his first movie outside of The Shaolin Temple Trilogy. It is also his directorial debut, which makes it interesting to see. I thought it was a good movie but really not one of his bests. What was missing for me was the fact that there are absolutely no Kung Fu face offs in this movie, since it is pretty much China vs USA, with the bad guys, in this case the Americans using boxing to fight against Jet Li, who uses a mix of boxing and Martial arts to fight back. Li himself didn't think he was a good director and has never directed a movie since, instead focusing solely on acting! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member This film, despite trying to tell a story, ends up veering off the path so many times, you wonder if there is a main plot to this movie. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Born to Defense

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A war veteran (Jet Li) stands up to the foreign occupation forces who have been brutalizing his fellow villagers.
Director
Jet Li
Screenwriter
Jia Er-Ge, Yeung-Ping Sze
Production Co
Buena Vista (Walt Disney)
Rating
R
Genre
Action
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 6, 2015
Runtime
1h 31m
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