“1911” is a film all about the Xinhai Revolution where the Chinese overthrew their imperial leaders. The film is arguably too ambitious for its own good. It tries to show the battles, the politics and the personal stories of the revolution. However, it all feels rushed. This is a movie that would have been better if it was twice as long.

The Republic of China is founded when nationalist forces, led by Sun Yat-sen (Winston Chao “The Meg”, “The Wedding Banquet”), set out to bring the Qing dynasty down. They hope a new nation can be built, one that offers more freedom for its citizens and prevents foreign powers from exploiting them.

Winston Chao is good as Sun Yat-sen; he’s really the star of the movie. Jackie Chan (“First Strike”, “Armour Of God”) plays Huang Xing. This is often billed as Chan’s 100th film, something that’s debatable as exactly how many films he has done remains contested. He can be good in dramatic roles as we have seen in “Shinjuku Incident” but here, he doesn’t get to shine. His son, Jaycee Chan (“Blade Of Kings”), also has a small role here. There are just so many characters including the Qing dynasty rulers, the revolutionary soldiers and the foreign diplomats that it becomes a little overwhelming as we don’t get enough time to understand any of them very well.

“1911” has some spectacular battle sequences and has some interesting political moments. The irony of this film is that it’s a very patriotic and pro-China film but the Republic of China is now relegated to Taiwan while the rest of China belongs to the People’s Republic of China. Maybe if I knew more about Chinese history that I would have enjoyed this film more but there was just way too much going on. I wanted to be able to understand things clearly as I’m surely the subject matter is interesting but it just rushes through so much in so little time.