A story about the 1911 Chinese Revolution headed by Sun Yat Sen, which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, tries to cover too much ground for those unfamiliar with its details. It races over three continents with a cast of thousands, concentrating on several key figures, with some of the smallest titles on screen to tell you where and when you are in 1911/1912. It is quite confusing and, on DVD very difficult to follow the names of revolutionary heroes and changes of place and time - it is not told sequentially! However, one gets the gist of a powerful movement led by a small group trying to overthrow hundreds of years of history and a mighty (if decaying inwardly) imperial apparatus. Jackie Chan as part director and star (as the General who led the Revolutionary forces) is very good in a character role, but some of the others look a little po-faced as they play national heroes. The main strength of the film is the revolutionary rhetoric and the powerful battle scenes - leading the way towards the Great War (why did not the West look at how this war was fought before killing hundreds of thousands to learn lessons?!)- which grip and horrify in equal measure, and even manage to show some cowardice! A pity a much longer film or TV series was not attempted so that we Westerners could understand things a little better!
