Set in 1941 during the Japanese occupation of China, Railroad Tigers is an action-packed, yet fun-filled movie about a group of Chinese workers eager to fight back.
Jackie Chan plays Ma Yuan, a railroad porter who uses his knowledge of the train network to lead his fellow workers in ambushing Japanese soldiers and stealing their supplies to feed their starving countrymen. With no real weapons, they just make do with hammers, shovels, pipes and other railroad tools for attack and protection. Ma Yuan and his team of freedom fighters find themselves in what could be a suicide mission: blow up a heavily-guarded railroad bridge which even the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army of China cannot destroy.
“On paper it sounds like a war movie, but during the fighting scenes, almost no blood is shed,” says director Ding Sheng, who also directed Jackie Chan’s movies, Little Big Soldier and Police Story 2013. And, in contrast to the lone heroes in Chan’s previous films, Railroad Tigers puts an emphasis on the team instead of a main character.
Co-starring with Jackie Chan are rapper, singer-songwriter Huang Zitao, TV idol Wang Kai from the critically acclaimed historical drama All Quiet in Peking, and Taiwanese actor and model Darren Wang, best known for the 2015 film Our Times. Wang got the role of a Chinese soldier because of the recommendation of actor Andy Lau, who, incidentally, has a must-see appearance in the movie.
The inclusion of these handsome young actors in the cast attracted extensive media attention. But there’s more to them than just a pretty face. “It is an action movie so everyone must have some training in kung fu,” says the director. “Once the locomotive is set in motion, you can’t simply apply the brakes. Even the veteran martial arts instructors in the JC Stunt Team are scared of the 100-ton steam locomotive when it is in motion. For actors who have never trained in martial arts, it is very difficult to achieve some of the moves…I (insisted) on casting only the most suitable actors.”
“When it comes to the train, everyone wants to see us climb aboard it. But we can’t just run after the train and jump straight on it’, Jackie Chan explains. ‘So in order to embellish the scene,” Ding Sheng continues, “the characters used a skateboard, a slide, and a bamboo pole to climb onto the train. Fortunately, all these seemingly incredible stunts were performed safely.”
In order to film a real steam locomotive, the shooting took place in Northeast China at a temperature of -20°C. The crew consisted of more than one thousand members. Furthermore, an entire train station was revamped for the film.
Railroad Tigers is praised for its hilarious jokes and astonishing spectacle. An audience member was quoted to have said, “The jokes are funny, the explosions are amazing and there’s not a dull moment.”
Distributed by VIVA International Pictures and MVP Entertainment, it opens in cinemas tomorrow.