These days, it's not easy being a Jackie Chan fan. Appearing in a string of uninspired Hollywood movies and bloated big-budget misfires, he's allowed himself to become something of a joke. But now he's finally made a movie that stands proudly alongside his greatest films. A movie that any Jackie Chan fan can show to an unbeliever and say, "There! That's why this man is great." It's his best film since 1994's Drunken Master II, and it sees him finally come to terms with his place in the Chinese film industry, his aging body, his legacy as an action star and even China's place in the world.

It took 20 years to develop the script, and the result is a sly satire on the endless string of period epics (like Red Cliff) that are pouring out of China these days. Set in the Warring States period, the Liang and Wei armies have just wiped each other out in an encounter that left only two survivors in battle leaving only two survivors. One is the Old Soldier (Jackie Chan) a conscripted farmer who has lived through countless battles with one unbeatable technique: the fighting starts and he falls down and plays dead. The other survivor is the grievously wounded Wei General (Wang Lee-hom) a proud warrior whose only dream is death in battle. Capturing the Wei General, Jackie plans to get him back to his homeland and turn him in for a reward. The only problem is that his home is hundreds of miles away across a no man's land full of barbarians.

There have always been better martial artists, better stuntmen and better daredevils than Jackie Chan, but what makes him great is his timing and his mastery of physical comedy and here they're both in full effect. He abandons massive stunts for down-to-earth, small-scale acrobatics and, unable to rely on the spectacle of risking his life to wow the audience, he's found greatness again. In a dizzying display of self-awareness, Jackie has made a movie whose message is “Change, or die.” Fortunately, for his fans, Little Big Soldier represents the joyous fact that at 56 years old, Jackie has chosen "change."