Although “Railroad Tigers” earned $71.4 million on its first 10 days of showing in China, its ratings on Chinese film and review sites were not impressive. Similar results were reported in the U.S. where the movie apparently flopped.
According to Global Times, the Jackie Chan-starrer earned only $166,519 as of Thursday since “Railroad Tigers” opened on Jan. 6. But the bad news goes beyond the box-office because the movie got 6.1 out of 10 on IMDB, a movie information site, and 5.2 out of 10 in Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator.
Poor Ratings also in China
Understandably, the movie did better at the box office in China where it has earned since it opened on Dec. 23, or after 18 days of exhibition, 606.44 million yuan, or $87.47 million. However, even Chinese moviegoers gave Jackie Chan’s latest movie poor reviews based on the 6 and 5.1 out of 10 rating that “Railroad Tigers” got in Mtime, a movie site in China, and Douban, a media review site, respectively.
Shicheng 123, a netizen, in his comment on Mtime, explained the bad review of “Railroad Tigers” to the portrayal of Japanese officers and soldiers as silly and dumb, and being the butt of jokes of Ma Yuen, the character played by Jackie Chan, and his gang. Besides insulting the Japanese, the netizen pointed out that the film had exaggerated scenes such as one person tearing apart a Japanese soldier using bare hands and a woman sneaking a grenade into a Japanese jail by hiding the explosive inside her private part.
“In this film, our enemies, who once occupied more than half of China, are depicted as ignorant, incompetent imbeciles… they are made fools of by Chan's almighty ‘Flying Tigers,’” Shicheng observed.
“Skiptrace” also Gets Bad Reviews
It is the second consecutive movie of Jackie Chan to get bad reviews despite “Skiptrace” earning 889 million yuan, or $128.8 million, in China. Viewers gave “Skiptrace a 5.7 grade on IMDB and 4.1 on Rotten Tomatoes. The 8th Golden Broom Awards, meanwhile, named “Skiptrace” and “Railroad Tigers” among the nominees for the Most Disappointing Film of 2016 Award, China’s version of the Golden Raspberry Awards which identifies the worst movies and performances of the year.
In its review of “Railroad Tigers,” Paste Magazine describes Jackie Chan’s movie as “an old-school, moderately campy adventure movie” which American directors focused in the 1990s. However, it notes that most of the moviegoers had relegated those kinds of films “to the realm of nostalgia.”