Watch a Beijinger Kick Some Ass in the New 'Star Wars' Movie Now Playing in Beijing

Steven Schwankert | Jan 5, 2017 9:24 am | Add a comment | 2459 reads

Once described as "the Beijingiest of all Beijingers" (he was born in nearby Tangshan, technically), Jiang Wen's first major English-language role comes to Beijing cinemas when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens at cinemas around town with midnight showings tonight.

The 53-year-old director, producer, and star of local box office smash Let The Bullets Fly plays Baze Malbus, a weapons expert who once protected Jedi Knights.

And it's no mere cameo appearance, as been the case with some other Chinese stars in Hollywood flicks recently: Jiang has about 15 minutes of screen time. While that's not exactly Supporting Actor length, it's equivalent to say Billy Dee Wililam's screen time as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back.

When we meet him in Rogue One, only Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen remains under his protection (we can talk offline about why Jedi Knights would need protection from a weapons expert, what with The Force and all that).

Without giving anything away (as Jiang and Wen did at a press conference last year, giving Star Wars fans across the galaxy a collective aneurysm), Jiang's appearance in the film is an ass kicker. He's just the Beijing hunzi that Star Wars needed.

His slightly stilted dialogue delivery detracts a bit from his performance, but overall Jiang does Beijing proud.

He is also pretty handy with a gun, although we can't understand why the producers gave him a weapon with some sort of back-mounted power supply that makes it look like he's carrying a vacuum cleaner across the galaxy.

Jiang and Yen play well together on screen, they're a good team, appearing in their second film together.

For those unfamiliar with Jiang, he's no hack. He's one of China's biggest celebrities, and at age 30 he first hit it big with his directorial debut, In the Heat of the Sun, a nostalgic look at the life of youths in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. He hauled in the top prize at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival with his next effort, Devils on the Doorstep, a black comedy about the Japanese occupation of China. Both films are worth going out of your way to watch.

Rogue One has already hauled in over USD 700 million worldwide, and will probably make another USD 100 million or so from China.

Jiang Wen or no Jiang Wen, go see the movie if you have ever enjoyed a Star Wars film. This is no fluffy Ewok adventure; the darkness of The Empire permeates this story, and if you are of the mindset that The Empire Strikes Back was George Lucas' best work, you will heart Rogue One.

Quite literally dozens of cinemas around town will be showing the film, including the following:

24-7 Tickets offers an English booking system for several of these cinemas here.

Photo: ScienceFiction.com