Born to Defence

Xiao Jie (Jet Li) returns to his hometown of Qingdao after the fighting the Japanese. He and his fellow soldiers discover that much has changed since the end of the war, and American soldiers are taking all the glory for the victory achieved, and they feel unappreciated. Xiao Jie eventually meets with his old friend Zhang (Zhao Erkang, a fellow soldier who saved Xiao's life in battle, but was seriously injured with shrapnel. Zhao makes a living as a rickshaw driver. Xiao decides to stay at Zhao's house for a while. Xiao asks Zhang about his daughter. Zhang replies that she died.

One day, an American Navy Captain named Hans (Kurt Roland Petersson) is driving recklessly through Qingdao's streets, causing a mob to become angry and surround his car. Xiao and Hans fight briefly, with Hans being impressed with Xiao. The angry mob proceeds to burn his car, causing a riot. Xiao and his fellow band of soldiers and rickshaw-drivers retreat during the chaos to a bar, which they discover now caters primarily to foreigners with a boxing ring and is frequented by prostitutes. Xiao and his friends are angry at the insults hurled at them by American Navy patrons, which leads to an American soldier named Bailey (Paulo Tocha) challenging Xiao to a formal boxing match.

During the match, Xiao struggles with only being allowed to use his fists, and frequently breaks the rules due to his ignorance of American boxing. Frustrated, Xiao attempts to leave the ring, but Bailey kicks him to prevent him from leaving. Xiao continues the fight using both kung-fu and boxing techniques, and even demonstrates that he has finally adapted to boxing and shows superiority over Bailey. Xiao wins the fight, along with a lot of money, and the Chinese in the crowd are proud of him.

Later, Bailey and a Chinese prostitute (Song Jia) approach Zhang for a rickshaw ride. The woman is apprehensive around Zhang, and pleads with Bailey to go home. Bailey, furious at Zhang's slow speed and at the fact that the woman keeps staring at Zhang, repeatedly kicks Zhang to make him go faster. Furious, Zhang tips over his rickshaw and insults the woman, causing her to leave in tears. Bailey assaults Zhang, leaving him severely injured. Xiao takes over for Zhang's rickshaw. After one of his rickshaw trips, the American soldiers (led by Bailey) deliberately destroy his rickshaw, forcing Xiao to take a job at the bar where he fought Bailey the other day. The job requires Xiao to be a "sparring partner" for Bailey, where he cannot fight back and must sustain many blows. When Xiao initially refuses, the soldiers threaten to beat the bar-owner. Seeing no other way, Xiao reluctantly agrees to be Bailey's sparring partner. The prostitute, named Rui (or "Na"), approaches Xiao and informs him that the bar-owner was actually a part of the scheme to force Xiao to be a sparring partner.

Xiao returns to the bar the next day with the intent of fighting back against Bailey (regardless of the consequences to the bar and the bar owner). However, he learns that will be fighting Captain Hans instead. Hans goads Xiao into a formal fighting match. The match goes on for a long time, which eventually leads to chaos in the bar as crowds of Chinese and American soldiers fight each other until American soldiers to come and enforce order. The match basically ends in a draw, with Xiao barely able to stand. Rui takes Xiao to her house, removes his wet clothes to prevent him from catching pneumonia, and helps him rest and recover.

Later, Rui approaches Zhang at the hospital to inform him of what happened to Xiao. When he sees that Xiao is naked in the bed, he is furious and hits Rui. He reveals to Xiao that Rui is his daughter and that he is ashamed of her because she's a prostitute. Xiao pleads with him to change his mind about his daughter but Zhang only gets more furious, and angrily tells Xiao to find another place to stay.

Later, Xiao comes back to Zhang's house, and gleefully tells him that he fell in love with a girl after Zhang kicked him out. However, he asks Zhang for advice: if his new girlfriend is a prostitute, but promises to quit, should he give her a chance? Zhang tells him that he should. Xiao then offers to introduce him to his girlfriend right away. The "girlfriend", it turns out, is Rui herself. Zhang is initially angry at Xiao and Rui's deception, but Xiao makes them reconcile, and they do. While Rui goes out to buy some food and wine, the American soldiers kidnap Rui. Xiao and Zhang are informed of this by local rickshaw drivers. While looking for Rui, Xiao is confronted by Hans, who wishes to continue the fight from the other night. The Navy soldiers eventually throw both Rui and Zhang off the roof, killing them both. Captain Hans appears shocked and angry at what they've done.

While in jail, Xiao is severely beaten by the local police for "causing trouble," and the American soldiers are let go. Xiao is furious. Later, he escapes from jail by tying a wet shirt against two loose bars. He later finds the American soldiers (with Captain Hans and Bailey) driving by a warehouse. Xiao sets a trap that forces them to stop. He lights their car on fire with a molotov cocktail and lures them into the warehouse. He severely injures one of the soldiers and ties up another one to the ceiling. Xiao then finds Bailey and traps him on a conveyor belt that leads to a furnace, where he burns Bailey to death. Then, he confronts Hans. Hans and Xiao fight for a long time. Hans eventually gains the upper hand, but their movements cause the mechanisms of the warehouse to eventually knock a bunch of barrels into Bailey. With Bailey severely beaten on the ground, Xiao picks up an axe, screams, and swings it downward. He chooses to spare Hans. Hans is relieved. Xiao walks out of the warehouse.

• Jet Li as Jet
• Zhao Erkang as Zhang
• Song Jia as Na
• Kurt Roland Petersson as Captain Hans
• Paulo Tocha as Bailey
• Yuen Fai as Friend of Jet
• Lam Hak-ming as Policeman
• Cho Wing as Angry Chinese Man
• Dion Lam as Angry Chinese Man
• Ng Kit-keung as Angry Chinese Man
• Mark King as GI Blue
• Dean Harrington as US Marine
• Yuen Kam-fai as Soldier
• Zhang Chun-zhong asSoldier
• Lau Wing-kwan
• Fang Tung-yue
• Lee Yuen-ching
• Tang Wai-yu
• Chan Hoi-ming
• Lau Ka-shing
• Ko Chan-wo
• Lau Siu-chun
• Wong Sam-kwai
• Lee Chang
• Kang Yin

[1] [2]

In Hong Kong, the film grossed HK$11,456,731,[3] making it the 38th top-grossing film of the year.[4] This was considered a disappointing performance in Hong Kong.

In contrast, the film was a success in China, becoming the second highest-grossing film of the year. It grossed CN¥80 million in box office revenue,[4] and sold 97 million tickets in China.[5]

In South Korea, the film sold 782 tickets in the capital city of Seoul.[6]

• Jet Li filmography
• List of Hong Kong films

• Born to Defence on IMDb
• Born to Defence at Rotten Tomatoes