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On Wings of Eagles

48 votes

Producing House

Eric Liddell - China's first gold medalist and one of Scotland's greatest athletes - returns to war-torn China.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 2016-06-17

Runtime: 96 mins

Director: Stephen Shin Kei-Yin

Writer: Michael Parker, Christopher C. Chan, Rubby Xu, Stephen Shin Kei-Yin

Spoken language: 普通话, English, 日本語

Genres: Drama, History, War

Original title: On Wings of Eagles

Production Companies: MGK Multimedia, Beijing Forbidden City Film, Innowave Limited, Goodland Pictures, BondIt

Production Countries: China, Hong Kong, United States of America

Reviews

G

Geronimo1967
This film picks up where "Chariots of Fire" (1981) leaves off with the Olympic champion Eric Liddell (Joseph Fiennes) now a missionary in the land of his birth - now war-torn - China. When the Japanese invade, he is initially fêted - well fed and looked after, but that is all part of the ultimate game of humiliation as he is basically being groomed for a race against "Xu Niu" (Shawn Dou). This is quite an interesting depiction of just how this man's Christian faith and sense of decency were pitched against the ruthlessness of his captors who used both physical and psychological methods to reduce their captives to jelly. Whilst this certainly hints at those atrocities, the whole look and feel of the film is just a little sterile and Fiennes isn't really up to much in the lead. Somehow his strength of faith and purpose is lost in a really mediocre production that never quite gets going properly. Based in fact, it does offer us a truth about the truly shameful ending for this man of principle, but perhaps a remake with a better cast, writing and more vision from a director who understands how to better deliver a story of a complex individual would leave us feeling better fulfilled. Watchable, but forgettable I am afraid.
2022-09-03

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