Henry Chan (Donnie Yen) is a Hong Konger-American ex-navy soldier. Having served his time in the US military, he returns to his home country of Hong Kong. Looking for a break from the violence of the military, he decides to become a schoolteacher, even if he has no formal qualfications. However, he does have a recommendation letter from a higher official.
After showing his letter to Tak Chi Secondary School, Henry is assigned to class 6B, a.k.a. the lowest performing class in the entire school. The students are unruly and do not want to listen to the rules. When Henry's initial approach to calming them down doesn't work, his military training comes through and surprises them. Though he manages to earn their obedience, Henry notices that the so-called "bad" students aren't really bad, and in fact have their own struggles - Zufa's Pakistani family is unsupportive of him being a musician, Denan's father treats her badly for being a girl, Jack lives in poverty and is bullied by the rich kids and Bruce and Chris are the sons of an alcoholic father. Knowing that gentleness is stronger than wrath, one by one, Chan intervenes in his student's lives and does his best by them, being the father figure they never had.
Even the gangster Jianying's attempts to bring down the school (so he can buy it and turn it into an apartment complex) don't deter the students, and it seems like for once, Class 6B may not be at the bottom of the totem pole anymore. But who is Jianying, and why does he have it out for Henry Chan? Is there a dark secret that connects the past of the two?
Deapite the name, it is not to be confused with Big Brother, Nineteen Eighty-Four, or the various tropes that begin with "Big Brother" (Big Brother Bully, Big Brother Instinct, etc.). The name comes from the fact that this is the role Henry takes towards the students.
Has examples of:
- Accidental Celebrity: When trying to save his student, Henry knocks out an MMA fighter. That MMA fighter happened to be scheduled to fight that day, and Henry becomes viral for knocking him out.
- Actor Allusion: Donnie Yen plays an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, as usual.
- The Alcoholic: Chris and Bruce's dad, after his wife left. Henry Chan has the school take a field trip to an alcohol rehab center where they interview the addicts, and their dad sees Chris and Bruce amongst the students. He confesses his story, trying to hold back his own tears since his owns sons are present, and he doesn't want the school to know. By the end of it, he's sworn off drinking for good.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Henry tried to be humble at first, but when his buttons were pushed from constant pranking, he showcased some of his martial arts abilities (like kicking away a bucket falling on him from the door towards the students). Later, he earns his student's respect after beating the crap out of Jianying's thugs.
- Badass Teacher: Henry Chan, ex-military kung-fu master played by Donnie Yen. He earns his student's attention with his strength, but he earns their respect with his kindness. When a news outlet slanders Henry and he loses his job, the students are tearful to see him go, but strive to help him back by acing their exams so the school can see the good influence he has on them.
- Be Yourself: How Henry gets Zufa to overcome his insecurities - he makes him perform his music in front of a crowd of passerbys, and they appluad him.
- Big Damn Heroes: One of the students, Jack, is held hostage by Jianying's men. Henry shows up to the scene and calmly asks for his release, and when they refuse he kicks their butt.
- Break the Cutie:
- Denan desperately wants her father's approval, but he isn't interested in her because she's a girl, while showering her brother with love. She's pretty torn up about it.
- Henry was a nightmare child when he was young, not caring about school and constantly playing pranks. When one of his pranks went too far, he received a good yelling at by his father and was then shipped off to the States.
- Jianying's hand was broken as a child and he was severely disadvantaged in life because of it. As an adult, he became an MMA better, while running shady gang operations on the side. In his final confrontation with Henry, he blames him for ruining his life and says that it's his fault he went down this path.
- Boyish Short Hair: Denan cut her hair short and began taking part in stereotypical "boyish" activities to earn her dad's favour. However, he continued to ignore her.
- The Bully: The rich kids at Tak Chi Secondary School bully the "poor" kids (Jack, Denan, Zufa, Bruce and Chris) and use their connections to get away with it. Their leader is the Captain of the Basketball team. When he trips Bruce, Jack is enraged and they get into a scuffle, but the school only punishes Jack and his friends.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: To Henry, breaking his fellow student's hand (by accident) was another day of him being a little shit. To Jianying, it was his Start of Darkness.
- Call-Back: Early in the film, Henry pranks his class by turning on the water sprinklers. In the end, we see him do the same thing again to different batch of students.
- Create Your Own Villain: Henry is responsible for creating Jianying. When Henry was a boy, he was just as mischevious as the students of Class 6B. One day, during a parent-teacher conference, he threw water balloons at the student playing piano, and then accidentally moved a bust, which landed on the student's hand. Because his hand broke, the student couldn't play in the music competition he had been training for. He never touched a piano ever again. During the bloody fight scene in the third act, Jianying reveals that he was the boy who Henry ruined as a kid, and swears to get revenge any way he can, even if it means harming his students. In the end, though Henry has the upper hand, he doesn't kill Jianying and instead begs for forgiveness. He then leaves him on the floor. And in the end, even though we're don't know if he's forgiven him, we see Jianying playing the piano for the first time since the accident.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Zufa, the Token Minority (half-Pakistani) wants to be a musician, and is subject to constant Police Brutality based on his skin colour. His actor is actually black (Nigerian) in Real Life.
- Dramatic Irony: Jianying hates Henry for ruining his future, but he had no issues doing the same to the students of Class 6B. This is because Henry cares about them and he wants them to break.
- Dream-Crushing Handicap: Henry broke Jianying's hand when they were children, leading Jianying to abandon playing the piano and turning to MMA betting and the gang life to make his fortune.
- Dub Name Change: In the English dub:
- Junchi becomes Bruce.
- Junyao becomes Chris.
- Denan becomes Gladys.
- Zufa becomes Gordon.
- Dysfunction Junction: Everyone in Class 6B is this - there's either a Dark and Troubled Past, Abusive Parent or Parental Neglect going on to explain their behaviour. The film focuses on five such students from these backgrounds.
- Eagleland: Henry is a Hong Konger by birth, but worked and trained in America as a soldier.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Class 6B pass their tests and bring in extra funding to the school, Bruce survives his suicide attempt and is learning how to walk and Jianying, for the first time in years, starts playing the piano.
- Everyone Went to School Together: It's revealed that Henry and Jianying went to the same school, where ironically Jianying was an exemplary student while Henry had behavioural issues.
- Former Teen Rebel: Downplayed with Henry. He wasn't a teen rebel, but a terribly misbehaved kid who cared more about having fun than anything. Once he was sent off to America and received military training, he straightened up.
- Gentle Giant: Despite being an ex-troop, Henry never once raises his hand at his dysfunctional students. Instead, he gets involved in their home lives and tries to help them overcome their struggles.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: No one is free of sin. Not even Henry.
- An Immigrant's Tale: Zufa is the son of a Pakistani immigrant and wants to be accepted by Chinese society, but their distrust of anything foreign prevents this.
- Intra-Scholastic Rivalry: Between Jack's friends and the basketball team. The basketball team is led by a Jerk Jock who often attacks the poorer students, knowing he can get away with it.
- It's Personal: At first, we're led to think that Jianying hates Henry for improving Class 6B. Then, we learn that long ago, Henry committed a massive slight against him.
- Jerk Jock: Jack's main bully, who never gets in trouble with the school system because his father is rich. He even gets off scott-free for tripping Bruce, while Jack gets suspended for fighting back.
- Kids Are Cruel: Henry as a kid was an asshole. He often broke things, lied, stole and cheated, like most seven year olds. It's implied this was because he never received proper consequences from his parents, since as he was punished for the first time, he actually shed tears.
- Parental Favouritism: Denan's dad always wanted a boy and ignored her for most of her life. When her brother was finally born, he became a happy, giddy man, while continuing to neglect her.
- Police Brutality: The Chinese police accuse Zufa/(Gordon Hong) of stealing, even though he's innocent, and beat him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Henry lives and breathes this trope. He even takes Zufa's side when he's running away from his parents only to swap sides when he finds out that they're mad at him for stealing.
- Save Our Students: The film is about ex-Marine Henry Chan taking up a job as a teacher in a dysfunctional classroom, and becoming a father figure to five students who have Dark And Troubled Pasts. Things are muddled with the presence of Jianying, an influential mobster who is trying to sabotage the school so he can buy the building and convert it into an apartment, and also holds a grudge against Henry for a tragic incident that happened years ago.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Henry gets his job at Tak Chi Secondary School by showing a recommendation letter, even though he has no formal training.
- Shout-Out:
- The movie is often compared to the anime Great Teacher Onizuka because both are about teachers helping their student's lives using unconventional methods. However, Henry isn't a pervert like Onizuka, has the distinction of being ex-military, and is ready to send anyone to the Home For Infinite Losers for messing with his kids.
- To Oldboy (2003) - we have an ex-badass martial artist declaring their protection for a child, and fighting whoever dares harm them. But then it's found out that the person behind them have a grudge against them for what they did in the past.
- Token Minority: Zufa is half-Pakistani, having a Pakistani dad and a Chinese mom. However, because of his race he's not taken seriously by most people, and treated badly by the police.
- Warrior Therapist: Henry Chan. He's the first teacher in the entire school to show empathy for the kids and understand their behaviours, and he becomes adored amongst them for his Gentle Giant nature.
- Wham Line: Jianying reveals that the little boy Henry crippled years ago, when he was playing pranks during the school? That was him.
- Would Hurt a Child: Jianying's goons abuse Jack after getting him to work for them, and also try to bar Class 6B from attending the examination center, even though it would put their futures at risk given how they come from dysfunctional homes.
