[
Update to Operation Red Sea]
I have to add: there are a LOT of special effects in the film that are stomach-churning-make-you-look-away deliciously gross. Dead bodies, half dead bodies, a live leg amputation, arms getting blown off, a guy's face getting half blown off, and etc. It's all really good, done well. But that's not what shows the "horror of war". They are special effects.
I've never seen a Chinese movie like this before (I don't think). It's weird. It's a rah! rah! film. Nationalistic, patriotic. I'm not one who will mock it for that, as a non-Chinese. It's their
Saving Private Ryan, in that way. No harm, no foul. And it's their
Hurt Locker, and their
Black Hawk Down, and their
Lone Survivor, but I digress ... It doesn't provide a feeling of vicarious national empathy, though, like
Aftershock or
City of Life and Death. It's more James Bond Spielberg Along with the gods. I've seen plenty of Chinese rah rah, but not backed by this load of special effects in a contemporary realistic scenario.
All the main actors do a swell job, some super swell, except when tasked with speaking English. That's tough. I connected with most of them until they got tasked with the next outrageous mission after outrageous mission. These people saved the world nine times in two hours! Well, not the world, just some hostages here and there, but come on. The mission creep is an excuse so they can change weapons or vehicles for a new round of special effects.
Special effects are like nudity and sex. They can be gratuitous.
I'll tell you what's cool, though. One smaller thing and one bigger thing.
The smaller thing: when the female special op is fighting some big dude, mano-a-mano, he picks her up from the floor, she puts her legs around his stomach, he goes for a behind the head choke hold, so she somehow crawls under his arm around to his back like he's a piece of playground equipment. It's the kind of move you'll only see in a Chinese movie.
The bigger thing: A bomb goes off in a bus out in the desert where one of the guys is Hurt Lockering, a few other good guys are close by, and the bus is full of expendable people we get to see blown up and dead. When the bomb goes off the good guys start to run away, just enough so that they don't get blown to pieces, natch, but they do get BLOWN by the bomb. Think Tom Cruise. I'm honestly not sure how this happens but the BLOWN people end up completely buried underground, under sand. The good guys who weren't blown have to find them and unearth them before they suffocate. I've never seen that one before.
And I love snipers. They are always the coolest dudes. I like my gun violence to be economical. One shot should do it unless you are a pussy. RPGs are therefore cool, too. Pistols and automatic weapons are for pussies.
There are too many pistols and automatic weapons in the movie.
So many films to watch out for.
icon over at letterboxd. I think I also assumed it would go without saying that if you like action movies this is one of the best you'll see this year. I don't really like action movies, so you can see a problem.
