Inspired by the real-life 2015 evacuation of Chinese citizens and foreign nationals by the PLA Navy Marine Corps from Yemen, Dante Lam's 2017 military action thriller became one of the highest-grossing Chinese films of all time. Shifting the story to a fictional North African country where rebels join forces with radical Islamic terrorists, this film follows a formula right out of American military spectacles, with an elite unit headed up by Captain Yang (Zhang Yi) sent into the middle of the fighting to deal with terrorists who are determined to take foreign hostages for their own nefarious ends. Complicating the mission is an illegal shipment of nuclear material that the terrorists are pursuing and a sandstorm that whips up during a tank battle. The characters are largely interchangeable—given rudimentary personalities and hard to differentiate in the heat of battle under the matching uniforms and haircuts—but they are secondary to the impressive set pieces by action movie veteran Lam. You could substitute the American military without changing a thing (here, the Chinese are the enemies of the Islamic revolution), from the armed terrorists behind every window as the convoy rolls through the city, to the crack Chinese sniper taking on his terrorist counterpart. The violent action is almost non-stop, with an unending supply of soldiers, supplies, and complications, all furiously edited. Likely to appeal to fans of military action spectacle, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Operation Red Sea
Well Go USA, 139 min., in Mandarin w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $29.99, July 24 Volume 33, Issue 5
Operation Red Sea
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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