Operation Red Sea

Essentially, a soul-less action movie so generic that I couldn't even detect the militaristic grandstanding portrayal of PLA armed forces so prevailant in Chinese movies. That might sound like a good thing, but there's a degree of silly charm that comes with it. This one is, on a surface level, pretty good, it has non-stop action, good effects, and decent enough writing for a movie of its genre, but it just didn't click with me, kind of like a "Captain Phillips" with no character depth.

The action is nearly non stop and very well done. The characters are likeable even if their not very fleshed out and the terrorists are very two dimensional. Operation Mekong is the better movie but this one upped the action.

Sporting high production values, this entertainingly ridiculous bloodbath of a movie takes it's cues from Rambo and Black Hawk Down and adds a handful Chinese stylistic blunders to the mix.

A lot of paraphernalia but empty everywhere. You can see the whole thing if you are in the mood, though. I was not.

Top badass moment? Chinese snipers are good! I'm glad I don’t run a fairground stall, I’d have no teddy bears left if those guys were about. There's more character development in a tin of magnolia emulsion than there was in this entire film, but who watches this sort of thing (or paint) for the family dynamics? Ideal if you just want to see stuff going bang and a load of jingoistic nonsense. After all why should the Americans have a monopoly on that? 1 partial decapitation, no cats or chainsaws.

A terrorist plot to obtain nuclear material is hidden in a violent coup d'état. The Chinese Navy's elite Jiaolong Assault Team is called upon to put things in order. Only this team has the deadly skill and precision required to handle the situation.

Ugly in terms of nationalism -- the final title card, dear God --, but Lam provides enough warfare and military porn to please any action fan -- duel of snipers, tank battle, soldiers sacrificing themselves for rescuing chinese people, drone attack and even a sand storm. Too bad the convoluted plot about terrorists planning to make a nuclear bomb while sweeping cities along the way -- with chinese hostages -- plays so boring. More gore and spectacle -- and bullet slowmos -- than any US blockbust

After watching this action film, I don't feel like watching another one for a while, totally draining. A little bit of Captain Phillips, Blackhawk Down, and a handful of Michael Bay, and you'll know what to expect.