Challenging US in South China Sea

[Erwin]

Operation Red Sea is not a tank battle film but a HUGE action pic based (very) loosely on a Chinese  operation in 2015 to rescue Chinese nationals from Yemen.

It's comparable to US action pics depicting special ops and SEAL teams doing the usual storylines.  So, if you like those movies you may enjoy Op Red Sea.

"Filmed in Morocco with a reported budget of US$70 million, Operation Red Sea is by far Lam's biggest production to date. Influenced stylistically by flashy Hollywood counterparts like Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, the film is essentially Lam's version of a Call of Duty live-action film."

What was very interesting was the propaganda inherent in the movie.  Firstly, (According to the opening credits) it was largely funded/backed by the "PLA Navy".  So, it depicts their latest and sexiest ships and all the action is with Navy personnel - like SEALS , Marines etc. 

Everything about this movie is HUGE - larger than what any Hwd movie has depicted - which is probably the point that the Chinese are trying to make.  There is basically 3 movies rolled into one.  A maritime rescue operation featuring the Chinese new high-tech navy, then a story of rescuing hostages at one location, then overcoming an ambush at another location, with a tank chase finale.  Some very good vehicle stunts, and SFX plus many body parts strewn all over the place - quite bloody actually.

Oddly there were a lot of western vehicles and aircraft as well as small arms.  Not sure why that was other than maybe the Chinese have copied everything so it all looks western to me.  I noticed a bunch of Humvees, MWRAPS, Hueys(?) a Hercules C130, possibly some Russian stuff some T-something or other (nice shots of the autoloader in action) etc.  The towns looked like something out of "Blackhawk Down" but with ten times as many men and equipment.  Lots of high tech gadgets, like a cell phone that seem to double as an X-ray  machine, drones of various sizes etc.  Hopefully, all the equipment depicted is of similar quality to the stuff they export to us.

"The film ends on a distinctly different note, however. A squadron of Chinese ships in the South China Sea intercepts what appears to be a squadron of American ships, as a voice-over repeats the warning “You are entering Chinese waters. Please turn around.”   

https://thediplomat.com/2018/11/operation-red-sea-the-chinese-publics-introduction-to-beijings-new-navy/

The question is how come Hollywood hasn't made any such movies?  You may have noticed that the Chinese are never the villains any more - it's always the Vietnamese, or N. Koreans or some other Asian nation. For the answer, all you have to do is study Hwd movie credits and you'll find Chinese exec producers and financing behind many Hwd movies.   

One cannot fault the Chinese strategy.  The Chinese have been very clever and have bought out Hwd.so it only depicts positive images of China - using the best method we have of propagating western culture and turning it against us by exploiting the greed of studios and producers - in the same way that our wealthy corporations and investors have been compromised into doing deals that have harmed their own nations and peoples.  

 

[Sublime]

meh.

if you google it you can find plenty, the CCP has a strangehold over hollywood

theyve forced movie changes in Red Dawn  (all uniforms and flags totally redone post production) ,  top gun 2, theyve gone after Winnie the Pooh, the NBA... Im not joking either

[JulianJ]

It is my understanding that has been happening for decades- because the Chinese audience is so large, and action films not reliant on dialogue go down well (Schwartzeneggar etc) so revenue comes more from East than USA that these films are made. 

@Erwinis there anywhere we can see the film or a trailer?

[Erwin]

It's available on Netflix.  It's good quality with impressive SFX - better than many/most Hwd movies of the same genre.  But, it feels like they cobbled together two or more stories.  Hwd would have re-edited to have enuff material for at least one sequel.