Released: February 2018(USA)

Director: Dante Lam

Run Time: 140 Minutes

Not Rated

Distributor: Well Go USA(USA)

Genre: Action/War

Cast:
Yi Zhang: Yang Rui
Johnny Huang: Go Shun
Hai-Qing: Xia Nan
Jiang Du: Xu Hong
Luxia Jiang: Tong Li
Fang Yin: Li Dong

I’m a huge fan of war movies.  Why?  I like history, particularly military history which includes war.  It gives you a glimpse into that particular period in history and to me, it’s very interesting to see how the world worked at that time.  Some of my favorite war movies include Saving Private Ryan and Glory.  One of the reasons why I like those movies is the attention to detail and the reality of war.  Saving Private Ryan changed the way war movies were done.  Instead of romanticizing war, Ryan gave us a very brutal look at how terrible war truly is.  The opening D-Day invasion was one of the most gut-wrenching, gruesome and brutal sequences I’ve ever seen in a movie.  It wasn’t just to shock you, but it was meant to show you the sacrifices and the challenges that our soldiers had to go through to save the world from tyranny.  However,  a lot of the war movies that I enjoy are from the perspective of a Westerner.  We generally don’t see war from the perspective of another country, and that’s why I try to find war movies from other countries including Russia, Japan, or anywhere that isn’t the United States or Western Europe.  One of the more interesting war films to come out in the last year or so was a little flick called Operation Red Sea from Hong Kong.  Does this film stack up at all with OUR war films?  Yes.  Yes, it does.

Loosely based on the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Yemen during the Yemeni Civil War in 2015, Operation Red Sea opens as the Chinese Navy is engaging a group of pirates that have hijacked a frigate.  Successfully freeing the ship and arresting the pirates that attacked, one of the navy’s soldiers is critically wounded in the fight and has to be replaced.  Shortly after, they are informed that Chinese citizens in the fictional country of Yewaire are caught in the middle of a vicious civil war between insurgents and the country’s rebels.  Ordered to evacuate the citizens, the Chinese Navy heads towards Yewaire.  Meanwhile, a reporter on the ground in the country discovered that the insurgents have managed to locate large amount of material that can be used to create “dirty” bombs.  A number of folks have criticized movies like Wolf Warrior and Operation Red Sea as “propaganda” films.  I definitely noticed that in the first Wolf Warrior picture, but it seems to have been toned down a bit for Operation Red Sea.  It’s still there, as there is still quite a bit of patriotic imagery, but it’s been balanced out by some pretty brutal and violent imagery.  Some critics have compared this film to something like say Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down.  I would say the film is more comparable to Black Hawk Down as it deals with a very different kind of war than what you see in Saving Private Ryan.  The story is nothing new and it is based on an actual event, but thankfully, Dante Lam keeps the story right to the point and it works very well for this film.

If you’ve come to this film for the action, then I am pleased to say….HOLY SHIT.  From the opening attack on the hijacked freighter, the movie kicks into high gear and it rarely slows down.  I’m not kidding, when the boots hit the ground in Yewaire, the action goes straight to 11.  In a lot of action movies these days, there would be a ton of shaky cam and other nonsensical camera-work that would distract you from what’s going on.  Not here.  There is definitely some shaky-cam going on, but it’s done to elevate the realism of the situation and gets you more involved in what’s happening on screen.  I’m actually very surprised at how violent this film is.  Operation Red Sea doesn’t screw around and it doesn’t pull any punches.  Yeah, you’ve got really big explosions and amazing gun fights, but the film doesn’t shy away from the gore or putting innocent people in the crossfire.  Again, the purpose is to highlight the ugliness of war and the crap that was going on in Yemen was brutal.  Nobody is safe in this film and it keeps you guessing until the end on who survives and who doesn’t.  In terms of the violence and the scope of the film, I’m pleasantly surprised that this film manages to hold its own against some of OUR war movies.  That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, yet director Dante Lam has done just that, especially when it comes to the action.  It’s visceral to the point of being almost callous, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

This movie is absolutely insane, especially in terms of its pacing.  Once it starts, it rarely slows down.  The stunts that come later in the film are absolutely incredible.  There is a sequence in which some of the soldiers use wing-suits to reach a particular location and it’s one of the most thrilling sequences in the film.  The whole movie appears to have been shot on location in Morocco, so the lack of green screen is very much appreciated.  Shooting on location, especially in a war movie, is very important.  It adds to the grit and the realism so that the tension is hightened to white-knuckle status.  Operation Red Sea had me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire picture, and I have to commend the film-makers for that.  There are some downsides to the film.  The main characters really aren’t fleshed out and there’s no single protagonist/antagonist.  So, you’re kind of not attached to anybody, with the exception of the reporter.  This isn’t necessarily the worst thing, as there are some pretty horrific acts of violence that are happening in the film.  The acting is still really solid, so you still get a little invested, but this a movie where the action takes center stage.  There’s also the occasional CGI explosion, but for the most part, the effects are mostly practical, especially the gore.  I was genuinely surprised at the amount of gore in this film.

Now, concerning the “propaganda” aspect of the film, you have to realize that when it comes to the military, the Chinese government takes the portrayal of their armed services very seriously.  So, you don’t see the Chinese military portrayed in a negative light in a Hong Kong production very often.  The Chinese government also has some….issues with reporters and journalism that doesn’t acquiesce to their point of view.  That being said, Operation Red Sea does a very good job at portraying the horrors of war and how sometimes journalists can help.  It has its moments of propaganda, but it doesn’t shy away from being anti-war, considering how it affects everybody involved from the soldiers that are fighting, to the innocent people that get caught in the middle.  I, for one, am really glad that this movie was made and that it has earned its place in my collection.  If you really like war movies, Operation Red Sea is a must-watch.  Highly recommended.

My Final Recommendation: 9.5/10.  No snark or snide comment this time, just a solid recommendation.

A while back while I was talking to someone about a movie jumping the shark, they asked me what that meant exactly.  My initial response was that it was the moment when something goes wrong.  However, to discuss what “jumping the shark” means, we have to discuss where the phrase comes from.  The phrase, “jumping the shark” has its origins in an episode of Happy Days when Henry Winkler’s character, The Fonz is water-skiing and uses a ramp to literally jump a shark.  This is the scene in question:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvGopsM1G9g

Jumping the shark is usually described as the moment when things take a turn for the worse.  In the case of films and television, it is the moment when the audience’s suspension of disbelief is completely wrecked and they are taken out of the moment and reminded that they are watching a television show or movie.  This scene that I pointed to is part of an episode that most people point to when asked when Happy Days started going downhill.  It was ludicrous and completely silly.  Because of that, the phrase “jumping the shark” came into existence.  Over the decades, it’s been used as a term to describe moments in movies where a moment is so ridiculous it basically ruins the rest of the experience.  The Dallas TV show back in the 70’s jumped the shark because of how the show ended.  The ending of the show pretty much negated the entire final season.  Now, the moment when a show or film “jumps the shark” is entirely subjective, because some people are better at suspending their disbelief than others.

One of the more recent examples of this phrase being used was when the character of Indiana Jones survived a nuclear explosion by hiding himself in a refrigerator in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  At this point, a lot of people were aware of the phrase “jumping the shark,” but Crystal Skull gave rise to a new variation: Nuking the fridge.  Honestly, it was a silly moment, but the entire Indiana Jones series were littered with silly moments.  That’s what made them fun.  The moment that took me out of Crystal Skull was the whole “swinging with monkeys” moment towards the end of the film.   That was just stupid.  Now, when a moment in a film or TV show ruin the rest of the experience?  Not necessarily.  When it comes to Crystal Skull, I can look past the monkey business and enjoy the film for the entertaining ride that it is.  That’s not to say that there aren’t moments in other shows and films that ruin the experience.  For a lot of people, especially with The Last Jedi, they felt that the series jumped the shark because of how Luke Skywalker was portrayed in Episode VIII.  It’s one of those things that is subjective, but I can understand how people feel that way.  When it comes to Star Wars, my suspension of disbelief was shattered when Jar Jar Binks showed up in Episode I.  While I have softened on the character over the past few years, the character rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and most will point to Binks as the character that made the film jump the shark.

Jumping the shark can refer to either a very small moment that just seems out of place, to an entire film or show that screws up so badly in its execution that there is no way to suspend your disbelief.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine is notorious for jumping the shark on so many levels.  From the writing to the horrendous special effects, the film was littered with moments that really took you out of the film.  The CGI claws were absolutely terrible and the characterizations that weren’t Wolverine were genuinely awful.  Ghostbusters 2016 is another prime example of a film that jumps the shark.  Why?  Anytime the film stops and basically yells, “Hey, look at me:  I’m a Ghostbusters movie!” is a moment that grinds the film to a halt.  The cameo by Bill Murray basically ruined the whole thing for me.

Now, can the phrase be used as a positive instead of a negative?  The answer……is yes.  A lot of my favorite comedies tend to work because of this.  Deadpool is an action-comedy that takes moments that would take you out of the film and has fun with it with multiple fourth-wall breaks with the character addressing the audience directly.  It has to be written in such a way that it feels appropriate for the film or show for which it is intended.  A lot of my favorite moments in film are ones that would feel out of place in other films.  For example.  In Army of Darkness, Ash has to find the Book of the Dead in an ancient graveyard and when he screws up the incantation, he’s attacked by multiple skeletal arms from the ground.  Here’s the clip in question:

In other horror movies, a scene like that would ruin the moment and experience, especially with the cartoon sound effects.  For Army of Darkness, it’s perfect, because the tone of the film is more slapstick comedy than horror, so such moments don’t take you out of the film.  You expect stuff like that.  Same thing goes for movie spoofs like Airplane! and Spaceballs.  Those movies are built around those moments of silliness.  The only way that those films could jump the shark is if the tone suddenly jumps from slapstick comedy to dead serious drama.  It’s not appropriate for the film and the sudden shift in tone could throw people for a loop.  You really don’t want to do that.  You have to try and maintain a consistent tone throughout.  You can have various moments of seriousness or comedy, but overall, you have to stick with one or the other.  Otherwise, your film will end up “jumping the shark.”  Well, that’s my interpretation of the phrase and how it is used.  So….what moments do you guys think that “jump the shark?”

Released: June 2018

Rated R

Run Time: 122 Minutes

Director: Stefano Sollima

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Genre: Action/Thriller

Cast:
Benicio Del Toro: Alejandro
Josh Brolin: Matt Graver
Isabel Moner: Isabel Reyes
Jeffrey Donovan: Steve Forsing
Catherine Keener: Cynthia Foards
Matthew Modine: James Riley

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  I don’t mind sequels or re-makes as long as they bring something new to the table instead of rehashing whatever came before.  There have been many sequels that have done that: Godfather Part II, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, and The Dark Knight just to name a few.  They took what everybody was familiar with in the previous and they expanded on it in multiple ways: Story, character development, setting and themes.  Then you have the films really don’t do anything new and are just…there.  When Denis Villaneuve’s Sicario was released back in 2015, it became a highly-regarded thriller that didn’t pull any punches.  It wasn’t a straight-up action flick, but there was tension from beginning to end, because it was unpredictable, gritty, and brutal.  The film’s ending had a sense of finality and it really didn’t seem like there was anywhere else they could go with that.  It was self-contained.  Apparently, somebody somewhere thought that Sicario would make a decent franchise, even though it didn’t need to be.  Now, we have Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and all I have to ask is: Who the hell green-lit this?

The film opens as three men walk into a local supermarket and blow themselves up.  As a result, the US government has decided to classify the Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.  CIA agent Matt Graver is tasked with heading into Mexico and starting a war between the cartels so they can wipe each other out.  To do this, he has to kidnap the daughter of a notorious cartel leader.  He enlists the aid of attorney-turned-hitman Alejandro to start to shake things up.  That’s the gist of it.  It had an interesting angle, but the whole terrorist aspect felt like it was dropped about 30 minutes into the movie.  Instead, it became more of trying to get this girl and high-tailing it back to the US.    The first film took us to the front lines of the America’s war on drugs on our southern border, and it left the audience wondering what it would actually take to win that war.  This story in the film feels like a distraction from the actual conflict.  It went off in another direction and it just doesn’t work.  It also doesn’t help that Soldado sets up another film, although I won’t say how.  Spoilers and all.  From a story-telling standpoint, Day of the Soldado feels like a cheap imitation of the original film.

Don’t get me wrong:  There’s definitely stuff here to enjoy.  For one, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro are at the top of their game.  Josh Brolin has been having a stellar 2018 with films like Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War.  He’s come a long way since Goonies.  He plays a character whose ethical compass seems questionable even though he’s clearly willing to do his best to protect his country.  Benicio’s character of Alejandro is still fairly enigmatic, but he’s a character that’s willing to walk up to anyone in the cartel and take their head off and get away with it.  Benicio’s performance is amazing.  The character of Isabel is also pretty good, even though she’s a kid, but she’s not annoying.  The cinematography is top-notch and is stunning to look at.  The action hits hard and fast.  It’s okay, but it doesn’t have the same kind of gritty realism that the first movie had.  Unfortunately, the entire film feels more like an action film than a full-blown thriller like the first film.  Sadly, when the action stops, the movie grinds to a halt.  I honestly don’t know what the director had in mind, but the film’s pacing feels completely off.  It’s like the movie doesn’t know what it wants to be.

That also leads into another problem I had with the movie:  It’s characterization.  While I appreciate the performances by Brolin and Del Toro, we barely learn anything more about their characters that we didn’t already know from the first Sicario.  We know that Del Toro’s character was a former attorney-turned-hitman when his family was murdered by the cartels and that Brolin’s character is a government agent.  We don’t know anything more about these characters other than what they here to do and to be.  That frustrates me to no end.  Honestly, the film could have spiced things up by showing us some flashbacks of Alejandro’s past, which could’ve given us more insight into what makes the character tick.

The first Sicario was amazing because it was built around some very strong characters and themes that included the blurring of the line between doing what’s right and what’s necessary.  I didn’t get anything like that from Day of the Soldado.  This is a movie that actively works against itself.  Yeah, some of the performances are pretty good and the action scenes are pretty decent, but the pacing and execution of the film doesn’t really gel with what the movie was trying to accomplish.  The director, Stefano Sollima, took the reigns from Denis Villaneuve, and boy does it show.  Stefano lacks the experience and expertise that Denis showed in the first film.  Day of the Soldado isn’t the worst sequel I’ve seen, but it’s one of the most disappointing, mostly because it exists.  Sicario didn’t need a sequel and I have to be honest, you’re not missing much if you skip this one.  The first film, I definitely recommend, but not this one.

My Final Recommendation: Toss this one in a vat of acid. 4/10

I hope that everybody had a fantastic 4th of July and were safe during the festivities.  I certainly had a lot of fun with my last post.  It was a very explosive post.  But right now, I want to discuss something very serious.  It’s something that’s trouble for quite some time now.  It goes without saying that having fans can seriously contribute to the success of a film.  You get enough people to really like the film that you make and you’ve got yourself a fan base.  These are people that are willing to get behind you and prop up your movie and everything about it.  Fans can be very important.  Sometimes, even to the point where the only way you can make a sequel is if the fans are screaming for one.  Granted, it’s still a business decision, but fans can and have influenced those decisions.  But, like everything in the world, a fan base can have a dark side.  What do I mean by that?  The gist of it is that there are a number of fans who can sometimes go to far in loving a film.  By that, I mean people will become obsessed and sometimes exhibit some form of psychotic behavior.  It happens more than you would think.  You end up having film-makers and actors being stalked and/or threatened by complete strangers.  This sometimes can end up in a very tragic situation.  That’s why you see movie stars and celebrities file restraining orders against some people, because they feel threatened.

Now, the reason I bring this topic up, is because over the past few days, actor Ahmed Best, known for playing Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequels, came out and detailed what his experiences were after Episode I was released and it was not good.  He got sent a number of death threats by some very vocal and rabid Star Wars fans basically saying that he ruined Star Wars.  According to a post he made on social media, the extreme negative reaction to his character almost drove him to suicide.  Thank God he didn’t, because it wasn’t his fault for how the character turned out.  I didn’t particularly care for the character either, but that’s no excuse and certainly not a valid reason for issuing death threats against someone who just wanted to entertain people.  He’s not the only one who faced the wrath of the fans after the film’s release.  Then-child actor Jake Lloyd, who portrayed Anakin Skywalker, basically got ostracized by people all over the world.  According to Jake, he got bullied at school in 2001 to the point where he got rid of all of his Star Wars memorabilia and left acting behind.  This also led to him having problems in his life later on, where he got in trouble with the law for reckless driving, resisting arrest and being diagnosed with schizophrenia.  It’s horrible, really.  These actors and film-makers don’t deserve the kind of hatred and venom that’s being spewed at them by what appears to be a very vocal minority of fans.  George Lucas himself stepped away from the franchise that made him a household name because people accused him of ruining their childhoods and destroying Star Wars.

Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in last year’s The Last Jedi, was forced to close her Instagram because she was being targeted by racist cowards and extremely negative fans that didn’t like her performance.  Other fans as well as Rian Johnson and actors John Boyega and Mark Hamill came to her defense and openly criticized her attackers.  The advent of social media has led to unprecedented access to movies as well as actors and film-makers, mostly in a positive way, but it has also made it easier for the trolls to harass these folks who don’t deserve to be harassed.  Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, recently came out and told some of these fans who felt that their childhoods were ruined to go to therapy and he’s not wrong.  He’s not targeting all of the Star Wars fans, as I also believe that the majority of Star Wars fans are genuinely decent folks.  Sure, they have opinions, but they try to discuss things in a constructive manner.  Those are the fans worth having.  The ones that continuously harass film-makers and actors, saying that these people ruined their childhoods and destroyed the thing they loved most are the ones that need some serious psychological help.  You don’t like a particular film in the series?  Great, discuss what you did and didn’t like in a respectful manner.  Film-makers and actors have a tendency to listen more to folks who do that.  To the toxic fans who constantly spew venom at folks like George Lucas, Rian Johnson and all the other people who just want to entertain you:  Get over yourselves.  Star Wars does NOT belong to you.  It never has and it never will.  As for the prequels and the new movies ruining your childhood?  Bullshit.  You’re lashing out because you’re jealous that these people are more successful than you and are doing what they love.

Now, Star Wars doesn’t have the only fans in the world, but they are the most vocal and some of them really do take things way too far and it leads to people having some serious issues with depression.  You can be a fan and not be obsessed with actors or a particular movie.  If you feel that Rian Johnson or George Lucas has damaged your childhood in such a way that the only response that you can give is one of hatred and venom, then maybe you need to take a step back and re-examine your life and your priorities.  Star Wars, at the end of the day, is just entertainment.  That’s all.  You can love it or you can hate it, but don’t take it out on people who really aren’t responsible for how their characters turn out.  I’ve also noticed that some comments on these stories are basically telling these actors and film-makers to get over it.  Let me explain something about depression:  “Getting over it” is not that simple.  If you’ve never suffered from depression, you will never know how real the struggle is.  A lot of these actors tend to suffer from some kind of depression and that can come with the fame that they get.  You have to understand that folks like Ahmed Best, Jake Lloyd, Rian Johnson and Kelly Marie Tran are people just like you and me and they deserve to be treated as such.

That’s my rant.  It was something that I needed to get off my chest.  I honestly hope that most of you agree with what I said.  If you don’t, that’s fine too, just be respectful.