Assembly
Assembly
Ji jie hao
Directed by:
Xiaogang FengScreenplay:
Heng LiuCinematography:
Yue LüCast:
Hanyu Zhang, Chao Deng, Mickey Yuan, Tiffany Tang, Fan Liao, Baoqiang Wang, Jun Hu, Heng Fu, Chen Li, Naiwen Li, Yuan Nie, Ming HuPlots(1)
Acclaimed Mainland Chinese director Feng Xiao-gang (A World Without Thieves, The Banquet) brings the little known Chinese Civil War into light with this powerful and unflinching film based on a true story. Captain Gu of the Communist Chinese Army's Ninth Company must prevent a mineral mine from being fallen to the approaching Nationalist KMT army. As Gu and his soldiers wait for their army's bugle assembly call which may never come, he must decide whether to retreat or fight to the last man. His decision and its consequences will haunt him for the rest of his life. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
Skillfully shot battle scenes are not everything. And if they're more graphic than Saving Private Ryan or Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War? So? Sure, two soldiers crawling between dismembered bodies is certainly gory, but if there was at least some suspense, if the characters weren't stupidly cut-and-dry, if the plot was more interesting... This is what I have to say about it: "Boooring."
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I can't help but think that the more war movies I see, the more I realize that those people aren't actually heroes, but rather fools, willing to fight regardless of the reason. Patriotism, regime, politics, just about anything. The reasons are the same - they suck. It makes for great stories, which I find especially sad that they happened at all.
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