Hong hai xing dong / Operation Red Sea (2018) - One of the greatest action movies ever made - 9/10 (18/06/20)

Operation Red Sea is a Chinese big budget patriotic action film that is inspired by the highly successful Operation Mekong released two years earlier but follows a different set of characters in a different location. The story takes place on the Arabian peninsula where a group of terrorists overthrows a weak government. The People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces are given order to evacuate Chinese personnel and workers from the country. They must save a hostage from a heavily guarded terrorist stronghold. The group comes across an ambitious French-Chinese journalist who reveals that the terrorists plan to weaponize yellowcake materials into a dirty bomb. The military personnel must now save the hostage, protect the journalist and prevent the yellowcake materials to be delivered to the terrorists.

This stunning movie convinces on numerous levels. The story isn't particularly imaginative but already more elaborate than similar American movies and comes around with a few interesting events and turns. The characters are attaching, diversified and unique as viewers will care about their fates. The realistic locations have been perfectly chosen and offer much diversity. The action scenes are among the most spectacular ones ever created. Especially the bloody showdown in the terrorist stronghold is absolutely breathtaking. The special effects are employed with care as the movie has a realistic touch. Despite a length of nearly two hours and a half, this film never gets boring and convinces from start to finish. Even the deleted scenes adding more information about the lead characters are sympathetic and could have been included in the original movie without making things redundant at all. While many similar Chinese movies are a little bit too patriotic, this one here focuses on the story, locations and characters which makes it more diversified.

If you like action movies, you should definitely watch Operation Red Sea that offers some of the very best fight scenes ever created in the history of cinema. As if this weren't enough, the movie convinces with an above average story, sympathetic characters and gripping tension that will keep you hooked for nearly two and a half hours. While American cinema led the world with action franchises such as Rambo four decades ago, the best action franchises these days seem to come from China and deserve more international attention and acclaim.