Jackson Yee Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Scare Out,’ starring Jackson Yee, Yilong Zhu and Song Jia

February 21, 2026

by Carla Hay

Yilong Zhu and Jackson Yee in “Scare Out” (Photo courtesy of CMC Pictures)

Directed by Zhang Yimou

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in China, the action film “Scare Out” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An elite national security team has its operations turned upside down when a traitor is suspected to be on the team, and in internal investigation tests the trust of the team members.

Culture Audience: “Scare Out” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and stylist spy thrillers that have twists and turns.

Song Jia in “Scare Out” (Photo courtesy of CMC Pictures)

“Scare Out” uses a lot of familiar plot developments in this thriller about government security agency experiencing an internal investigation to expose a traitor. The engaging acting performances outweigh the movie’s flaws. The first 20 minutes of “Scare Out” zip around at such a frenetic pace, it’s almost like getting cinematic whiplash. This movie gets better once it slows down a little and takes the time to delve into the story’s political intrigue and the personal dynamics of the main characters.

Directed by Zhang Yimou and written by Liang Chen, “Scare Out” takes place in an unnamed city in China. The movie was actually filmed in Shenzhen, China. There is some technology in the movie that could be considered science fiction, because the technology did not exist in 2026, when “Scare Out” was released. However, “Scare Out” is meant to depict a near-future world where this technology will probably exist sometime after 2026.

“Scare Out” begins with a suspenseful but somewhat jumbled chase scene, where the National Security team is tracking down a suspected spy who is doing an exchange of a valuable. The team has operatives doing a foot chase on the ground. Meanwhile, the chase is being monitored by other National Security team members in a control room with several video monitors.

National Security members dress all in black when they’re on the job. Their headquarters are located in a sleek, high-rise office building. “Scare Out” is a very stylish-looking, futuristic movie. Expect to see a lot of scenes with aqua blue lighting and shiny silver objects.

The suspect being chased is a middle-aged American named Nathan (played by Nathaniel Boyd), who has been seen getting a delivery on the street. Nathan has in his possession a small metal box that is believed to have classified information that could threaten the national security of China.

Several team members are on the ground in their efforts to apprehend Nathan. A senior-level member of the team is Huang Kai (played by Yilong Zhu), a married man in his late 30s. Kai works closely with Yan Di (played by Jackson Yee), a bachelor in his mid-20s. Kai and Di have a brotherly relationship and have a great deal of respect for each other. Another team member on the ground is a young man named Su Bin (played Du Yusen), whose personality is as generic as generic can be.

Inside the building is their colleague Chen Li (played by Lin Boyang), who is in charge of operating a drone that is tracking the suspect. The top supervisors in the building are Director Liu (played by Chen Minghao) and Deputy Director Wang (played by Zhang Yi), who know what’s going on with this manhunt. Video surveillance from cameras on the streets and the team’s body cams allow the personnel in the control room to see what’s going on.

A tragedy happens on the streets when a sniper named Pin Shan (played by Jiang Qilin), using a crossbow and arrows, hits a National Security team member named Little Li in the neck. Little Li dies. An arrow from the sniper also hits Kai in Kai’s back shoulder, as he jumped in front of Di to shield him from the arrow. Kai is wounded at treated at a local hospital and gets discharged within 24 hours. It’s not the first time that Kai has put himself in harm’s way for Di, who is grateful to have Kai looking out for Di.

After an intense chase, Nathan is apprehended. But an explosive attached his abdomen detonates right before he is arrested, leaving Nathan severely injured with mostly second-degree burns. In his hospital bed, Nathan is questioned by National Security. Nathan denies that he’s involved in espionage and insists he was just paid to pick up the box without knowing what was inside the box.

Meanwhile, back at National Security headquarters, Li is reprimanded because the drone she was operating chased the sniper Shan onto a tall building, where he fell to his death, taking his many secrets with him. The National Security team wanted to capture the sniper alive, so he could possibly tell information that the team needs. The National Security team bosses think that the sniper is part of a larger spy network that the team wants to take down.

Li was a close friend of deceased Little Li, so she is questioned about whether or not she deliberately used the drone to cause the sniper’s death. Li denies that she did anything wrong, but she comes under suspicion by her superiors as someone who could be undermining the team’s work. This suspicion becomes even more problematic when a new supervisor joins the team.

Soon after Kai gets out of the hospital and returns to work, Deputy Director Wang makes an announcement to the subordinate team members that they have a new supervisor. Her name is Zhao Hong (played by Song Jia), who is a no-nonsense task master. She expertise is in internal affairs investigations.

Shortly after joining the group, Hong has a private meeting with Kai and Di to let them know that there’s a mole traitor on the team. And because they Kai and Di have high level of security clearances, Kai and Di are on the suspect list. Kai and Di undergo interrogations by Hong and Director Liu, who ask them intrusive questions about their personal lives. Li also undergoes a similar interrogation, which leaves her in tears when she goes back to her desk.

Hong has given a name for this mission to find out and punish the mole: Operation Scare Out. The rest of the movie chronicles four days of this internal investigation that causes tensions on the team, which is still expected to continue the tasks assigned to them before the internal investigation began. Operation Scare Out begins to erode the trust that Kai and Di had in each other, as the investigation singles them out as the two most likely suspects.

Other characters who have crucial roles in this twist-filled story are Bai Fan (played by Yang Mi), Kai’s seductive mistress; Xiao Yu (played by Liu Shishi), Kai’s wife, whose pregnancy affects the way Kai thinks about his future; and a scientific researcher named Li Nan (played by Lei Jiayin), who is a witness to something that could get one of the traitor suspects fired. “Scare Out” has such a frenetic pace, some of the movie’s characters are rushed into the story with more information revealed about them later in the movie.

“Scare Out” doesn’t become overstuffed with supporting characters. What the story really comes down to is if Kai or Di is the traitor. And if so, how and why does that traitor get caught? Could there be more than one traitor? Could there be someone else who’s the traitor who isn’t Kai or Di? The movie answers all those questions. The action scenes are suspenseful, but some of the movie’s visual effects needed improvement.

“Scare Out” cannot be recommended to people who get easily confused by movies about espionage intrigue and the layers of identities that spies often have for themselves. Thanks to the dynamic performances of Yee as Di and Yilong as Kai, “Scare Out” is a riveting movie that is more than about finding a traitor spy. The friendship between Di and Kai is believable, which makes this investigation a very personal matter and the stakes higher. The end of “Scare Out” is an unsettling reminder that trusting someone is very tricky in espionage and can often be a fatal mistake.

CMC Pictures released “Scare Out” in select U.S. cinemas and in China on February 17, 2026.

Review: ‘Resurrection’ (2025), starring Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi, Huang Jue and Chen Yongzhong

January 4, 2026

by Carla Hay

Jackson Yee in “Resurrection” (Photo courtesy of Janus Films)

“Resurrection” (2025)

Directed by Bi Gan

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place from the 1920s to the 1990s, across various places in China, the fantasy drama film “Resurrection” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: In a world where beings who can dream are called Deliriants and are in the minority, a Deliriant experiences various dreams as a cinematic transformations where the Deliriant experiences being different people in different decades.

Culture Audience: “Resurrection” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bi Gan, and deeply layered artistic films about reincarnations.

Shu Qi in “Resurrection” (Photo courtesy of Janus Films)

The fantasy drama “Resurrection” has the ability to either transfix or bore viewers, depending on whether or not viewers are willing to go on an unusual journey about a being’s transformations across time and space. At 156 minutes long, “Resurrection” can be an endurance test if viewers don’t feel curious about what will happen next. It’s not always an easy film to understand at all times, but it’s an artistically unique movie that is a marvel to behold.

Written and directed by Bi Gan, “Resurrection” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a special jury award. “Resurrection” also screened at several other film festivals in 2025, including the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. The movie takes place from the 1920s to the 1990s, across various places in China. “Resurrection” was filmed in China and in Denmark.

The beginning of “Resurrection” takes place in a movie theater in the 1920s and is filmed as if inspired by German expressionism cinema. People inside the movie theater scatter. “Resurrection” is stunning-looking movie whose production design and cinematography are among the film’s strongest assets.

It’s explained later in the movie that “Resurrection” takes place in a world where the majority of people (called the Other Ones) have given up their ability to dream in order to have longevity. Those who have kept their ability to dream are called Deliriants, who are either envied or treated like threatening monsters. Deliriants are rare, and what happens to a Deliriant who is discovered by an Other One.

An on-screen caption then explains, “There is one Deliriant, whose true form is unknown because he has been hiding in an ancient, forgotten past. That is film! Those who can see through illusions are the Big Others. To bring these Deliriants back to reality, they can mutate into the gentlest forms the Deliriants love the most. Could this Deliriant be hiding in an opium den?”

“Resurrection then shows a labyrinth-like opium den, where shadowy giant figures above and the occasional giant hand that reaches in the opium den suggest Big Others are hovering around this opium den, which has the size of a miniature dollhouse to the Big Others. A Big Other named Miss Shu (played by Shu Qi) finds a Deliriant (played by Jackson Yee), which looks like an hunched-over ogre, inside the basement of the opium den.

Miss Shu doesn’t want the Deliriant to hurt her. The Deliriant gives her flowers, as Miss Shu lets the Deliriant see his reflection in her eyes. The Deliriant falls on the ground, eats the flowers, and exclaims: “I don’t want to live in that fake world! Kill me now!”

Instead of killing him, Miss Shu allows the Deliriant to live out his dreams as if they were movies. The rest of Resurrection is told in five chapters, with each chapter showing the Deliriant being reincarnated as a new character in a new decade. It’s fascinating concept that “Resurrection” could have done a better job of explaining in the beginning of the film.

Because the Deliriant becomes several different people during the course of the story, actor Yee plays several different characters from the 1950s to the 1990s. In addition to the Deliriant, Yee has the roles of Qui, a man accused of murder; a thief named Mongrel; a con artist named Jia Shengjung; and a thug named Apollo. Yee gives skillful portrayals of each character by immersing himself into each role.

Other characters in “Resurrection” include Mark Chao as a police commander who is leading a murder investigation; Li Gengxi as Tai Zhaomeix, a mysterious singer; Huang Jue as Mr. Luo, the owner of the karaoke bar where Zhaomeix works; Chen Yongzhong as the Spirit of Bitterness; and Guo Mucheng as a girl who befriends Shengjun and becomes involved in Shengjun’s con games. All of these supporting cast members perform well in their roles, but there’s nothing particularly outstanding about their acting.

“Resurrection” has several suspenseful scenes, while other scenes move along at a leisurely pace. It’s a valid argument to say that “Resurrection” will be considered too long for an average movie viewer. Ultimately, “Resurrection” is worth watching for a unique cinematic experience that tells several anthology-styled stories within one memorable and beautifully filmed movie.

Janus Films released “Resurrection” in select U.S. cinemas on December 12, 2025. The movie was released in China on November 22, 2025.

Review: ‘Big World’ (2024), starring Jackson Yee, Diana Lin, Jiang Qinqin and Zhou Yutong

April 20, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jackson Yee and Diana Lin in “Big World” (Photo courtesy of China Film Co.)

“Big World” (2024)

Directed by Yang Lina

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in China, the dramatic film “Big World” features an-all Asian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 20-year-old man with cerebral palsy dreams of going to college so he can become a teacher while he goes through various ups and downs in his relationships with his mother and grandmother.

Culture Audience: “Big World” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in dramas about disabled people and their families.

Jiang Qinqin in “Big World” (Photo courtesy of China Film Co.)

“Big World” is uneven and a little too long. However, it’s a likable drama about a 20-year-old man with cerebral palsy and his relationships with his grandmother, his mother, and a possible girlfriend. The movie handles disability issues realistically by showing the compassion and prejudice that disabled people experience.

Directed by Yang Lina and written by You Xiaoying, “Big World” (whose total running time is 132 minutes) has a misleading trailer than makes the movie look more comedic than it really is. There are also huge parts of the storyline that are not seen in the trailer, which makes it look like the movie is mostly about the main character trying to find acceptance in a music group where his grandmother is a member. “Big World” is about much more than Chunhe’s role in the music group. It’s his coming-of-age story where he learns about self-acceptance and self-confidence.

“Big World” (which takes place in an unnamed city in China) begins by showing protagonist Lin Chunhe (played by Jackson Yee), a young man with cerebral palsy, on the rooftop of the apartment building where he lives. He’s writing his last will and testament. Chunhe is not suicidal but he believes his life expectancy won’t be as long other people’s.

Chunhe lives with his prickly single mother Chen Lu (played by Jiang Qinqin), but his life will soon be brightened by the return of his beloved grandmother Chen Suqun (played by Diana Lin), who is Lu’s mother. For the past year, Suqun was at a senior living home, but she has come back to live with Chunhe and Lu because Lu asked her to help take care of Chunhe.

Lu often acts like Chunhe is a burden. By contrast, Suqun treats Chunhe with unconditional love and respect. Suqun encourages Chunhe’s dream to apply to a place called Normal University because he wants to eventually become a teacher. Lu discourages this dream because she says the university is too far away (about 90 minutes by train) from where they live.

Chunhe has some unusual quirks (for example, he likes to sleep next to a life-sized model skeleton in his bed), but he is generally a sweet person who is very perceptive and polite. Chunhe doesn’t give up easily when people tell him that he can’t do something. But he has moments where he naturally gets depressed.

And he still has emotional scars from being rejected by his parents in some way. His father (played by Yue Xiaojun) abandoned the family when Chunhe was a child. His mother never physically abandoned Chunhe but she’s often cold and distant to him.

One of the most impactful scenes in the movie is when Chunhe remembers an incident that happened when he was about 7 or 8 years old. He hid in a suitcase in a bedroom in his home, and his parents thought he went missing. While hiding in the suitcase in a bedroom, Chunhe overheard his parents talking about him. Lun asks Chunhe’s father, “If we don’t find him, wouldn’t our lives be better?”

Near the beginning of the movie, Chunhe turns 20 years old. Suqun has a small birthday party for him where she has invited four members of her musical group. Suqun is the main organizer of the group, which is a singing choir with backup musicians.

The group meets in a nearby park and has been invited to perform in the city of Xin’an. There’s one big problem. The group’s drummer Lao Diao (played by Zou Chengyong) has suddenly quit because he feels disrespected. Diao tells Suqun he no longer wants to be a part of the group because no one in the group has gone to his son’s supermarket, like Diao requested.

And faster than you can say “doting grandmother,” Suqun suggests Chunhe as the group’s new drummer. Never mind that Chunhe hasn’t played the drums since he was in kindergarten. Suqun and Chunhe want to prove that he’s up for the challenge.

Chunhe’s role in the musical group is not really the main focus of the story. Subplots that are not shown in the trailer include Chunhe’s infatuation with a young woman named Yaya (played by Zhou Yutong), whom he meets one day in the park when her frisbee lands near him. Lu also becomes pregnant (the father of the child is never seen or mentioned in the movie), but she wants to keep the pregnancy a secret from Chunhe for as long as possible.

Yee (who does not have cerebral palsy in real life) does an admirable job in the lead role. Lin is outstanding as lively and inspirational Suqun. Although the movie shows Chunhe’s relationships with the three main women in his life, his relationship with his grandmother Suqun is the heart and soul of the movie. Some of the movie’s subplots could have been handled better, but “Big World” brings out emotions in all the right places and is a memorable film to watch for anyone looking for a good story about family love and overcoming life’s challenges.

China Film Co. released “Big World” in select U.S. cinemas on April 18, 2025. The movie was released in China on December 27, 2024.

Review: ‘Full River Red,’ starring Shen Teng and Jackson Yee

April 10, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Full River Red”

Directed by Zhang Yimou

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Tianjin, China, in the year 1146, the comedy/action film “Full River Red” (loosely based on some real-life historical figures) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and royalty.

Culture Clash: A deputy commander and a soldier get involved in a political conspiracy that includes spying, murder and a rivalry between the Song dynasty and the Jin dynasty.

Culture Audience: “Full River Red” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching convoluted but comedic spy thrillers based on ancient history.

Wang Jiayi and Zhang Yi in “Full River Red” (Photo courtesy of Edko Films Ltd.)

“Full River Red” is a fictional action political thriller with inspiration from China’s ancient history. The comedy is cheeky and sometimes silly, but it works because of the right tone set by the energetic direction and the cast members’ performances. It’s not always easy to have jokes in a violent spy movie, but “Full River Red” accomplishes that intention.

Directed by Zhang Yimou (who co-wrote “Full River Red” with Chen Yu), “Full River Red” is a little too long (159 minutes) and could have had a better and tighter narrative if it didn’t go off on a few unnecessary tangents. Despite these flaws, viewers who like twist-filled mysteries with plenty of action should remain interested. However, this movie is not for people who don’t like plots that have the potential to be confusing.

The two central characters in “Full River Red” (which takes place in China in the year 1146) are Sun Jun (played by Jackson Yee) and Zhang Da (played by Shen Teng), who are part of a tried-and-true action movie formula of a older man paired with a younger man, and they often clash with each other as they learn to work together. Jun is a recently promoted deputy commander of a guard battalion, while Da is a new soldier for the Chinese army, and he doesn’t have any ranking yet. “Full River Red” goes against stereotypes by having the younger man (Jun) with the higher ranking in this seemingly mismatched duo.

At this point in time, there is a fierce rivalry between the Song dynasty and the Jin dynasty. A murder has recently occurred in the home of Song dynasty grand chancellor/prime minsiter Qin Hui (played by Lei Jiayin), and there is a conspiracy to cover up who committed murder. Meanwhile, Da gets captured by Wang Biao (played by Guo Jingfei), commander of the house battalion, who forces Da to become a spy for the Song dynasty. Da is placed under the command of Jun, as they work to find an informant who has an important letter.

The rest of the movie shows various encounters in this caper, with a lot of the comedy coming from Jun and Da having contrasting personalities. Jun is impulsive and more likely to start a fight, while Da is more level-headed and more likely to want to outwit someone with negotiating and a clever plan. Other characters in the movie include the villainous He Li (played by Zhang Yi), who is a lord and a general manager of the grand chancellor bureau; a dancer named Zither (played by Wang Jiayi), who becomes Da’s love interest; Wu Yichun (played by Yue Yunpeng), the vice general manager of the grand chancellor bureau; and Liu Xi (played by Yu Ailei) a peasant horseman, who has a pivotal role in the story.

Describing more of the movie would be giving away too many spoiler details. But it’s enough to say that people who like “unlikely partner” movies will find a lot to like about “Full River Red,” since the performances of Yee and Teng as Jun and Da are charismatic anchors of this occasionally repetitive movie that has above-average cinemataography. Some of the violence in “Full River Red” will be too intense for some viewers. “Full River Red” is not a groundbreaking film by any means, but it’s an entertaining portrayal of spies and political intrigue in ancient China.

Edko Films Ltd. released “Full River Red” in select U.S. cinemas on March 17, 2023.

Review: ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin II,’ starring Jing Wu and Jackson Yee

April 24, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The Battle at Lake Changjin II”

Directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam

Mandarin, Korean and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Korea, China, Japan and the United States, in December 1950, the action film “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” features a mostly Asian cast of characters (with some white people) representing military people and politicians involved in the Korean War.

Culture Clash: Two bickering brothers, who are in the China-based People’s Liberation Army, have various battles with each other and military enemies during the Korean War against the United States.

Culture Audience: “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in violent war movies with amateurish dialogue and stereotypical characters that don’t have much that’s interesting to say.

Steven John Venn in “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” (Photo courtesy of CMC Pictures)

“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” should have the more accurate title of “The Battle at Lake Changjin: The Deleted Scenes.” That’s because this cash-grab war movie isn’t a true sequel but just a series of scenes that could’ve been in the first movie. And the first movie wasn’t even that great in the first place. And even though “The Battle at Lake Changjin” (which is nearly three hours long) and its sequel “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” (which has a total running time of about two-and-half-hours) are both over-indulgent messes, just because “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” has a shorter time length doesn’t make it better than its predecessor. “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” is worse.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” has a nearly identical storyline as its predecessor, because the movie has the same production team as 2021’s “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam directed both movies, while both screenplays were written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin. In both movies, the Chinese military group People’s Liberation Army fights against the U.S. military during the Korean War’s Battle at the Chosin Reservoir.

The Army’s 7th Company is led by a courageous and respected commander Wu Qianli (played by Wu Jing), who has a 19-year-old brother named Wu Wanli (played by Jackson Yee) in the company. Wanli enlisted in the Army against Qianli’s wishes. Also returning from the original “Battle at Lake Changjin” movie are the 7th Company’s political instructor Mei Sheng (played by Zhu Yawen), fire platoon leader Yu Congrong (payed by Li Chen), artillery platoon leader Lei Suisheng (played by Hu Jun) and sniper Ping He (played by Elvis Han). Because this is a war movie, not everyone makes it out alive.

And once again, the chief villains of the story are U.S. Marines Major General Oliver P. Smith (played by John F. Cruz) and U.S. Army Commander Douglas MacArthur (played by James Filbird). “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” adds some more American leaders who weren’t in the “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” U.S. president Harry Truman (played by Ben Z Orenstein) appears briefly in a few scenes. Truman, who is depicted as someone who tried to reign in MacArthur, utters this line in one of the scenes: “MacArthur needs to be reminded that no man is bigger than this war.” Lieutenant Colonial Wilber Colbert (played by Steven John Venn) is a stereotype of a ruthless American military leader who thinks Americans are better than anyone else.

This inferior sequel does a few things differently with the characters in the movie, compared to “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” A wounded 7th Company battalion commander named Yang Wenjang (played by Geng Le) gets a little bit of a backstory. Wenjang has a flashback to his life before he was in the war, when he’s seen with his girlfriend. But that barely counts as character development, which is mostly non-existent in this movie.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” (also titled “Water Gate Bridge”) has even more over-the-top battle scenes than in “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” Some of the Chinese soldiers almost seem to have superhuman powers, based on the way they can do eye-popping leaps and kicks in the air, where they look like action stuntmen, not realistic soldiers. And sometimes, they’re literally on fire doing it, as there’s more than one sequence where soldiers who are burning up in flames still get things done.

Even though “The Battle at Lake Changjin” and “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” (which were both filmed during the same time period) are among the most expensively produced movies in China’s history, many of the visual effects look cheap and tacky, and the stunts often look sloppy. “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” is even more incoherent than its predecessor.

It isn’t until the last 15 minutes of this three-hour schlockfest that “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” tries to bring some grief-stricken humanity to the story, to show the realistic emotional traumas of war. But by then, it’s too little, too late. The last scene in the movie is overly sentimental and looks very forced, because the sappy tone is very off-balance from the rest of the callous violence film. This final scene looks like it belongs in a completely different movie but was dropped in “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” as a manipulative attempt to get viewers to cry.

The directors of “The Battle at Lake Changjin” movies have said that it’s possible that a six-hour directors’ cut could be released. Two to three hours of watching one of these films is more than enough time wasted. If you just want to turn your brain off and watch shootouts and explosions with mindless dialogue and forgettable characters, then “The Battle at Lake Changjin” movies are for you. If you care about watching more meaningful and authentic movies about real-life wars, your time is better spent on any number of higher-quality choices.

CMC Pictures released “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” in select U.S. cinemas on February 11, 2022. The movie was released in China on February 1, 2022.

Review: ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin,’ starring Jing Wu and Jackson Yee

April 24, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The Battle at Lake Changjin”

Directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam

Mandarin, Korean and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Korea and briefly in China from June to December 1950, the action film “The Battle at Lake Changjin” features a mostly Asian cast of characters (with some white people) representing military people and politicians involved in the Korean War.

Culture Audience: “The Battle at Lake Changjin” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in violent war movies with amateurish dialogue and stereotypical characters that don’t have much that’s interesting to say.

James Filbird in “The Battle at Lake Changjin” (Photo courtesy of CMC Pictures)

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” is a very bloated war movie filled with simplistic dialogue, poorly written characters and tedious fight scenes. This repetitive depiction of a crucial battle in the Korean War does not earn its nearly three-hour running time. The film portrays China’s military group the People’s Liberation Army fighting against the U.S. military during the Korean War’s Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. Because it’s a scripted movie with some fictional characters, don’t expect it to be entirely accurate to real history.

If you only want to see war movies that have a certain agenda and care more about expensive-looking battle scenes than crafting a well-made war story, then “The Battle at Lake Changjin” might be for you. If you prefer to watch a war movie that places more importance on showing repetitive explosions and violent deaths than placing importance on audiences getting to know the main characters, then “The Battle at Lake Changjin” might be for you. For everyone else, it’s a mind-numbing slog that just looks like a video game with a big movie budget.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” (directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam) is reportedly one of the most expensively made Chinese movies of all time, with a production budget of $200 million. Most of that money looks like it went into the bombastic battle scenes that pull out every visual-effects trick in the book to make the explosions, battlefield shootouts and killings look very over-the-top. Unfortunately, hardly any of the movie’s budget seems to have been invested in quality screenwriting or acting. The movie’s screenplay (written by Lan Xiaolong and Huang Jianxin) is simply abysmal, while the acting is mediocre at best.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” attempts to have some meaningful family drama, by having the movie’s two central characters as brothers who often disagree with each other. Older brother Wu Qianli (played by Wu Jing) is commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s 7th Company, where is considered a a respected war hero. However, Qianli bears the burden and guilt over the war death of his older brother Wu Baili, who was killed in combat.

Qianli’s 19-year-old brother Wu Wanli (played by Jackson Yee) admires his older brother Qianli. However, the two brothers clash because Wanli wants to join the People’s Liberation Army, but Qianli doesn’t want that to happen, mainly out of fear that he doesn’t want to lose another family member in war combat. Wanli doesn’t see it that way, because he thinks that Qianli views him as inferior and not brave enough to fight in a war. Therefore, Wanli feels insulted.

Not surprisingly, Wanli ends up secretly joining the Army, much to Qianli’s disapproval. Qianli tells Wanli that he won’t get any special treatment, just because they are brothers. In fact, Qianli goes out of his way to not give Wanli any help or advice, even when other members of the Army bully and tease Wanli because they think Wanli will get nepotism perks. A lot of people in this army doubt that babyfaced Wanli has what it takes to be a tough soldier.

Wanli remains steadfast in his commitment to the Army. And slowsly but surely, he starts to gain respect from his Army peers and Wanli. These supporting characters in the 7th Company aren’t given enough depth in their personalities or development in their story arcs. They include political instructor Mei Sheng (played by Zhu Yawen), fire platoon leader Yu Congrong (payed by Li Chen), artillery platoon leader Lei Suisheng (played by Hu Jun) and sniper Ping He (played by Elvis Han).

Wanli’s first friend in the 7th Company is a fellow teen soldier named Zhang Xiaoshan (played by Shi Pengyuan) young soldier of the 7th Company who befriends Wanli. There’s also a sublot about how one of the People’s Liberation Army also includes Mao Anying (played by Huang Xuan), the eldest son of then-Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong (played by Tang Guoqiang), also known as Chairman Mao, who allowed Anying to join the war with some reluctance. People who know Chinese history already know what Anying’s fate was.

Military officials in this movie are depicted as broad caricatures with hollow personalities that just recite forgettable lines. One of these side characters is Peng Dehuai (played by Zhou Xiaobin), People’s Volunteer Army commander and People’s Revolutionary Military vice chairman. The movie gives the worst jingoistic dialogue to American military officials such as U.S. Marines Major General Oliver P. Smith (played by John F. Cruz) and U.S. Army Commander Douglas MacArthur (played by James Filbird), who’s depicted as a robotic warmonger, who’s often wearing sunglasses and chomping on a pipe.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” gives very amateurish re-enactments of what behind-the-scenes war strategies might have been. The filmmakers seem to think that throwing in a lot of explosions and gunfire, in addition to showing men constantly shouting at each other, are enough to make a compelling war movie. It’s not. “The Battle at Lake Changjin” is an onslaught of very staged and very loud scenes of destruction that turn into a mishmash of mayhem until its very predictable conclusion.

CMC Pictures released “The Battle at Lang Changjin” in select U.S. cinemas on November 19, 2021. The movie was released in China on September 30, 2021.

Review: ‘Chinese Doctors,’ starring Zhang Hanyu, Yuan Quan, Zhu Yawen, Jackson Yee, Li Chen, Ou Hao and Zhou Ye

August 12, 2021

by Carla Hay

“Chinese Doctors”

Directed by Andrew Lau

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Wuhan, China, from January to March 2020, the dramatic film “Chinese Doctors” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: During the several weeks that Wuhan was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous doctors and patients at a local hospital fight the devastating effects of the pandemic, including sudden deaths, problems with patient overcrowding, a shortage of hospital workers, staffers who are overworked, and various disagreements related to health care and their personal lives.

Culture Audience: “Chinese Doctors” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in a very melodramatic and unrealistically trite version of the COVID-19 crisis in Wuhan.

“Chinese Doctors” horrifically exploits the tragedies of the COVID-19 pandemic by being an unrealistic soap opera about what happened in Wuhan, China, when the city was at the epicenter of the pandemic in the first three months of 2020. Most of the movie is set in an unnamed hospital that quickly becomes overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in the hospital. Instead of giving valuable and informative re-enactments of what really happened in a Wuhan hospital, “Chinese Doctors” (directed by Andrew Lau and written by Yonggan Yu) presents an accelerated version of a disaster movie, where deaths are just used as drive-by spectacles.

This movie has an abundance of ridiculous, eye-rolling scenes that undermine the seriousness of the subject matter. For example, in real life, numerous infected people showed up at hospitals but were turned away because there was no room. No one rioted over it.

However, in “Chinese Doctors,” this scenario is filmed like an angry mob scene where infected people stormed into the hospital. At one point, the mob becomes so hostile, that a doctor stands up on a table and uses a megaphone to shout: “Do you want to live?” And she makes a threat that if people don’t calm down, “I’ll get even with you!”

It’s a movie where people do perky group dances together in an overcrowded hospital while patients are dying around them. It’s a movie where a doctor yells jubilantly to COVID-19 patients, “We’ll get everyone cured as soon as possible!” (Never mind that while all of this is happening in early 2020, there is no cure for COVID-19 or even a vaccine.) And it’s a movie that seems to revel in its shameless, tacky exploitation.

Aside from the tawdry soap opera elements to the story, the movie’s gaudy cinematography and quick-cut editing are in very poor taste because they emulate music videos or commercials in what’s supposed to be a dramatic film about a deadly pandemic. The death scenes in “Chinese Doctors” are used only as backdrops to the bickering, emotional breakdowns and ego posturing of the doctors. And there are at least two instances where the audience is manipulated into thinking that someone has died in the hospital from COVID-19, but it’s a fake plot development because the person or persons end up surviving.

The movie features several doctors and patients, but only some of them get enough screen time so that viewers get to know their personalities. These characters are:

Zhang Jingyu (played by Zhang Hanyu), the hospital’s chief doctor, who is in his 50s and who has a compassionate but firm personality. His wife ends up becoming a COVID-19 patient.
Wen Ting (played by Yuan Quan), a no-nonsense taskmaster in her 40s and who is the highest-ranking female doctor on the hospital’s COVID-19 crisis team. She’s the doctor from the aformentioned scene where she shouted threats to a mob of people in the hospital who demanded service.
Tao Jun (played by Zhu Yawen), an arrogant doctor in his 30s who arrives from a prestigious hospital in Guangzhou and almost immediately clashes with Dr. Zhang.
Yang Xiaoyang (played by Jackson Yee), a nervous doctor in his 20s who is eager to impress his more experienced colleagues.
Wu Chenguang (played by Li Chen), an even-tempered doctor in his 40s who is a trusted colleague of Dr. Zhang.
Jin Zai (played by Ou Hao), a food delivery guy in his 20s who is certain he won’t get infected because he’s very careful about wearing as much personal protective equipment (PPE) as possible.
Xiao Wen (played by Zhou Ye), Jin Zai’s wife, who is in her 20s and is about nine months pregnant with their first child, whom they already know will be a daughter.

There are the predictable frantic scenes of doctors trying to keep up with the overflow of patients coming into the hospital and worrying about running out of PPE, medicine, supplies and other necessities. Dr. Zhang leads a task force to recruit volunteer medical workers from other hospitals. It’s how Dr. Tao ends up at Dr. Zhang’s hospital. These two “alpha males” argue with each other about how things are supposed to be done.

Meanwhile, there’s a scene of a female doctor having a tearful meltdown because she hasn’t been able to go home and hasn’t seen her family for days. She’s scolded by another doctor (played by Liang Dawei), who says that everyone is in the same situation. He’s later embarrassed when he finds out from another colleague that the crying doctor’s father recently tested positive for COVID-19. The movie makes a point of showing that the doctors and other hospital workers have worn masks for so long, the masks have left temporary scars on their faces.

The beginning of the movie makes it look like random people could just show up at the hospital, like they would at a shopping mall. But in reality, hospitals during the worst of the COVID-19 crisis were very strict from the beginning about who was let inside the already over-crowded hospitals during this crisis. We’ve all heard the horror stories about people who weren’t allowed to visit their loved ones who were COVID-19 patients dying in hospitals. It isn’t until later in the movie that these restrictions are depicted, such as when Dr. Zhang has to talk to his coronavirus-stricken wife through videoconferencing on her cell phone while she was confined to a hospital bed.

As for expectant parents Jin Zai and Xiao Wen, their story is the most manipulative one in the film. Jin Zai is very confident in thinking that he won’t get infected (he wears a mask and gloves while working), even though his job requires him to interact with strangers when Wuhan was on a quarantine lockdown. And when someone in a trashy COVID-19 melodrama is absolutely sure that they won’t get infected, you can easily predict what ends up happening to that person.

“Chinese Doctors” is cynically being marketed as a noble tribute to the doctors and all the other health care workers who made huge sacrifices to help patients during this crisis that turned into a pandemic. In reality, it’s a sloppily made, cash grab melodrama that uses COVID-19 as a gimmick. The real-life hospital workers, other caregivers and patients deserve a better movie. For an accurate look at a Wuhan hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, watch the noteworthy 2020 documentary “76 Days.”

CMC Pictures released “Chinese Doctors” in select U.S. cinemas on July 30, 2021. The movie was released in China on July 9, 2021.