The Rescue

While I won't call this a great movie, there are some fun to be found in it. The story is good with it being personal and professional lives of members from the China Rescue & Salvage. We see their daily life with their love ones and how these operations effect them. The movie contain too many plotline with the rescue mission, the romance between the main character and the new female worker, and his sone having a brain tumor. It feel like they try to added in things into the movie and it somewhat works. I do think the characters are build up pretty well and give them backstory to them. The action scenes are entertaining with their jobs on rescuing people from disaster and the risk they take to complete it. But I found the romance part to be not that interesting and is predictable on where it goes with it. And even the son with a tumor is obvious on what going to happened to him. The movie also contains some comedy bits which isn't that funny at all. But it does have a good climax to it.

The Rescue is a decent action movie that is enjoyable, but needs to be trimmed down.

Seeing reviews giving this movie a 6 or lower is sad. I feel it's a 7 minimum, and a lower score would be a disservice to everyone that worked in it and the amount of effort put into crafting the end result. Is it because it's a "state-sanctioned" movie? Because China wanted to make the people that rescue others for a living in their country look good?

Anyway.. It is visually impressive (stunts, action, locations, camera-work, etc.). It's a very technical movie, and it teaches you a bit about the REAL world of rescue teams that are ignored by many (the discipline, preparation, actions, you name it). It's tense, well acted (the lead portrays a character that would make you respect anyone), sound editing is great (music choices, or lack of sound at certain times) and editing in general. It is perfectly crafted to be an immersive movie. I'm not used to movie-structures that aren't particularly conventional.. but these are the kind I enjoy the most, the ones I don't know what to expect.

Still, it is a bit charged with drama, but it's tasteful and doesn't undermine the plot. CGI is noticeable at some points (never ugly), but on the other hand, it helps in most scenes.

Personally, I really enjoyed it. At times, I forgot I was watching a movie, which is more than I can ask for.

If you are interested, give it a shot and don't be deterred by the low score and other reviews!! Expect realism and humanity, but more importantly, don't forget it was written by someone with an objective in mind.

1. Just watch it as cartoon, something Disney or Dwayne Johnson, it is enough to be an entertainment after dinner. 2. There are many very comfortable sights and CloseShots, not like 'Operation Red Sea' such jumpy one, or 'Deepwater Horizon' dark shaking and confusing. though mostly fake, but why nobody blames '2012' or 'the day after tomorrow' fake? --------- 3. For a chinese mainland movie, it is so hard to see so many GOOD people injured or die, at least it attempts to be reasonable. 4. Mainland movie again, an OFFICIAL protagonist, no more invincible or almighty, it is downgraded to a mortal hero, not good enough but better.

Well, dont treat this movie like something ambitious, you'll have fun.

Dante Lam is imo one of the top five action directors in the world. In this film, he is perfection. It will blow your mind how he creates these explosive scenes as if you were right there, flinching amidst the action. That final rescue scene, visually, has to be the best I have ever seen. I feel slow-mo shots are for amateurs and so 1980's, but here they worked impeccably, and made that final rescue scene, one I will forever have etched in my mind. Simply perfection, stunning and explosive. Wow, Lam nailed it, and the entire rest of this film.

Then add the insanely amazing cinematography, stunning special and visual effects, and this is better than most A-list big budget Hollywood blockbusters. Everything from the training and rescues, makes firefighter training seem like a walk in the park. Casting was excellent, and the score and soundtrack top notch.

My only issue was the excessive melodramatics and the "parent and child" subplot. I didn't mind the romance part, but even with the excellent pacing, the 139 min runtime would have been more enjoyable, and less of an unnecessary emotional roller-coaster, without that subplot, and thus shaved at least 20-30 minutes, leaving us with more action than we can handle. The witty and sharp humor was good, but cheesy in this type of film, especially when it came from kids. I guess this is what happens when you have 3 writers collaborating - Wrong Size Man... errrm, darn auto-correct... I meant Wong Sze Man, Tan Yuli and Yaqing Zhi.

Nevertheless, today I learned to respect the search and rescue teams, who have been trained better than Navy Seals (obviously minus the combat training), and thoroughly enjoyed this gem by Lam. It's a well deserved 9/10 from me.

If you are a fan of this type of movie(s), you are in for a treat. And this looks as good and awesome as anything Hollywood can put out these days. The personal stories are kept to a minimum (thankfully), but you get to see certain cliches between all the action (the thing you are most likely to be here for).

And when the stunts begin ... well not sure where you are going to watch this or have watched it the first time, but the bigger the screen and the better the surround system, the greater the experience will be. Don't get it twisted: no one wishes people to have to go through the things they are going through ... but it is a movie and we have something and someone to root for ... even if it doesn't always turn out to end well ... just like in life. Of course this is overdramatized so comparisons to real life might be a bit too much ... still more than well done.