jaoneal

Always kinda hoped there would be a US made telling of the battle of Chosin Reservoir, given my father took part, I have watched a handful of good US documentaries about it, and there are some good stateside written histories of it as well. But perhaps I should have guessed, that PRCs big victory against western imperialism might be a bit more salient there, than a 70 year-old US defeat from a long forgotten war.

Putting aside the rather abrupt, and jingoistic ending, I frankly thought this movie painted the US military in a more favorable light than 2/3 of the movies that have come out of Hollywood over the past 30 years. So my Chinese friends who think the low to middling ratings here have much do with the subject matter... I doubt it.

The problem with the movie, from a western perspective, is that it's about 50 years past the time when this kind of frankly pro-war, anti-cynical, type of tale has any resonance at all. It's more reminiscent of movies like "A Bridge too far", "Tora, tora, tora," and the like from half a century ago. For generations of westerners brought up on things like "Generation Kill" this movie just rings deeply false. Melodramatic depictions of war as profoundly heroic (sypmphonic soundtrack and all), rather than extremely brutal, are going to strike a lot of westerners as a bit ... silly. Now Chinese audiences tend to be much more accepting of melodrama, so it doesn't surprise me much that this type of treatment has struck a "nerve".

All that said, even accepting the movie on its own dated, overly melodramatic terms... it ain't great. The extended battle scenes don't come with enough context. There is a looong battle scene in the middle in which I didn't have much of any idea what was going on. It was just 30 minutes of fireworks. The movie also likely underplays how poorly equipped the PRC was to fight this battle (there are some subtle references to a lack of bullets, clothing. And food) and definitely underplays how badly outnumbered the US forces were. But these same sorts of exaggerations and ameliorations would have been standard fare if this movie had been made 50 years ago.

Ultimately, I think this movie just won't resonate much at all with western audiences. Which is a bit of a shame, as there is a story in there worth telling, but I doubt now that it ever will be.

OK, there are other reviews here decrying the fact that this is hardly the first female oriented revenge-fantasy on offer, and it's not particularly shocking or grand on that particular dimension. So there is no need to belabor the point.

If you are looking at reviews before watching (as well as by 5 minutes in) you know what you are signing up for, along general thematic lines with this flick.

That said, I think prior reviews are misleading on the potential polarizing nature of this movie, and to that point I'll add my two cents.

It isn't the general theme that puts many male viewers off, rather it is the fact the movie "triples-down" on its potential target audience.

The central thematic conceits of the movie surround the 'subversion' of the rom-com genre. Half of the potential audience for this movie isn't going to feel pulled in by the trope references this movie is pitching because their suspension of disbelief will have already been broken and the genre references will fall flat.

If you have been raised on rom-coms, and there is a part of you that still resonates with (however much your rational side may dislike it) I think the middle part of this flick might well pull you in. For me, it really fell flat, but that may be because I am not the target audience.... And that's ok. Not for everyone, as I said up top.

This is a bit of a tough one. Part of me wishes to sing this movies' praises as a gripping tale, well told. It certainly is that. That said, the movie is completely a-historical. This just isn't, at all, how these events went down. It makes me wonder how we would judge a movie that simply, in a straightforward manner, portrayed WWI with Germans winning. That would be kind of weird... right?! As such I'm going to give it a compromise 7. As a more overt piece of historical fiction, I would give a 9 or 10. But given this drapes itself in a historical gloss, I'm subtracting points.

Now I get those reviewers who will reply that this movie does not bill itself as a documentary... but historical quibbles aren't the issue here. This movie just makes stuff wholesale. You might as well call the king Jason the V, or Fred the V... I could say more, but you have probably gathered my point by now, this movie really pushes the boundaries of narrative "liberties" in the service of relating a historical event a bit too far, I felt.