Disastro a Cloudy Mountain

Don't believe a lot of the reviews of MANY Chinese movies on here which are over inflated as great. I loved Infernal Affairs and some other Chinese films but see all too often Chinese reviewers boasting about every film released from China. I can only recommend this if you have nothing else to watch and want to see a disaster movie like was, but if you want to see a good disaster movie I recommend The Tower and The Tunnel from Korea or The Quake and Wave from Norway. The Korean series Bargain is also good but it's more than just about the disaster which these other films have in common. I gave this three stars for FX that are hit or miss at times and the way it was shot. I didn't care for any of the characters cause we had little or no background on them unlike these other films. Some things were over the top as some have said, but to be fair, what disaster film isn't. Very formulaic and cliche ridden.

What I really liked about this movie is that compared to most it's relatively low stakes. It's not humanity vs the end of the world, it's about saving one town. It was nice to see that the only 'villain' of the story is nature. There's no evil capitalist putting money ahead of people's lives. Instead everyone comes together to do what they can to help regardless of the financial impact. It's refreshing to see when the news seems to be full of people being selfish at the moment.

The acting was fantastic, especially Zhu Yilong, Huang Zhizhong and Chen Shu.

This movie isn't going to be a life-altering experience but for the genre I found it very enjoyable.

I'm not sure if I dislike the film or the reviews for this film more. Chinas filming industry is trying too hard to catch up with the west in visuals and Oscar worthy films. It comes across shallow and unconventional in its screenplay.

The film doesn't hold itself and it doesn't understand why the film was made in the first place. It was only shot to test viewers where cinema is in China and to destroy America. China is sucking the tit out of democracy and its bleeding for approval with It's nationalism. Nationalism is what makes this film terrible to watch.

I find China cinema terrible and not grounded in though provoking ideas. China is only doing it to catch up!!!!

No pun intended - the 70s called and they want their genre back ... well they called on a landline and no one picked up so ... I reckon that is why we get this and other movies. All kidding aside, if you like movies that have the disaster theme ... well you could do worse than this one right here.

It does look really good, CGI works fine, the tone and the pacing is quite good too. I didn't check if this is based on a true story, but even if not, it is likely to have been inspired by a lot of things that actually happened ... of course you do not wish anyone to find him or herself in a situtaion like this ... if this is your cup of tea, you will like it .. if not, you probably should not watch it in the first place.

Yizhou (Yilong Zhu) and his girlfriend Xiaojin (Junyan Jiao) are building contractors and working on a mountain tunnel. Yizhou's Dad, Yungbing (Zhizhong Huang) - a retired rescue worker - comes to visit. Shortly after Xiaojin fetches Yungbing from the bus station, the shifting of a tectonic plate causes a giant sinkhole in town - swallowing the bus he had just been on.

The quake was caused by work on the tunnel - now already 10 years in the making - and the surrounding mountains are now in danger of collapsing. The disaster scenes are incredibly well done, and the chaos and mayhem are reminiscent of 70's disaster movies. The film is in the vein of the recent Mandarin disaster movies 'Skyfire' and 'The Bravest'.

'Cloudy Mountain' is fast-paced and exciting, with suspense around every corner. Apart from the disaster element, the film is also a survival story. I enjoyed the characters. With no annoying or arrogant characters you generally find in these genre movies, I rooted for everyone. (I must confess, almost until the finale I wasn't sure whether Ding (Shu Chen) was a protagonist or antagonist).

I love disasters movies and 'Cloudy Mountain' is a great addition to the genre. The third act did loose some momentum, but it was nevertheless still thrilling, with a satisfying ending. I thoroughly enjoyed it.