If you thought “China Salesman” represented the height of ridiculous propaganda in Chinese action films then you simply have to see “Operation Red Sea”. This thrilling war film is clearly meant to be China’s answer to “Black Hawk Down”. The action is non-stop and very exciting but the clumsy politics just make it hilarious.

This is a seriously exaggerated depiction of the evacuation of Chinese civilians at the start of the Yemeni Civil War. After a successful mission against Somali pirates, the Chinese navy are sent to the fictional nation of Yewaire (clearly meant to be Yemen). Unrest and violence by terrorist groups forces the Chinese forces to rescue its citizens and foil a dangerous plot by terrorists.

As with a lot of war movies, we don’t get to spend a lot of time with individual characters because it’s trying to juggle between so many different soldiers. I thought most of the characters were pretty good considering how little we see of them individually. There is so much shooting going on so it’s impressive how the filmmakers manage to make the characters endearing. The terrorists seem to be like al-Qaeda or ISIS and while those groups have a presence in Yemen, it doesn’t make any sense. The main enemy combatant was Houthi rebel groups.

The action sequences in this movie are so explosive and over-the-top that you have to see them to believe them. The violence in this movie is incredible as we see people get their limbs blown off, charred remains and so many people shot and stabbed to death. However, you can’t help but laugh when you realise that none of these battles took place in reality. The film ends with Chinese ships standing their ground against American military vessels in the South China Sea. The whole movie is so overly patriotic that it feels like the Chinese “The Delta Force” or “Navy Seals”. This is a brilliant war film but don’t expect it to follow the facts of the early stages of the conflict in Yemen.