..."reviewers" in those comments.
Yes obviously a movie about the Chinese army produced by the Chinese will glorify the Chinese army. Like every other European and American movie they make, and even like the DC/Marvel fantasy dreck.
Now with this out of the way, the movie is a decent sniper-vs-sniper action flick, with plenty of realism and plenty of simplification or oversight on the part of the producer and director.
Notable examples include:
And the rest is the usual sniper-vs-sniper which is up to you to see - overall a great movie!
Yes obviously a movie about the Chinese army produced by the Chinese will glorify the Chinese army. Like every other European and American movie they make, and even like the DC/Marvel fantasy dreck.
Now with this out of the way, the movie is a decent sniper-vs-sniper action flick, with plenty of realism and plenty of simplification or oversight on the part of the producer and director.
Notable examples include:
- When John threatens his about-to-desert squad member that he's gonna "make it their mission" to prosecute the guy and they will "execute you for desertion", he's making something of an empty threat, already, in the wake of the experience the JAG (Judge and Attorney General for the US Army) gained during the aid to prosecution of the French-Indochinese conflict and WW2 - desertion wouldn't even be considered in the list of death-penatly-crimes even in a court-martial, but I could also agree that a simple US army Sergeant, even if he were from a special sharpshooter corps, would know that. Plus the heat of the moment, yadda yadda.
- John, by the way would disengage after half of his squad was killed, as, again in the wake of those two conflicts, and the negative public reaction to them the American rules of engagement (ROI) were rewritten to preserve manpower, to reduce attrition, and the negative media fallout of an already unpopular, even in an anticommunist McCarthyist USA, war .
- Considering the time and that war, Capt. Williams would probably just mortar the entire hill from the start, not even try to get the body of the Chinese spy back. In fact, the Korean War actually marked a turn for the ready and indiscriminate use of artillery and air support, as well as an acceptance of mass collateral casualties even among the civilian population, by the US Army commanders, as long as they weren't caused by their direct fire orders, or if those orders carried the thinnest degree of plausibility - and as long, as it allowed to avoid sending GIs into the fire. It's an interesting turn of events, and a testament to how much mankind has progressed, but if the Korean war of the time was to happen in our time, most of the US and South Korean commanders would find themselves on the bench of the prosecuted at the Hague for their actions during that time (mostly firebombing and clusterbombing civilians in "forbidden-to-civilians military sectors" - the videos are freely accessible and up on Youtube for anyone to see). So overall, while Capt.'s behaviour is somewhat of a parodical comic relief, if that even could be called as such, his mindset is pretty realistic for the period setting.
- Unlike what you can see in other comments, the equipment of the Chinese is quite accurate for the time and they're not excessively "rich" in ammunition or supplies, they also wear the 1941 Soviet snow gear, which again is realistic. They also have an appointment with a rosy-cheeked couple of photo-journalists, which is - again a realistic staple of the time for the entire not-yet-split communist block of 1951.
And the rest is the usual sniper-vs-sniper which is up to you to see - overall a great movie!