Air Strike 大轰炸 (2018) - USA / China
Aka The Bombing / The Unbreakable Spirit
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
This is a terrible example of a how to make bad movies and expensive one as well. There is so much off-screen drama and scandal that surrounds this film that makes it far more interesting than the WWII war epic itself. With all the top billings in Bruce Willis, Adrien Brody, Fan Bing Bing and all. Only Willis get substantial screen time to phone in a walk in the house VOD performance that he has gotten so used to.
Adrien Brody appears in two short scenes as a doctor not ready to give up on China whilst adding zero value to the movie itself. As for the tax evading China star Fan Bing Bing, for all the fuss about the film, appears for 30 seconds in the beginning of the film. The real star of the show is really Liu Ye and Seung Heon Song and both actually acts well enough for us to think that they are not exactly in Air Strike, but a totally different movie in itself. Not to mention, Mel Gibson somehow got involved as consultant.
Bruce Willis stars as the American general leading the Chinese air forces against the overwhelming air raids of Japan in the bombing of Chongqing. The bombing is numerous and extremely tragic and bloody, but the film reported huge budget was never used to good effect. The CGI is childish and video game like at best and often than not, it is so bad that it became funny. That’s not a good sign for a time and event that was extremely tragic.
All in all, “Air Strike” is so bad film that it almost became the kind of film that you want to watch because of all the difficulties and off-screen drama and scandals that came with the attraction. That’s sad as director Xiao Feng, reportedly self funded in order to finish the film due to original investors and producers pulling out due to numerous reasons from fraud to bankruptcy. Not to mention the US cut of the film is poorly dubbed and in some cases the same actor is being dubbed by different voices. With news that China will not be releasing this film, it will probably attract more people to see it as a result. Make no mistake, this is a bad film, hands down.
I rated it 4/10