Snipers (2022) User Reviews (13)

Taking aim at China's rivals....

[s3276169 · 6/10 · 12 May 2022]

Loaded down under the weight of Chinese Patriotic fervour, Snipers, takes aim at its global rivals, the USA.

This is a well made film with high production values, decent acting and polished special effects. The story is a little one dimensional and at times, implausible but still quite watchable. Spurred along, as it is, by unrelenting action.

The story follows a familiar patriotic trajectory, encouraging national pride, sacrifice and military prowess, when faced with an external threat.

In summary, its easy in the West, to poke fun at this kind of politicised film. That is, until you stop to consider the West makes them all the time, too. If you can put aside the rather obvious, political overtones, this remains quite an enjoyable, fast paced watch.

6/10.

Hidden messages

[kazemsharkas-16783 · 6/10 · 21 July 2022]

Actually this is new to me to see that the Chinese have started making war movies against the Americans ,although the movie is about the Korean War back in the 50s ,however,it tells us what is going on in China ,specially this movie is 2022 production.

I did not like what is behind the movie ,it seems that it has a very political messages for the fans .

It's fun but forgettable

[mohammadrezamahboubi · 7/10 · 12 May 2022]

Zhang is best known for his great works with picture and colors but this movie lacks this feature but still I recommend to his fans to watch this movie.

Good production but followed the trend

[FROMZEROTOONE · 6/10 · 28 July 2022]

So many films about Korean war came out recent years. This film shows a good quality of storytelling and cinematography but inevitably inserted a lot emotional scenes trying to convince every audience. The film told audience how cruel the war was and the difficulties the Chinese soldiers were facing. Although some would say this is a film of propaganda, its story is based on real facts and it was targeted Chinese audience. Also, there is no protagonist in this kind of film, so details of every character's mental description would be lost.

Worth a watch

[moorek · 6/10 · 11 April 2024]

War movies are not my favourites mainly as the vast majority of them are so strongly one-sided - regardless if Americans or Chinese make the movie. We have decades of pro-western war movies and in the last decade, China has been pumping out pro-Chinese movies. It is why when directors take the time to make a good war movie like Tora, Tora, Tora or Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers / Letters from Iwo Jima then those films so easily stand out compared to so many bad movies.

This movie will never fall into any "great war movies" list but it is worth a watch for a few reasons. It is a good example of Chinese military movie propaganda if you've not seen any other similar movies. Certainly no different than any western propaganda war movie. Some great camera work. Some good acting from some of the Chinese cast. The American cast were rather dull with very negative dialogue that made them out as evil while the Chinese appeared honourable - ignoring that they were helping maintain a dictatorship in Korea.

One thing I enjoyed was the fact it was winter and the filming appears to have been shot in an winter environment although it might be possible that some of the trench scenes were done in a studio. But it gave some realism to the movie. A few times you see Chinese fingers that really look like they are close to frost bitten. However on the other hand, the whites of their camouflage, especially the Americans, were just too white. No sign of dirt esp on the helmets.

Overall there were many tense scenes that worked for me as soldiers fought at each other. Also a movie where almost no one gets out alive.

The glorious PLA wins against the evil US

[xgc-35906 · 1/10 · 4 August 2022]

Just a bunch of propagandist bs about how PLA were such a nice guys and US forces were evil murdering child kidnappers. Watching this is a waste of time imho.

worth seeing

[n-14591 · 8/10 · 10 February 2022]

In 2022 Spring Festival,it is most favored by Chinese film lovers.

In addition,Zhang Yimou's daughter Zhang Mo is the Mo meaning "FINALLY",not the Morning meaning "SILENT" by Google Translation.

........................................................................................................................ ............... ..................................................................................................................................... ....................................................

fake story

[xiaoma99 · 2/10 · 29 March 2022]

Not only the story is not real, but also not even possible. I didn't understand why Zhang Yimong would go this low and direct such a movie until I saw his daughter's name at the end. Very disappointed. Don't waste your time!

Ouch It Hurts 😂,

[rastaontherocks · 9/10 · 11 December 2022]

Was refreshing change... Continuously watching one sided Hollywood stunts . Was good to see good production valued movie showing the other side . Now lies and truth isn't my issue ( US war movies too are up to it ) . Just was nice to watch a good quality production telling their side of the tale . I would like to watch good production movies of evil CIA operations going on around the world. Bored of watching Good US yarn heh,heh, It's a Free world, let's not be biased on worldly issues. This is just a forgettable movie, why not some good Directors give us real heavy CIA along with US big wigs evil deeds for s Change.

Another war movie about defeating the USA.

[Crimsonarmor · 1/10 · 5 May 2022]

I have to say Zhang has made some good movies, but that was a long time ago. This is just another movie showing how great the Chinese army is and how they killed so many American soldiers. Current state of the world has left China trying to convince it's populace that they are indeed strong and they would succeed if it came to war. PROJECTION. I think directors who make movies should focus on good story telling and great cinematography. Not propaganda. This movie only serves to brainwash the PRC and Stoke the fires of nationalism.

China's Propaganda Machine Fuelled Lies Of An Untrue Event In A Real War!

[silicontourist · 1/10 · 1 May 2022]

The sniper that this film is meant to be about is a well known character of China's illegal involvement in the Korean War. The problem is with this film is that he is not in it and the film is not about him; its about a young boy who cries all the time but is a very proficient/dangerous sniper!

I won't take away from the Chinese actors involved that they played their parts well (China has learned a great deal about making films - and acting in them- in the last 3 decades. They often outshine American films on a regular basis). However! The American actors should be ashamed of their involvement in this glorification of the superiority of the Chinese soldier and, its totally anti American message. Do/did they even realize how stupid they were made to look, appear and sound; what a complete embarrassment they were with pathetic lack of acting skills (probably why they can only get jobs in China).

The cinematography is beautiful and lighting, sound etc is very well done but at the end of the day its just political Communist BS!

Since 2020 China has been making a plethora of films celebrating the Peoples Volunteer Army of the Korean war - Its because its their 75th anniversary celebration of the event. Unfortunately they celebrate as though they taught the Americans a lesson and saved the day for North Korea but, they do it in a way that is absolutely disrespectful to the dead of all the soldiers of all sides that were fighting there; and that includes the Russian MiG fighter pilots that Russia still denies were flying sorties in that theatre of conflict!

A disgraceful film about a disgraceful war that killed - as is always the case - an awful lot of innocent civilian men, women and children.

Bad but interesting film you must see

[tanxuanyuan · 4/10 · 1 August 2023]

The film features an intriguing plot and some scenes of humour that are reminiscent and copy of Stephen Chow's style. The actions are martial arts present in the film are decent as well. However, I find the plot to be excessively foolish. It seems as if director Zhang Yimou and his daughter Zhang Mo were on the verge of committing suicide and decided to make this senseless film.

In my opinion, the film a simply a bunch of propaganda that portrays the PLA as good guys and the US forces as evil child kidnappers. It failed to captivate me, despite my anticipation for it to be the best film I had ever seen. The film was emotionally moving and left me feeling infuriated 😡 😡 .

Unfortunately lots of American 50-cent ...

[ivan_dmitriev · 8/10 · 16 August 2023]

..."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:

• 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!