Snipers (2022)

Zhang Yimou & his daughter Zhang Mo direct simplistic propaganda about a brave group of poorly equipped Chinese snipers caught in an ambush by dastardly American snipers in North Korea.

This is honestly just awful... the caricature yankees are almost as cringe-inducing as the sentimental musical that swells every time there's a heroic sacrifice by one of the simple, honest country boys.

As it always does, the 60fps cinematography looks too real - i.e. exactly like what it is, which is actors on a set - which makes the dreadful CGI look even more fake.

We know Zhang Yimou knows what he's doing, so I'm tempted to think that if this sucks so hard it must be because he wanted it to. Maybe making something like this every so often is just the price of doing business in China these days.

Maybe his name is only attached to give his daughter some publicity, but it's hard to believe she could have learned absolutely nothing from papa before deciding to follow in his footsteps, even just watching one of his films would surely be enough to know this wasn't good work.