War is hell and so is a certain type of war movie: bloated, self-important and glassy-eyed with solemn patriotism. Directed by action veteran Tsui Hark, The Battle at Water Gate Bridge is the giant follow-up to China’s colossal military epic and domestic box-office smash, The Battle at Lake Changjin. It revives the tale of how, during the Korean war in the unimaginably cold winter of 1950, the Chinese army took on the US forces in Changjin county in North Korea and forced Uncle Sam to retreat towards the 38th parallel, gleefully picking up artillery and ammo that the Americans had been forced to abandon.
The first film took us to the “Hungnam evacuation” – an event which was for America something between Dunkirk and a foretaste of Saigon – in which many American and UN personnel had to be airlifted out. Now the movie continues, with more of the same mega greenscreen effects: people getting blown up with grenades and run over with tanks, as well as plenty of bullet-time slo-mo and freeze-frame set pieces of battlefield chaos.
