Operation Mekong

Operation Mekong

Poster
Chinese 湄公河行動
Directed by Dante Lam
Starring Zhang Hanyu
Eddie Peng
Production
company
Release date
  • September 30, 2016 (2016-09-30)
Country China
Thailand
Language Mandarin
Thai
Lao
Burmese
English
Box office $173 million[1]

Operation Mekong (traditional Chinese: 湄公河行動; simplified Chinese: 湄公河行动; pinyin: Méi​gōng​ Hé Xíng​dòng; Jyutping: mei4 gung1 ho4 hang4 dung6) is a 2016 Chinese-Hong Kong crime action film directed by Dante Lam and starring Zhang Hanyu and Eddie Peng. The film is based on the Mekong River massacre. It was released in China on September 30, 2016. It is one of the highest-grossing films in China, ranked 17 as of 29/11/2016.[2][3]

Cast

The members of the operation have aliases: in the Chinese version they are named after deities in Chinese folk religion, while in the English versions the names are changed to deities in Greek mythology.[4]

Basic Information

Production

Production began in September 2015. Shooting locations include China (Beijing and Yunnan), Malaysia and Thailand.

Release

Operation Mekong opened on 30 September 2016. It concerns an incident that occurred in Chiang Saen District of Chiang Rai Province on 5 October 2011 when 13 Chinese crew members from two cargo ships were murdered by a Myanmar drug-trafficking ring.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, responding to news of the film's imminent release, said that the film would be banned in Thailand if it was found to "damage" the country. "I have ordered authorities to check the content of Operation Mekong. If it is damaging, it will be banned," Gen Prayut said.[5] Some believe that the reason for his government's nervousness is that Thai troops, the "elite" anti-drug Pa Muang Task Force, were known to have been at the scene of the massacre.[6] Nine soldiers were arrested, but "...have since disappeared from the justice system."[6] Naw Kham, a Golden Triangle drug kingpin, and his gang were found guilty of attacking the two Chinese cargo ships in collusion with Thai soldiers. He was executed in March 2013 in China along with three accomplices, including a Thai national.[5]

Reception

The film has grossed CN¥1.17 billion at the Chinese box office.[2]

Jessica Kiang of Variety stated that Operation Mekong "hurtles by in an enjoyably giddy, propulsive rush right until the final titles, which dedicate the film to the dead fishermen and detail the fate of the real Naw Kham."[4] Kiang stated that the sense of escapism in the film may be interfered with by the references to real life tragedies.[4]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Operation Mekong". Box Office Mojo
  2. 1 2 "湄公河行動（2016）". cbooo.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ "湄公河行動 (2016)". movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Kiang, Jessica (2016-10-22). "Film Review: ‘Operation Mekong’". Variety.
  5. 1 2 Jitcharoenkul, Prangthong (2016-09-28). "PM mulls 'Operation Mekong' ban". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Whitewash at Chiang Saen". Bangkok Post. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "第十二屆中美電影節星光熠熠——開幕式暨金天使獎頒獎典禮耀動洛城". cafilmfestival.org. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.