That was an excellent one.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fantastic!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This movie was on my bucket list for a long time, and now I finally watched it.The movie starts off with a battle scene during the Chinese civil war.Gu Zidi is a young officer in (I guess) the Communist army. During the battle he witnessed his superior shot to pieces by artillery. He is transferred to defend a coal mine. The battle goes disastrous. At the same time, the soldiers await for a sign to retreat (the "assembly" tune played on a trumpet, hence the title). This sign never comes, and almost the entire group is whiped out.Gu Zidi survives, only to hear that his men went 'missing', even though he knows they died and their families should be appropriately compensated. Then his quest for justice and truth starts.The movie can be divided in two: one half of war footage. The battles have no shortage of pretty brutal scenes (like Saving Private Ryan) and moments of self sacrifice. Very moving indeed.The second half is his search for truth and justice for his fallen comrades. You see him trying to pick his life up while constanly battling his inner demons. The amazing soundtrack does the rest.This movie is actually a Chinese answer to Saving Private Ryan. If you like war movies, this is a must see.

It's 1948 in northeast China. Communist Captain Gu Zidi leads his men in a battle against Nationalist troops. When his political officer is brutally killed, he orders his men to kill the captured enemies. His men refuse and he is reprimand by his superior. His group is assigned to the trenches next to a mine and ordered not to retreat until they hear the bugler call for assembly. Gu Zidi is the only survivor after a final battle and he has fight bureaucracy for the honor of the men who are simply declared MIA.The first half has lots of war action. Some of it is not particularly realistic but there are tons of explosive action. The second half is mostly about Gu Zidi's struggle for recognition for his lost men. There is a lot of melodrama and fake emotions except for one amazing moment. It is the pinnacle of this movie and I would prefer it as the climax. When the men started to claim they hear the bugle, I sat up a little and paid more attention. It is probably the only moment where the emotions match the drama. Honestly, the movie needs to cut out about 30 minutes from the second half of the movie. The only compelling part in the second half is him digging in the coal pile by himself. It's very poetic but not compelling enough to justify the very long and winding story.

In 1948 during the Chinese Civil War a broken company of men is ordered to hold an old mine until the bugler plays assembly.After the war the captain of the men, the only survivor and the only one who said he did not hear the bugle call, tries to find their bodies and prove his men died as heroes.Profoundly moving story of the brotherhood created in war and the need to right an old wrong. Though not quite perfect, this is one of the best war films I've seen, period. Its power comes not from the battles, rather from the humanity of those that fight. This is a film about people and characters first and foremost and its what lifts this toward greatness. I have never seen a film where everyone, on both sides of the battle, are portrayed as human beings. There are no monsters, no stick figures, just people. Even the people in the mass of uniforms are people even if we only see them for an instant. This is a film about the people, and the individuals who fight in times of war. None of the main characters are clichés. Its not like Saving Private Ryan where everyone is a WW2 cliché, here we have people and even if we don't know everything about them we do know that they are individuals. This is a film about the human cost of war.Ultimately the film works because of Zhang Hanyu as Captain Gu Zidi. Here is a man who is racked with guilt for "killing" all of his men. He wants nothing better than to honor them, and when after being found in the carnage of that final battle he comes to realize that no one believes him, he is forced to not only fight on but also do everything he can to see that the memory of the brave brothers is kept alive. Zhang Hanyu breaks your heart as he tries to both join his men and prove to the world that what they did mattered. It is a portrait of quiet strength and occasional rage that makes you feel for him and for the men who fought with him. Its one of the best performances of the year.I know for some the first hour of relentless battle (its nasty) will make the more sedate second half something they will have trouble sitting through. I know some will wonder where the guns have gone, but at the same time this is not a story of battle but of people. The horrors of the first hour (filmed in the now standard shaky cam style) make the poignancy of Captain Zidi's quest all the more touching, since he wants to make his mens sacrifice and trip into hell worth something. You really have to be patient and go with the film and let the film reward you in its own way. I suspect that knowing the film shifts gears for the second half helps since you don't have expectations of a two hour battle. I know that my initial attempt at watching this film blind lead me to believe this was going to be wall to wall action, however a friend who borrowed my copy before I could finish it warned me of the tone change and I think it helped me a great deal when I finally watched it from start to finish.You really should see this film since it ultimately speaks to all people who send their sons and daughters off to war and why we need to remember them.9plus out of 10 And yes its a true story.

When I first saw the trailer to The Assembly, many Chinese military fans (myself included) saw the departure in style away from much of the previous Chinese war films. Whereas previous films such as Tai Hang Shan Shang followed traditional depictions of large scale warfare and propaganda rhetoric, Assembly focused on the relationship among individual soldiers and the brutalities of war. Despite this change, many who first saw the trailer were also befuddled by the unique direction that it takes. On many online message boards, questions such as: why are the PLA wearing American helmets and are so well equipped? or why does the cinematography resemble Saving Private Ryan? or even as to question what campaign are they actually fighting? popped up again and again. Assembly's radical departure from traditional Chinese war films demonstrated the vision on the part of Feng XiaoGang to embrace a more humanist and personal side of war that are so common in western films. However, by conforming to western standards, The Assembly takes away much originality in portraying the unique circumstances of the Chinese Civil War, and in turn fails to relate back to many Chinese audience. In an attempt to reflect the sense of brotherhood and the absurdities of war that are so apparent in films such as Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, and Taegukgi; Assembly ultimately accomplishes neither.Although i first welcomed the refreshing change in presented in the Assembly, the heavily borrowed western styles proved to be too impersonal from the Chinese perspective. Nearly every element of the film have distinct and or subliminal western influence. For example, the 47 soldiers of 9th Company may loosely reference the Japanese story of the 47 Ronin whom shared the similar sacrifice to uphold their loyalty and honor. Furthermore, this is probably the first Chinese war film i encountered where the word 'comrade' was replaced by the word 'brothers' to reflect the interpersonal relationships among the soldiers. The other obvious western influence comes from the dark cinematography and shaky camera work from films such as Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. Even the theme song or MV to this movie is a reworded Chinese version of 'You Raise Me Up'. These Western styles are further reinforced by elements within the story that further reveal objective aspect of these influences. The film justifies the use of Western helmets and weapons by establishing the fact that they were confiscated from the nationalists (in addition to the later scene of a covert action that require American disguises). These in-story, or objective elements have no fault on their own given the possible historical circumstances. But after combining these in story elements with the stylistic elements; the Movie becomes woefully unoriginal and unreflective of the Chinese experience.Although Assembly may be unique for a Chinese war movie, its no different from Western films.Problems in perspectives asides, there are still significant problems within the actual movie that fail to live up to its potential even from a western view. The theme of brotherhood is obviously one of the most important element in the film. However, Assembly reflect very little character development to connect the audience to the 47 soldiers. Foreign films such as Saving Private Ryan and even Taegukgi give the audience some sense of the brotherhood between the soldiers and the different personalities of many of these soldiers. By the end of the Assembly, I can probably name at the most 4 or 5 characters who are unique, while all the other are often nameless and undeveloped. Instead the crux of the story in the Assembly focused on one man's own convictions to find his men. The singularities of Captain Gu's role also shifted the focus away from the first half of the story that dealt with the men of 9th Company. Although we do get the sense of the heartbreaking devotion of Gu to his unit, the lack of the sense of comradeship (or at least the development of) within 9th company takes away from the full potential of the film.Another problem of Assembly was the failure to depict the side of the enemy. Western war movies generally humanizes the enemy. Assembly however, had little screen time for the opposing nationalistic forces. Given that this movie deals with the Chinese Civil War, the failure to address the nationalist side is inexcusable . From the Chinese perspective, in a war that was essentially a war between brothers (Chinese vs. Chinese), the singular focus on the PLA does not justify the overall scope of the conflict. Assembly could have the great potential of depicting both sides of the conflict, and reflect the important anti-war message in the context of a absurd civil war.Even when you watch the Assembly from the conventional perspective there are problems within the story. For example, the presence of the only female role seems forced and poorly developed (she seem to just follow around Gu); there could have been more potential for her role. In addition, i didn't find the battle scenes particularly epic. All in all, Assembly is a decent war film from the western perspective, but from a Chinese view, it both inadequate and impersonal. For those looking for an authentic and unique Chinese war film that is appealing to the Chinese experience, we would most likely still have to wait.