--- title: "Operation Red Sea" year: 2018 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/operation-red-sea" fi1m_id: "operation-red-sea" imdb_id: "tt6878882" tmdb_id: 460555 wikidata_id: "Q30590974" fi1m_score: 54 critics_score: 46 critics_reviews: 4 published: "2026-10-05T14:36:23.262433+00:00" updated: "2026-10-05T14:36:23.842907+00:00" region: "EC" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Operation Red Sea (2018) Directed by Dante Lam Chiu-yin · 2h 18m · Action, Thriller, War, Adventure ## Identity Operation Red Sea - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/operation-red-sea - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** operation-red-sea - **IMDb ID:** tt6878882 - **TMDB ID:** 460555 - **Wikidata ID:** Q30590974 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6878882/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/460555, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30590974 **Fi1m score: 54** · Critics 46 (early) from 4 reviews *In a sentence:* We learnt more about the injuries than the people suffering them > Dante Lam Chiu-yin stages a Chinese rescue mission with technical skill and punishing violence. We admired the action, but thin characters and choppy storytelling make 138 minutes of peril difficult to care about. ## Synopsis A Chinese rescue mission places Yang Rui (Zhang Yi), Gu Shun (Huang Jingyu) and Xu Hong (Du Jiang) in the path of sustained fighting. Their task is to get people out of danger while contending with an armed conflict that keeps the operation under pressure. Xia Nan (Hai Qing) is caught up in the same crisis. The rescue brings those carrying it out into close contact with the injuries combat inflicts, as the demands of reaching others compete with the need to survive the fighting themselves. ## Review *Operation Red Sea* has enough skill in its action scenes to make its shortcomings frustrating. Dante Lam Chiu-yin follows a Chinese rescue mission through sustained, brutal combat, and the immediate business of surviving danger is often gripping. The trouble is that the people carrying out the mission never become interesting enough to sustain 138 minutes of it. Once the technical accomplishment has registered, we need another reason to stay, and the film is slow to provide one. The cinematography by Horace Wong Wing-Hang and Edmond Fung Yuen-Man is a substantial virtue, particularly in the desert escape and village siege. These sequences give the action a clarity that the wider story lacks, so there is pleasure in following the immediate danger even when our interest in the mission has begun to fade. Chi-Hung Choi’s editing helps hold these complicated passages together. The town-square battle is harrowing, with the fighting remaining readable even when the violence becomes hard to watch. We were horrified by the injury detail. The attention paid to damaged bodies makes it difficult to settle into the usual pleasure of watching capable people handle an emergency. That discomfort is worth something: the violence has consequences we cannot simply dismiss once the action moves on. But repeated exposure also wears us down, and the film keeps asking for another surge of alarm before the previous one has subsided. Zhang Yi as Yang Rui, Huang Jingyu as Gu Shun and Du Jiang as Xu Hong have to carry our interest through this onslaught. The screenplay, credited to Eric Lin Ming-Chie, Chen Zhuzhu and Feng Ji, with Dante Lam Chiu-yin also credited as writer, gives them too little help. Their characters remain difficult to care about beyond the basic wish to see them escape harm. More individual detail would matter here, because the fighting is so insistent that anything faintly drawn quickly gets lost. The sound design deserves credit for how oppressive the combat feels. Elliot Leung’s music cannot supply the attachment to the characters that the writing has left undeveloped, and the assaults are far more memorable than the people. Between the big action passages, the storytelling is choppy, making it harder to stay involved. The film repeatedly has to build up our concern again, which makes its relentless pace oddly tiring. As a military rescue thriller, it understands the appeal of watching a difficult operation carried out under pressure. Its patriotic purpose is also plain, but the gruesomeness makes that purpose harder to accept on the terms offered. We spend so much time confronting what combat does to bodies that the celebration of military prowess begins to seem poorly judged. Enthusiasm for the rescuers can only carry us through so much punishment, particularly when we know so little about them. There is serious craft here, and the people responsible for staging and assembling the action have earned their credit. A committed combat-film enthusiast may find enough in those passages to forgive the thin characterisation. We cannot recommend the full 138 minutes on that basis. For anyone hoping to become attached to the people being shot at, this is a long evening. *Fi1m score 54, published 5 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Operation Red Sea worth watching?** *Operation Red Sea* offers skilfully staged combat for committed war-film enthusiasts, but we score it 54 and cannot recommend it more broadly. The action is often gripping and clearly assembled, yet thin characters, choppy storytelling and punishing injury detail make its 138 minutes difficult to care about. **How long is Operation Red Sea, and what is it rated?** *Operation Red Sea* runs 2h 18m. It is an action and thriller film. **Where can I watch Operation Red Sea in Ecuador?** *Operation Red Sea* is not on any streaming or rental service in Ecuador at the moment. It is available in 23 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Operation Red Sea, and is it suitable for children?** *Operation Red Sea* carries a UK 18 certificate and is unsuitable for children, with sustained brutal combat and gruesome injury detail. We were horrified by the attention to damaged bodies, while the oppressive sound makes the fighting harder to endure. This is adult viewing that we would not recommend to the squeamish. **How does Operation Red Sea compare to Black Hawk Down?** *Operation Red Sea* is the weaker choice beside [*Black Hawk Down*](https://film.one/film/black-hawk-down) if we want human connections as well as punishing combat. Both offer skilfully staged military action, but *Black Hawk Down* gives us more reason to care about soldiers surviving under fire, despite its own thin characterisation and scant attention to Somali lives. **What should I watch after Operation Red Sea?** After *Operation Red Sea*, try [*Black Hawk Down*](https://film.one/film/black-hawk-down) (2001, Fi1m 73): Another punishing military operation, with stronger human connections amid the surrounding chaos. Then [*'71*](https://film.one/film/71) (2014, Fi1m 82): A narrower survival story that makes every unfamiliar street feel dangerous; and [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) (1966, Fi1m 93): Urban warfare examined with the political attention missing from this rescue spectacle. ### Reviews we read (4) - **Screen Daily**, John Berra (65/100, inferred): The accessible text identifies this as Dante Lam’s follow-up to Operation Mekong, centered on a Chinese rescue mission. The review’s verdict and any specific praise or complaint are unavailable in the paywalled article body. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/operation-red-sea-review/5126843.article) - **Radio Times**, Jamie Healy (3/5): He finds the film’s relentless peril often exhausting. The review singles out its gruesome injury detail and sustained action as defining features. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-og17qi/operation-red-sea/) - **Variety**, Maggie Lee (35/100, inferred): Lee finds the film’s overwhelming violence makes it feel more antiwar than patriotic, while weak characterization and choppy storytelling leave it emotionally flat. She praises the technically impressive action, especially the harrowing town-square battle and the film’s sound design. [Read](https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/operation-red-sea-review-1202710157/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Elizabeth Kerr (25/100, inferred): Kerr finds the film a propagandistic, exhausting action spectacle, despite its polished execution. She praises the action choreography and especially the editing and cinematography in the desert escape and village siege. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/operation-red-sea-honghai-xingdong-film-review-1149626/) ## Details - **Director:** Dante Lam Chiu-yin - **Director:** Dante Lam Chiu-yin - **Screenplay:** Chen Zhuzhu, Eric Lin Ming-Chie, Feng Ji - **Writer:** Dante Lam Chiu-yin - **Cinematography:** Edmond Fung Yuen-Man, Horace Wong Wing-Hang - **Editor:** Chi-Hung Choi - **Music:** Elliot Leung - **Costume design:** Huang Wen-ying - **Producer:** Candy Leung, Cheung Chi-Ho - **Cast:** Zhang Yi as Yang Rui; Huang Jingyu as Gu Shun; Hai Qing as Xia Nan; Du Jiang as Xu Hong; Zhang Hanyu as Gao Yun; Jiang Luxia as Tong Li; Wang Yutian as Zhang 'Rocky' Tiande; Fang Yin as Li Dong - **Runtime:** 2h 18m - **First release (CN):** 16 February 2018 - **Genres:** Action, Thriller, War, Adventure - **Budget:** $70 million - **Box office:** $579 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7anA-z_2MsY ## Where to watch in Ecuador Not streaming, renting or buying in Ecuador at the last check. Also available in: AR, AT, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, DE, DK, FI, FR, GB, HK, ID, IE, IT, JP, MX, NO, PH, SE, SG, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - International Submission to the Academy Awards 2019: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Black Hawk Down* (2001), Fi1m 73: Another punishing military operation, with stronger human connections amid the surrounding chaos — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/black-hawk-down.md) - *The Mission* (1999): Patiently staged gunfights make space for the men carrying the guns - *The Train* (1964): Wartime action built around physical tasks, readable danger and stubborn people - *'71* (2014), Fi1m 82: A narrower survival story that makes every unfamiliar street feel dangerous — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/71.md) - *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: Urban warfare examined with the political attention missing from this rescue spectacle — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/operation-red-sea