Starring
Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Feng Wenjuon, Sun Chun, Liu Xianda,
Jonathan, Zhao Jian, Shi Zhanjie, Wu Xudong, Pawalit Mongokolpisit,
Chen Baoguo. Directed by Dante Lam. (2016, 124 min).
If
you ever wanted to watch a coked-up child play Russian Roulette and
lose, have I got a movie for you...
Supposedly
inspired on real events - though you'll scarcely believe a minute of
it - Operation Mekong is a Chinese action film loaded with
bombastic, bloody mayhem. Gao Gang (Zhang Hanyu) and Fang Xinwu
(Eddie Peng) are two drug enforcement agents who go undercover with a
team of mercenaries to try and stop the flow of drugs from the Golden
Triangle, a region along the Mekong River where powerful cartels
control everything and everyone.
The
most vicious & chemically imbalanced of the drug-lords is Naw
Kham (Pawalit Mongokolpisit, sporting the mother of all mullets), who
essentially declares war on the Chinese police. In addition to
surrounding himself with a legion of murderous thugs, scores of
kidnapped drug-addicted kids (little kids) live with
him. He keeps them busy, though...walking into police stations with
bombs and protecting his compound with machine guns. Father of the
year, he ain't.
 |
| "Oochy-koochy-koo, you son of a bitch!" |
Character
development - and a majority of the plot, for that matter - mostly
takes a backseat to explosive action and brutal violence.
Some of the latter is truly unnerving, such as the aforementioned
Russian Roulette scene and the fate of an innocent woman at the wrong
end of a knife, though none of it's particularly exploitative. As for
the action...Dante Lam directs like a graduate from the Michael Bay
Academy, which isn't quite as terrible as the comparison implies.
Sometimes big & ballsy is the way to go, and when your movie
already stretches credibility to the breaking point, why not
toss in a shoot-out/car chase that destroys an entire shopping mall?
Operation
Mekong seldom slows down long enough for the viewer to think too
much about its plausibility. The violence involving children is a
little tough to take - and not real really necessary - but other than
that, the film is fairly enjoyable way to kill a few hours.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
A
six-part making-of documentary
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...LIKE CAT CHOW
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