It’s a great time for Chinese cinema with homegrown productions dominating the local box office.
Action thriller “Operation Mekong” won the box office charts with $77 million in sales during the national weeklong holiday, according to the film industry-consulting firm Artisan Gateway.
In the second spot was Yibai Zhang’s romantic comedy “I Belonged to You”. Stop motion film “L.O.R.D.: Legend of Ravaging Dynasties” by Jingming Guo placed Number 3 in the box office. Jing Wong’s action comedy “Mission Milano” followed in fourth place. “The Wild Life” is the only non-Chinese movie that made the top five.
Operation Mekong conquered all these films thanks to its nationalistic theme and its action guru director Dante Lam of “Beast Stalker” and “That Demon Within” fame.
La Times praised the filmmaker saying “(Dante) Lam packs the movie with white-knuckle action sequences, set in eye-catching locations, teeming with extras.”
Reel Rundown adds: “The extraordinary action sequences make the film a must-see… Dante Lam has orchestrated pure chaotic mayhem dripping with raw emotion and sloppy, crowd-pleasing violence.”
Operation Mekong is a Chinese-Hong Kong crime adventure thriller that revolves around the brutal 2011 Mekong River massacre.
It follows elite narcotics officer Captain Gao Gang (played by Zhang Hanyu of “Assembly” and “The Taking of Tiger Mountain”) and Golden Triangle-based intelligence officer Fang Xinwu (played by Eddie Peng of “Unbeatable” and “Rise of the Legend”) as they investigate the murder of 13 sailors down the Mekong River. It is a patriotic film that meditates on the war on drugs and the fight for justice. Aside from being a dramatic morality tale, Operation Mekong boasts spectacular action scenes complete with car chases and shootouts.
Currently, Operation Mekong scores an 8.2 out of 10 on the media review site Douban – marking the film a certified commercial and critical success.