OPERATION HADAL (2025) hits VOD tomorrow

A foreign power is making going to use a new super secret submarine to attack Chinese cities, the Chinese special forces and navy spring into action

Almost 18 months after it was released in China, this sequel to OPERATION RED SEA (itself a sequel to OPERATION MEKONG) is being released to home video in the US. The film is a pure action film... which is both a blessing and a curse.

The reason this film took so long to come to the US is that the film is a pure action film. This film never stops moving. It makes for some killer action sequences but the truth is that's all there is, action. Its great to watch but there isn't anything else.

The problem here is that the film has no real characters. Yea, there are characters,but there are so many of them that you never get a handle on any of them. Granted the fact that everyone is in uniforms, but normally a film like this can make it work. Actually the script is so basic it never really sets anything up so there isn't anything approaching a plot unless you count cliches.

Adding to the disconnect is the fact that on a technical level this isn't very good. The CGI is just bad and unreal. Things could have been done Hanna Barberra and looked just as real. Any suspense in the film, especially in the actiion sequences done via the editting and the overly intrusive score.

I really liked the previous two entries in the series. I enjoyed the hell out of watching them in packed theaters in Times Square. There was something special about the the mix of characters and motion that made you willing to go along with what was essentially recruiting films for the Chinese Military.

At this point I should mention that if you are going to watch the film be prepared for heavy doses of Chinese propaganda and anti American sentiment. Sure the bad guys are not specifically American, but the truth is that's who the baddies are. I have nothing against it as such, but it's so over the top as to be silly.

To be fair this isn't  a bad film. The action does carry the film, but where the first two films are ones that grab me from the start and drag me to the end every time I see them, OPERATION HADAL was a film I stopped repeatedly and came back hours or days later. I didn't watch it in one go.

I wanted more.