Released during the Chinese New Year of 2022, this Korean War battlefield drama depicting two squads of snipers, the Chinese and their US adversaries, from Zhang Yimou and daughter Zhang Mo is a small scaled sideshow instead of an all-out warfare between the countries involved as compared to ”The Battle at Lake Changjin II”.
During the “Cold Gun Movement” of 1952, the Chinese People Volunteer Army took part in guerrilla warfare helping their northern comrades to fight the invading US troops. A group of young snipers known as The Fifth Squad led by sergeant Liu Wen Wu, a sharpshooter nicknamed “Grim Reaper” by his enemies, is one such unit. While on an extraction mission to bring back comrade Liang Liang, a spy who has vital information concerning the US army, Liu and his squad felt into a trap laid by a group of US snipers.
John, a sharpshooter himself, has been tracking the Fifth Squad for months with his fellow snipers in the hope of capturing their leader Liu, the Grim Reaper alive, as an order from his commander officer Williams. The Chinese, on the other hand, will stop at nothing to rescue their intelligence agent. While one side is trying to outsmart the other, a young North Korean village boy turns up to further complicate the grave situation as he is also trying to save agent Liang.
Besides being educated in the US, Zhang Mo had worked with her father before as an assistant director and editor. Consequently, in “Snipers” she probably earned her co-directing credit from her involvement in the US army sequences which are in English. Zhang Yimou has already dealt with a lone sniper against the Japanese scenario in “The Flowers of War” (2011), the theme of politics and war is a common occurrence in most of his movies.
Interestingly, Chen Yu's screenplay gives the American snipers, led by John (Jonathan Kos-Read) a fair share of screen time and portraying them as fairly humans and not just the typical arrogant foreign enemies. At times, they even seem to concede the courage of the Chinese and likewise their dialogue is relatively natural. On the other hand, rendered as someone who abuses his power and is offensive, their Captain, Williams (Andrew Donnelly) is just the opposite; a classic example of someone who gets what is coming before the end credits rolls.
However, it shouldn't be a surprise that the Chinese characters outshine their US counterparts; a well-cast Zhang Yu from “An Elephant Sitting Still” plays the sniper leader Liu Wen Wu of the Fifth Squad, a composed and disciplined role. Equally good is Chen Yong Sheng, who plays Liu's sensitive protégé, a super sharpshooter in the making, Da Yong. Unfortunately there is hardly any backstory or characterization associated with these snipers; we only know them by their names from a roll call. Therefore this makes the emotional level less impactful when they are cut down by the US snipers' piercing bullets in gritty slow motion.
The snow-covered landscape that doubled as the confrontation location between the two sharpshooter teams is beautifully captured by cinematographer Zhao Xiao Ding. It looks eerie at times during the quieter moments while the overhead shots further enhance both the atmosphere and the mood. There are interesting shots of targets seen through rifle scopes but regrettably, though it looks impressive on screen, there is also the overuse of bullet-time to highlight lethal head shots.
There is no doubt that “Snipers” is an exercise mainly aimed at the mainland market and to celebrate China's People Volunteer Army during the Korean War. Though repetitive, the well-designed action is gripping at times and the lean 95 minutes of running time certainly helps in its pacing. Apart from the crying and singing from the teenaged Chinese snipers and the sad bugles blasting away every time a Chinese soldier gets killed, this is still a solid and entertaining war drama from directors who are good at their craft.
