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What saves this story is the performance of the main cast. All actors play their roles passionately, and they are the only real strenght this movie has. The sets are limited but not holding back the movie.

The story is decently captivating. It starts as a whodunnit, that turns into a case of national security. Various factions are in the game, that don't know who to trust. Overall a gripping story, but it does get more nonsensical as it goes on.

The absolute worst part is the music, especially it's volume. Without exaggeration, the music is 10x as loud as the audio. I spent two hours holding the remote, ready to press mute. The music also fits the scenes it's played in poorly, but that would be forgiven if it was not 10x too loud.

The plot is told in the form of a double male lead in a fast-moving, ancient idol scripted secret room. I can appreciate the helplessness and hopelessness of the film's producers.

The short video-style comedy starring Shen Teng is the highlight of the film, and Yi Yiming Qianxi supports the vast majority of the main line and growth story, but it is clear that the character he plays is not doing well in the plot, which is the problem of the script, not the actor.

The cast is undoubtedly too strong in China, when scoring it is recommended to give the cast 6 points first, and then reduce the score according to other issues as appropriate.

A rather slow and stagnant film in the first half, it was largely driven by charisma of individual actors. Also not helped by the monotonous setting of the film, which is just grey wall and grey sky throughout. But Full River Red quickly picked up steam as twists after twists and as the suspense grew. The movie has a powerful ending as Yue Fei's poem is recited, for which the film is named after. It is not hard to understand why the film had sub a great box office as it is truly a star studded lineup, but perhaps it is a little surprising that the film is more than what is shown on the surface. It is about struggle and standing up to power and desires while being told in a self deficating way.

Zhang Yimou is the most famous Chinese director of all time, but even he cannot be sure to get away with social criticism after the clampdowns against Jack Ma, Hong Kong activists and CoVid critics. So what does a film maker do when he wants to address the frustration many of his compatriots feel? He resorts to satire, and sets the action comfortably far away in the past.

What starts out as a mystery concerning a missing letter no one must know quickly turns into slapstick comedy, and many viewers familiar with Zhang's epics feel let down by this because there isn't really any suspense. There are numerous twists and turns which seem haphazard and do not dive the plot forward. All the while the action is confined to the same palace grounds. It's totally understandable if this seems rather pointless and dull. And the Hamlet-like ending seems out of sync with the previous irony.

And yet, there is something beneath which only people familiar with authoritarian regimes will catch on to - the zeal of government officials to save their own skin with complete disregard to the task at hand. The characters constantly plot against each other and/or form allegiances to somehow emerge from the whole dilemma unscathed. It's mostly in vain because they are puppets of an invisible power - like in contemporary China, where no one can figure out the meaning behind the latest regulations, and where even the powerful thrive at the mercy of appearances. Even the title-giving poem, which could be seen as an allusion to Taiwan, is actually just another smokescreen for personal ambition.

If Zhang had made this into a straightforward mystery or wuxia, it could have been interpreted as subversive by the censors, but because it's farcical, it's all a joke so they can't. So even if the story is too convoluted and the black humor doesn't stick, it's probably still a breath of fresh air for many Chinese spectators and deserves its commercial success.

This is a tough movie to get a hold of. The producers apparently described it as a suspense movie with comedic elements, but it is rarely either funny or suspenseful. I'd say it's in part a drama of intrigue, part a mystery, but mainly I'd call it a horror movie because it's got a brutal body count and many deaths are horrifically cruel.

In fact, for me what's most interesting about the movie is how well it portrays a world where the pecking order involves who can kill who, making life cheap as people use murder to impress or jockey for position. It's actually a good example of a systemic issue - it's a kill or be killed world and there's really no way out.

The story involves a murder investigation, at least at first, but there are all sorts of twists and turns along the way. It's convoluted and at times I got lost.

But finally at the end the central driving force of everything is revealed, and it made ZERO sense to me. I had to do a bunch of research to figure out the meaning. Full River Red is apparently a poem schoolchildren learn in China but if you don't know the poem or Chinese history then the denouement is incomprehensible.

I'm not saying this as a criticism - it's perfectly fine to make a movie that only makes sense to the people of the country it's made in. I'm just offering a warning that the ending may not resonate as well if you didn't grow up in China.

Overall, I liked Full River Red but didn't love it. It's genuinely engrossing. The cast is good, particularly Teng Shen and Wang Jiayi. The score by Hong Han is amazing, with all these crazy punk songs that I've read are rocked-out Chinese folk songs. But the weird genre stew, the unpleasant brutality, and the puzzling-until-you-research-it ending made it less enthralling than the best of director Yimou Zhang's films.

When an ambassador is found stabbed to death, the Prime Minister "Qin Hui" (Jiayin Lei) orders an immediate investigation to be headed by his director "He Li" (Yi Zhang) and his deputy "Wu Yichun" (the quite charismatic Yunpeng Yue). Pretty quickly, this investigation has seen the killing of the Captain of the guard and his replacement by the young "Sun Jun" (Jackson Lee) who has alighted on a potential culprit in "Zhang Da" (Teng Shen). The Prime Minister has given the young man and his prisoner just two hours to get to the bottom of the killing and to retrieve a letter thought to have been contained in an ornate leather purse. For much of the first ninety minutes, this is quite a cleverly interwoven and characterful whodunit. Who to trust, who is behind the plot - what is contained in the letter? Who has read the letter? What might the beautiful courtesans know of the mystery? It's quickly paced and quite entertaining. Sadly, though, the last forty-five minutes rather falls away. The characters all start to trip over themselves and the intrigue stops being that and starts to become a bit of a farce leading to an ending that was really weak and disappointing. It looks great though, the production standards and costumes are professional and colourful - it's just an hour too long - and that's without counting the endless pre-title production credits!

The storyline is simple, focusing on a murder mystery! There are plenty of twist and turns, which are interesting, making you guess "who will get the letter first?" "who is betraying who?" "whose side does s/he stand?"

The pace is alright, with jokes running through to the end, even though it maybe lengthy.

It is NOT an action movie, BUT more of a comedy + minor action genre! It fills with a lot of dark humors, which distract one from the serious suspense thriller, keep the movie fun!

I found the movie entertaining! Because you have NO CLUE what it is all about! You just need to follow the flow, and it will lead to a BIGGER PICTURE of the movie at the end!! Voilà!!!

The character design is great! Everyone plays a role of aiming for a letter, and each has a card to hide! When a card is revealed, it will lead to another clue!!

Besides, the character development is good too! All of them have a unique personality, and Shen Teng leads the tempo of the entire movie! His sense of humor and jokes are great, and you need to understand them to have a good laugh, in order to enjoy the movie!

It's a nice movie! And I enjoyed watching it very much, especially the ending did impress me quite a bit!! It's a movie that must be watched in the cinema! If I were to watch it via laptop or at home, I would NEVER enjoy it at all! So, pls buy your ticket and watch it in the big theatre!

Man Jiang Hong, internationally known as Full River Red, is a mixture of a period drama and a conspiracy thriller taking place during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song dynasty. The entire movie takes place at the prime minister's residence where a foreign diplomate dies under mysterious circumstances and a secret letter he was carrying disappears without a trace. A team of investigators uncovers a conspiracy that is much more significant than initially anticipated.

This movie convinces on several levels. It has been directed by experienced veteran Zhang Yimou who has been responsible for cinematic masterpieces such as Shadow, The Flowers of War and Hero. While Full River Red isn't among his greatest movies, the calm, precise and swift camera work, the impressively detailed bird perspectives and the use of epic backdrops make this movie a visual sensation.

Full River Red brings the Southern Song dynasty to life with numerous imaginative details. This includes the diversified clothing, the way the huts and palaces are designed and also the use of numerous different weapons. The attention to detail in this film is particularly outstanding.

This film also entertains with a fluid blend of genres that will keep viewers intrigued through its ambitious running time. The movie starts with some slapstick comedy scenes, quickly features some visually stunning martial arts sequences, develops into a profound drama and ultimately becomes a gripping conspiracy thriller. The transitions between all these sections are very smooth as each genre gets about thirty to forty-five minutes to start, shine and fade out before the next section takes over. This procedure makes for a highly entertaining final result.

This movie however isn't without its flaws. The running time of one hundred fifty-nine minutes is a little bit too long for one single film. Zhang Yimou could have easily cut half an hour worth of material to avoid unnecessary repetitions and slow transitions. The plot is very clever but at times includes a few too many twists for its own good before concluding on an exaggeratedly patriotic note that many contemporary Chinese movies are dreadfully suffering from. One last element to criticize are the acting performances that are decent to good but fail to leave a deeper impression. The country's greatest actresses and actors can be found in other contemporary films such as Ride On, Sakra and Post Truth rather than this film.

At the end of the day, Full River Red is a wonderful movie for anyone interested in ancient Chinese culture, creative martial arts films and twisted conspiracy thrillers. For anyone who appreciates all three elements, this movie should firmly sit among the top twenty films of the year. However, this movie isn't as great as the promoters would like us to believe and Zhang Yimou has done better jobs on numerous occasions in the past.

Basically, it feels like there are two movies here. The first is a deep, stylish, well-acted, inspired, artistic yet purposeful movie dripping with Chinese culture. The second is some kind of overdone propaganda flick whose primary message is hateful, nationalism promoting the idea that 'whatever horrible violence is necessary it is worth it if it empowers our nation'.

Overall, it is made up of the first by far, and I'd honestly recommend it to everyone, but especially to people familiar with local Chinese culture (eg. Having lived there or watched numerous Chinese movies and series)... IF you could find the right place to stop watching about 10-15min before the very end.

Since I can't suggest where to stop without major spoilers, I can't recommend it though. I don't think anything with that hateful kind of message should be promoted, especially delivered in its overt, repeated, and intended-to-be-inspiring manner.

I cannot believe that this film has the highest box office during the spring festival. As far as I am concerned it's only a good commercial movie but it's definitely not a meaningful movie to the development of the Chinese movie.

The movie which is positioned as comedy and suspense but the only thing that can make the movie funny is Shen Teng, a Chinese comedy actor. The plot of this movie is not funny at all. As for the suspense part for the movie, well, there is no suspense part for the movie. The only thing the movie has is simple narration, sometimes you can even guess what will happen next. And you called this is suspenseful, how ridiculous.

Anyhow, the movie is meaningless and the narration sucks. And it's not worth watching. Do not waste two and half hours to watch this movie like me.

Sorry about my English. My gramma may have some mistakes.

Right, just watched it so it's fresh in my mind.

The sound design is probably the first thing the audience would notice. Every action, every scene is accompanied by a unique noise such as having gongs beaten on the slap of a fan, that, I wouldn't go as far as to say it is innovative but it is certainly rare to hear in most modern films. It essentially takes traditional Chinese theatre music and integrates them into the movie.

You've probably seen this film being listed as a comedy but by no means is this a comedy so don't be misled into thinking it'll be a Stephen Chow type thing. Sure there are some comedic elements to break the steam a bit once and a while but the seriousness of the movie is very well reflected throughout. Also, don't expect much action, this is not an action film. It works in the same way as a detective movie would go about.

And that leads me into the penultimate point. The unpredictability of every corner. Sure sometimes, going overboard with avoiding cliches can be detrimental at times but this is an instance where it remains impressively well thought out. There's a very clear crescendo that hits its climax at the very end so just know the tension will only keep rising whilst maintaining a good storytelling pace.

Mind you, you really need to keep track of what's going on or you are for certain going to lose grip on the story.

However, if there are a couple of critiscms to be made. The ending had room to be even more fleshed out, since at that point, everything happens really quickly and there's a weird unexplained twist that gets shoved in there without too much explanation. Furthermore, as good as the non-cliches are, it creates a pattern that you pick up pretty easily if you're focused enough.

My personal verdict on this movie comes as a 9/10. Highly unexpected for this year. I had not even heard of it before today in fact except reading on the background history of the time period of which this film is set in. There are few films in the past few years which has actually attracted my attention to write a review on it, and I'm glad that I've watched it and have been able to give my review.

Thank you.

Set in Song Dynasty (circa 1146 AD) in ancient China, Full River Red is one of director Zhang Yimou's best - a combination of masterful storytelling, character development (including a superb performance by Jackson Yee as Sun Jun), original sound track containing Chinese Yu Opera, and artful visuals. The storyline is simple enough - the entire movie revolves around two central characters searching for the truth and a disappeared letter following the murder of an enemy official. The allegiances and true intentions of the central characters, including that of the support characters, are often deceiving and offer surprising "reveals". Themes of loyalty and the willingness to sacrifice oneself for a greater belief is explored throughout, and comedic dialogue often takes places to keep the film in a general light tone. Having taken the number 1 box office in China over the Chinese New Year period, this is a film to demonstrate why Zhang remains one of China's best directors.

Historically based films almost always use the past to comment or reflect on the present, and "Full River Red" is no exception. This is directed by Zhang Yimou, the person who brought you "Hero", a film that suggests unification trumps tyranny and thus making tyranny forgivable. The tyrant in that story was Qin Shi Huang, an emperor who burned books and buried scholars alive by the mass. In the case of "Full River Red", it borrows from the legendary story surrounding the hero of Yue Fei by using Qín Huì, the person who purportedly was instrumental for Fei's death, as the pivotal character to spin an intriguing story not so much about loyalty and betrayal to the emperor as one would expect from the plot, but interestingly sidelining the climax to a different focal point about awakening the army to pledge allegiance to Fei's defense of the Sung's dynastic unity. That was a call to battle for the army to claim land that was lost to the invading Jin. How this point becomes the focusing nexus for the entire film was at that very scene, the army recite in chorus the famous Fei's poem: "Full River Red ", and that recitation was built to a powerful climatic high point of emotional crescendo. This is what the story is really about. Army allegiance to defend territorial integrity. A sentiment that is in harmony with the current context of Sino-geopolitical ambition from the Chinese Communist Party perpetual helmsman Xi's perspective. Looking back at the message from "Hero" to now, you may say "Full River Red" is an extension of that same sentiment. That said, Zhang also brought you "To Live" in his earliest works. A film that shows empathetically from the inside the harrowing plight of Chinese nationals as they try to adept and survive in the topsy turvy political turmoil of China, especially under the Cultural Revolution and the ruling thumb of the Chinese Communist Party. That grassroot perspective is not lost in "Full River Red" either. If you look beneath the sophisticated and well-polished veneer of the film which serves subtly as a Party instrument calling for army's loyalty to defend national integrity, you will see beneath that veneer the overbearing stench and corruption coming from omnipotent power, the callous self-serving use of others, and the maneuvering skills one needs to stay alive where personal truth and integrity if there are any are always best kept close to the chest. As said so at the beginning of my review, historical films are to use the past to reflect and comment on the now and this is exactly what Full Red River is doing. As such, you can say it is propagandistic.

I can read some of the comments on these reviews - firstly it is not for the person who don't appreciate layers and nuances of crafty human games. Those who like pure action or hong kong type of simpified plots will not appreciate this and will mark it as low score. However I suspect Zhang is painting on this broad canvass multiple themes with the underlying one on the geopolitics around China now, hence the hit in China with the masses there. That call to arms when they feel besieged by outside forces has a resounding clang from the recitation of the poem of the name of this film. The other reason is, China audience has a much deeper appreciation for their history and cultural reference - and these themes found in the movie has resonance with them.

You can see from his earlier works - where symbolism and the tapestry of how he structure his sets are now pared down to very basic backdrop. The pacing and the dialogue and all the twist and turns as he slowly introduce it while you peel the layers of intrigue built into the whole story. It is for the mature audience who has tasted the games in their worklife and being caught between two rocks - you can sympathise with the characters as they try to wit themselve out of the situation which we had experienced before in different guise in our lives - all through the film you try to keep an even keel whether this whole thing was planned or it was adapt as it go on - this is the feeling you develop as you keep watching.

The pacing was excellent, the music designed to be a merge of old and new is supposed to be jarring to create the dissonance between the different scenes and quicken the tension - everyone has an angle and it's like trying to keep an eye on where the ball is in one of the three cups as these are being moved around quickly. As the layers peel more and more, you can identify with the different characters, their motivations and positioning each of them working on - and it's like every single piece of chess is making their own moves on the board within their own confined rules - it is for this reason those who want more depth and layers to their movie watching will appreciate Zhang move to pare down to just basic simple set (not much of sets) and then all the focus is on the characters and the games they all have to play while the sword of death hangs over the two main characters and all those who fall into their orbit.

And at the end of the show - there was an actual final objective - just that there were many ways they had to adapt to finally reach that. And with that Zhang Yimou perform his coda elegantly bringing the symphony to an end. Chapeau Mr Zhang, chapeau !

Visual: all grey setting, unnecessary and poor vfx 2/10.

The cloth didn't have any historical accuracy, poorly made and cheap on the screen

Plot: 0/10 dumbest plot ever. Lack in-depth segments, they can not even tell the audience the basic setting of movie, not to mention the below average IQ set of final part

Acting: 3/10 most actors like Yi and Zhang have no acting skills. They really need to work on actor training, not to make movie in two months, but two years to level the basic acting skill.

Music: 5/10. The only good part of the movie.

Director Zhang Yimo is such a disappointment, he can't make a good movie. He's too old and cannot learn any new.

Full River Red features a standout performance from Jackson Yee after his breakthrough in the Oscar-nominated "Better Days". At only 22 years old, Yee's performance as a rough steely hearted army general is both stunning and commendable. The film itself is a political suspense featuring many unexpected plot twists. The script is clever in many aspects and the ending is masterful and beautifully done. Well done Zhang Yimou and Jackson Yee. I would also recommend Jackson Yee's other films such as Nice View (available on Netflix), a Little Red Flower and his period Drama The Longest Day in Chang'an.

IMDb review

It's risky when a director change genre half way through the movie... lots of big names did it successfully and the result is a fun ride.

Quentin Tarantino's From Dusk Till Dawn, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, Ruben Östlund's Triangle of Sadness, and now... Zhang Yimou's Full River Red. These are risky masterpieces the directors undertook. I enjoy the ride throughly. Act one was so different from Zhang's previous films, I had to double check the credits. I went along with it, trying to forget it's the same director that gave us Hero and Raise the Red Lantern. I even let go and started laughing at some of its jokes. But Act 2 got my attention... Act 3 had me in tears! What a ride.

The movie has its problems. But overall it worked for me. I applaud Zhang's attempt at this script and giving us this rare masterpiece from China. Perhaps the only one so far that has attempted this kind of story telling. Maybe this is ahead of its time for the intended audience, but I believe it'll age like a fine wine.

As we all know, many of the world's top film directors such as Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, Eastwood and even Spielberg peaked after the age of 70. I believe that China's Zhang Yimou is about to join their ranks also. Full River Red is really a culmination of Zhang's directorial career, and he had even stated this many times himself, that the movie is a tribute to his own career.

The movie is a new genre of suspenseful patriotic comedy. The acting skills of all the actors - Shen Teng, Lei Jiayin, Zhang Yi, and Yue Yunpeng are amazing, and Jackson Yee (Yi Yangqianxi) in his brand new role, has stepped up once again, showing that he is simply the light of the new generation of actors in China.

I can see that Yimou Zhang tries really hard to have multiple twists in the movie in order to surprise the audience as much as he could, and the movie has some fun moments for sure, but I am not convinced by the final twist - the purposes of the gang, which is to pass on the poem written by Yue Fei before he was executed. This just seems too nationalistic, political, twisted and pointless, and literally makes this movie more like a propaganda movie than a piece of art, as the core value is so twisted!

People's lives are more precious than anything. It's a great deed that people sacrifice themselves to save another's life, but it's just a brain wash that people are willing die to pass on the love to their ruler.

It's really sad to see the twisted value in so many Chinese movies nowadays, and Yimou Zhang just contributed another.

Once upon a time, Zhang Yimou made good movies, but Full River Red is not one. While the production and scope of the film is huge which I can only applaud, it's production is massive with the money clearly onscreen. However, as a comedy thriller trying to emulate the likes of the Coen brothers, it doesn't work. The cast doesn't commit to their bits leaving many of the performances high and dry; it's ultimately disapppointing for anyone looking for something resembling Yimou's older works, and there's a horribly awkward tonal shift towards the end. Maybe just stop hiring Shen Teng for comedies, he isn't funny...

It's really super beautiful! It's really the movie with the highest box office in the Spring Festival. Director Zhang Yimou didn't disappoint me. He was wondering if it would be too hard for more than two hours. I never expected that I would be so absorbed in watching it. I didn't even go to the toilet. So many reversals really shocked me. Yiyang Qianxi is a good actor. I have seen every movie of his, and his acting skills are getting better and better. One thing that defines this comedy is Shen Teng and Yue Yunpeng, I wanted to laugh when they came out. My friend said that he thought that Qin Hui played very well. We will watch it again two weekends!