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James Marsh

1/5 stars
The Chinese military drama Formed Police Unit has finally arrived in cinemas, some three years after it was originally shot.
Production stalled following a scandal involving its original star Zhang Zhehan, who was swiftly removed from the project. All of his scenes were either re-edited or reshot entirely.
The tabloid antics of the film’s one-time lead are the least of its problems, however. Formed Police Unit is a woefully ill-conceived and culturally tone-deaf attempt to celebrate China’s international standing.


The wafer-thin plot casts fresh-faced stars Huang Jingyu (Operation Red Sea), Wang Yibo (Hidden Blade) and Zhong Chuxi (Youth) as members of a Chinese peacekeeping police unit, who are sent to the fictional African nation of Santa Leonne to help quell a civil uprising.
An anti-government rebel leader is standing trial for genocide, but he vehemently denies doing anything beyond protecting his people from a corrupt leadership. It is soon revealed, however, that he is in the pocket of Kevin Lee’s dastardly British-accented mercenary.
Regardless of who is to blame, tensions on the streets are reaching fever pitch and the embedded United Nations forces are in desperate need of support.
Produced by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and directed by veteran stuntman Lee Tat-chiu, who also oversees the action, Formed Police Unit unspools like a pale knock-off of a Dante Lam Chiu-yin movie, emulating the incendiary pomp of Operation Red Sea but lacking Lam’s playful bravado or sense of spectacle.

The plentiful slow-motion sequences of flying bullets and exploding armoured vehicles are the only saving grace in this otherwise embarrassing misfire.
Formed Police Unit clearly exists to serve as little more than a propaganda tool to celebrate the resourcefulness and capability of China’s armed forces and the country’s willingness to undertake international operations to help uphold the greater good.
The characters are noble, clean-cut and unwavering in their dedication to the cause. Even when conflict is introduced, as is fleetingly the case between Huang and Wang’s characters, it is quickly resolved by their dedication to the task at hand.
This image of China as a globally significant, selfless, compassionate power is significantly undercut, however, by the film’s insensitive depiction of the Santa Leonne people as a faceless rabble of helpless peasants.

To add insult to injury, the team at one point go undercover wearing blackface – perhaps the single most egregious display of cultural insensitivity possible in 2024.
Nobody is disputing China’s capacity or willingness to participate in global affairs but, on the evidence of Formed Police Unit, its marketing department remains pitifully out of touch.
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Wang Yibo in a still from Formed Police Unit (category IIB, Mandarin), directed by Lee Tat-chiu. Huang Jingyu and Zhong Chuxi co-star.


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A wafer-thin plot and huge cultural insensitivities undercut what was clearly intended as a cinematic celebration of Chinese military might


Formed Police Unit exists to serve as little more than a propaganda tool. It has the thinnest of plots, a shocking moment of blackface, and what little tension exists between characters soon dissipates.


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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

Review | Formed Police Unit movie review: Andrew Lau-produced Chinese military drama is just woeful

A wafer-thin plot and huge cultural insensitivities undercut what was clearly intended as a cinematic celebration of Chinese military might