Is it possible that this "highest grossing film" figure is inflated?
I actually found a copy of the film and watched it over a month ago. While there were no subtitles for English, based on the production quality, I don't think it's a form of entertainment that would pass for "great" in the west or many other countries. Not that it's poor quality, but there are aspects of it that were cheap-ish. I'm talking explosions and artillery impacts that clearly look like squibs going off on cue, which is something most mainstream entertainment has either moved beyond or done a better job of making look realistic. The acting in some parts appeared over the top, while on the other hand they clearly struggled to find good White actors who could speak English and wanted to appear in this film.
To be fair, I the film appears to be of decent effort and wasn't the sort of disaster I was expecting it to be.
If you're a Chinese citizen and your dear leaders want you to see this film, are you not going to see it? And if you're in another country like Russia, wouldn't The Battle at Lake Changjin be at least a neat curiosity in that there's finally a film where the Americans aren't just the good guys?
Even then, should we not also suspect some form of shenanigans? I don't have evidence for it, but the CCP isn't really known for being not corrupted. They certainly have an interest in making sure its population is on board with a conflict with the United States.
All that to say that I think we should keep these things in perspective. There was a time when a film being the highest grossing meant something. Does it still mean the same thing in the streaming era? Does it mean the same thing in China as it does in the US?
I actually found a copy of the film and watched it over a month ago. While there were no subtitles for English, based on the production quality, I don't think it's a form of entertainment that would pass for "great" in the west or many other countries. Not that it's poor quality, but there are aspects of it that were cheap-ish. I'm talking explosions and artillery impacts that clearly look like squibs going off on cue, which is something most mainstream entertainment has either moved beyond or done a better job of making look realistic. The acting in some parts appeared over the top, while on the other hand they clearly struggled to find good White actors who could speak English and wanted to appear in this film.
To be fair, I the film appears to be of decent effort and wasn't the sort of disaster I was expecting it to be.
If you're a Chinese citizen and your dear leaders want you to see this film, are you not going to see it? And if you're in another country like Russia, wouldn't The Battle at Lake Changjin be at least a neat curiosity in that there's finally a film where the Americans aren't just the good guys?
Even then, should we not also suspect some form of shenanigans? I don't have evidence for it, but the CCP isn't really known for being not corrupted. They certainly have an interest in making sure its population is on board with a conflict with the United States.
All that to say that I think we should keep these things in perspective. There was a time when a film being the highest grossing meant something. Does it still mean the same thing in the streaming era? Does it mean the same thing in China as it does in the US?