Having enjoyed the dazzling Chinese epics House of Flying Daggers and Hero, Assembly was my first foray into their take on the war genre. Slow burning dramas such as Trishna, are good but sometimes there is nothing like a good action film to get the adrenaline pumping.
Assembly throws us straight into the action as Captain Gu Zidi leads his infantry unit against rebel forces. In what follows is a brutal battle where Zidi and his infantry must face a determined enemy using heavy shelling, machine guns and tanks to devastating effect. After Zidi manages to survive the attack by stealing an enemy uniform, he is shocked to discover his men were deemed missing in action or deserters, and sets on proving that they fought and died as heroes.
The film is pretty shocking in showing the brutality of war, with graphic scenes of men mutilated by shells or machine gun fire. In one disturbing scene a man sets himself on fire after trying to take down a tank with a molotov cocktail. It's definitely not a film for the fainthearted.
After the first hour or so of intense battle scenes, things take a slower sombre turn when Zidi meets the wife of a man that served with him, learns that the call to assembly (retreat) was never called, and tries in vain to dig up the dead bodies of his fallen comrades.
Although occasionally over sentimental, Assembly is still an essential watch for fans of the genre.
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