Air Strike (Chinese: 大轰炸) also known as The Bombing or Unbreakable Spirit is a Chinese action war-drama film directed by Xiao Feng about the Japanese bombings of Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War.[4] Mel Gibson joined as production designer. The film stars Liu Ye, Bruce Willis, Song Seung-heon and William Chan, with special appearances by Nicholas Tse, Tenma Shibuya, Adrien Brody, Simon Yam, Fan Bingbing and many others.
| Air Strike | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Traditional Chinese | 大轟炸 |
| Simplified Chinese | 大轰炸 |
| Literal meaning | great bombing |
| Hanyu Pinyin | dà hōngzhà |
| Directed by | Xiao Feng |
| Produced by | Jian-Xiang Shi Buting Yang |
| Starring | Liu Ye Bruce Willis Song Seung-heon William Chan |
| Cinematography | Yang Shu |
| Edited by | Robert A. Ferretti Chi-Leung Kwong |
| Music by | Liguang Wang |
Production companies | China Film Group Origin Films (Beijing) Investment Co. Ltd. Shanghai Nangou Films Co. Ltd. Shanghai Film Group Hollywood International Film Exchange[1] |
| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | China |
| Languages | Mandarin English |
| Budget | $65 million[2] |
| Box office | $532,377[3] |
Premise
With the beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War at the Battle of Shanghai and Nanjing in 1937,[5] the story develops around the Chinese Air Force's great resistance against the Japanese invasion and occupation of China; the overwhelming might of the Imperial Japanese war machine taking down Shanghai and the capital of Nanjing, followed by heavy resistance and eventual fall of the interim wartime capital of Wuhan in 1938, and climaxing into the bloody six years-long all-airwar Battle of Chongqing, the wartime capital of China for the remainder of the Second Sino-Japanese War, with the remnants of the Chinese Air Force, the refugees, and the people of Chongqing exemplifying the undying resilience against years of barbaric air strikes by the Imperial Japanese air power.[6]
Cast
Main cast
- Liu Ye[7] as Xue Gang Tou
- Bruce Willis[7] as Col. Jack Johnson
- Song Seung-heon[7] as An Ming Xun / An Ming He
- William Chan as Cheng Ting
- Fan Wei as Uncle Cui
- Wu Gang as Zhao Chun
- Ma Su as Ding Lian
- Che Yongli as Yaogu
- Feng Yuanzheng as Xue Man Guan
- Janine Chang as Qian Xue
- Geng Le as Jin Xiang
Special appearances
- Tenma Shibuya[8] as Sato
- Zhang Fan as Cui Liu
- Nicholas Tse[7] as Lei Tao
- Fan Bingbing as Ye Pei Xuan
- Anthony Rogers as Ye Pei Xuan's boyfriend
- Chen Daoming as Chief of City Defense
- Simon Yam as Air Defense Commander
- Adrien Brody[9] as Steve
- Ray Lui as Air Force Colonel
- Lei Jia as Wan Jia
- Hu Bing[10] as Hospital Dean
- Huang Haibing as Adjutant to Jack
- Rumer Willis[11] as Julia
- Liu Xiaoqing as Madam Zhang
- Eva Huang as Du Mei
- Kenny Bee as Governmental Officer
- Jiro Wang as Young Officer
- Cao Kefang as Patriot
- Niki Chow as Junior Patriot
Production
Mel Gibson served as the art director of the $65 million budgeted film.[2][12] Principal photography on the film began in May 2015 in Shanghai, China.[7] Filming was completed in November 2015.
Release
The film was filmed as a memorial for the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in WWII.[13][14] Originally scheduled to be released on 17 August 2018,[1] it was later rescheduled to be released on 26 October 2018 in order to have a same-day global release.[15]
In October 2018, it was announced that screening plans of the film had been cancelled in China. Earlier, it was leaked by TV anchor Cui Yongyuan that Fan Bingbing, one of the film's guest actors, was involved in a tax evasion scandal when starring in this film.[16][17][18] However, the home video release in the United States went on as scheduled.[19]
The all-English dubbed version has been released to US streaming services and on Blu-ray.[20]
See also
- Air Warfare of WWII from the Sino-Japanese War perspective
- Flying Tigers, the First American Volunteer Group (1AVG)
References
External links
- Air Strike at IMDb
- Air Strike at Rotten Tomatoes
- Official trailer: AIR STRIKE - Lionsgate Unlocked on YouTube
