La Canonnière du Yang-Tse

This film has two major advantages. The first is primarily the charismatic Steve McQueen in the lead role, who plays the typical right man in the right place, tough and fair, simply the kind of character that reliably impresses adventure film viewers. Secondly, the film is set in the relatively unexplored period of the 1920s in exotic China, torn by civil war, nationalist passions, and foreign intervention. I cannot recall any other film from this crucial Chinese period. However, the film is burdened with several period-related shortcomings and an unnecessarily long runtime, and the three-hour drama of the main character could have easily been cut by an hour. These drawbacks include excessive melodrama and certain script shortcomings, such as the depiction of tough sailors gazing too longingly at the raised American flag, the use of pathetic gestures, and completely senseless military actions, such as attacking enemy wooden junks and engaging in a heroic bloodied fight man to man where basic logic would suggest utilizing overwhelming firepower to defeat the enemy from a greater distance. In the final scene, our hero runs around with a machine gun in an open space in a style that could be described as "please shoot me now, I can't act any more stupidly," when he could have simply stayed behind cover at his post, delaying the advance of poorly trained Chinese soldiers and ensuring the escape of his friends. Despite these shortcomings, the dramatic storyline works, and the film offers an interesting and powerful story about ambiguous heroes in a critical situation. Overall impression: 65%. (15/06/2010)