The Sino-Japanese War at Sea 1894 (2012)

Decent historical film

This movie has not really gotten its due. It covers the naval conflict between the Qing dynasty and imperial Japan under Meiji. The characters are not too fleshed out and there are so many names and actors and things happening without much clarity on the intentions. This makes the movie much more confusing than it needs to be. Unfortunately, this style is present in most Chinese historical movies. They do a good job with dates and times but do poorly with character motivations. The patriotism is on its sleeve in this one but the movie does try to portray the historical parts accurately.
The Japanese are not depicted as evil but rather as a weaker but determined power that succeeds mainly because of corruption within the Chinese dynasty. War economics are discussed much more here than in other war movies which is commendable given that these wars were decided more by economics and will, than anything else. The special effects are great and it quite clearly uses traditional effects rather than CGI which makes for much more compelling visuals. The naval warfare depicted is very good. Also, many scenes of training at the naval academy are great and there is even camaraderie between officers of the opposing fleets, something I rarely ever see given the rank antagonism usually depicted. A special shoutout to a certain German shepherd does the best acting by a dog in any film I've seen.

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