FILM REVIEWS:
OPERATION HADAL (China 2026) ***
Directed by Dante Lam
Operation Hadal or Operation Leviathan is a 2025 action war film. It is the follow-up to the 2018 film Operation Red Sea. Differing from the previous film's above-water action set-pieces, this film is about a nuclear submarine and features mainly underwater action.
In the near future, the Chinese Navy intercepts critical intelligence—an advanced super-submarine is secretly plotting a top-secret military operation against cities along China's southeastern coast. In response, China deploys its latest submarine, Longjing, to coordinate with the elite Jiaolong Squad in a high-stakes mission. The battlefield beneath the ocean is fraught with danger as the squad faces relentless traps, and the submarine engages in a series of intense confrontations with the enemy. As they manoeuvre through ambushes, they venture deep into the vast abyss filled with undersea volcanoes.
The bottom line of the story! Though set in a fictitious futuristic world, the story contains frightening parallels with what is occurring in the world today. In the film, it is the white caucasians agains the Chinese, who speak Mandarin. So, it is likely that China is under attack by the U.S. for world dominance. It is a scary game that puts entire countries at risk, in this case, the Chinese mainland, all for the sake of who can become number one, like kids playing King of the Castle. In this film, it is good to see the Chinese as the good guys and the Americans (not named Americans, but obviously so, from the accents) as the bad guys. Right now, the U.S. is claiming dominance over several countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Canada and Greenland. The oddest thing is that Americans do not realise what their President is doing, and that is making them the most hated country in the world, for their arrogance and dominance. One thing that is also for sure is that OPERATION HADAL, which costs about $150 million, puts a lot of Hollywood action blockbusters to shame.
Director Lam’s action set-pieces are very technical and involve both fighting above ground in enclosed spaces or underwater, often involving pyrotechnics, and hand-to-hand combat. The landing of troops on the oil platforms in the beginning action sequence is indeed impressive. But despite the action, the film suffers from weak character development and a weak plot and narrative.
The human Jailing team includes Meng Chuang, who leads the commandos. He is experienced but emotionally burdened by previous combat losses. Han Xiao is a younger commando eager to prove himself. while Zhao Qihang commands the submarine Longjing and becomes the calm strategic centre of the story. Nothing too impressive, as many military action films like this one spend time establishing camaraderie among the soldiers before placing them into increasingly impossible situations.
“Hadal” refers to the hadal zone — the deepest region of the ocean, usually depths below about 6,000 metres (20,000 feet), including ocean trenches such as the Mariana Trench.
The word comes from “Hades,” the Greek underworld, and in oceanography, the hadal zone is considered an extreme, dark, high-pressure environment.
On the international festival circuit, OPERATION HADAL won a special jury award, the Golden Deer, at the Changchun Film Festival, Xuan Huang won the Golden Lotus Award as Best Actor at the Macau International Movie Festival (where the film was also nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Director & Best Cinematography), and the film took home the Golden Angel Award for Outstanding Film as the Chinese American Film Festival (C.A.F.F.).
OPERATION HADAL debuts on Digital June 16 from Well Go USA Entertainment. It is the third entry (alongside Operation Mekong & Operation Red Sea) in award-winning filmmaker Dante Lam’s epic war series. OPERATION HADAL will also land on Blu-ray™ and DVD exclusively through Amazon® on September 29.
