Full River Red

Full River Red is a 2023 period comedy thriller film directed by Zhang Yimou, and stars Shen Teng and Jackson Yee, alongside Zhang Yi, Lei Jiayin and Yue Yunpeng. It was released in theaters in China on January 22, 2023, the same day as the Chinese New Year Day. It is the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2023 and highest grossing Chinese film in 2023.

“full river red" is based on a meeting between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. It tells the story of a group of righteous men who sacrificed their lives to eradicate evil. Among them, the characters Zhang Da played by Shen Teng and Sun Jun played by Yi Yangqianxi also have their own mysterious color, which makes people imagine endlessly.

Plot
The film chronicles a mystery case set in the beginning era of Southern Song dynasty. It is set four years after Yue Fei's death (around 1146). A mysterious murder occurs at Qin Hui's residence when he meets delegates from the rival Jin Dynasty. A soldier and a commander become entangled in a large conspiracy as one of the Jin envoys perishes and a confidential letter is reported missing. Righteous vigilantes are responsible for the incident and want to kill a suspected traitor.

Cast

 * Shen Teng as Zhang Da, a recruited soldier without rank
 * Jackson Yee as Sun Jun, the deputy commander of the guard battalion
 * Zhang Yi as He Li, the general manager of the grand chancellor bureau
 * Lei Jiayin as Qin Hui, the grand chancellor
 * Yue Yunpeng as Wu Yichun, the vice general manager of the grand chancellor bureau
 * as Zither (Yao Qin), a dancing girl and Zhang Da's love
 * Pan Binlong as Ding Sanwang, a Song soldier who dies
 * Yu Ailei as Liu Xi, a Song dynasty peasant who is stabbed to death by He Li's mandate
 * Guo Jingfei as Wang Biao, the commander of the guard battalion
 * Wei Xiang as Hadeng, a Jin envoy who is killed
 * Zhang Chi as Chen Liang, a Song soldier (left guard)
 * Huang Yan as Hu Yong, a Song soldier (right guard) who is sentenced to death (beheading) as tribute to the Jin dynasty
 * Xu Jingya as Lan Yu, Qin Hui’s mute and deaf maid.
 * Jiang Pengyu as Lüzhu, Qin Hui’s mute and deaf maid.
 * Lin Boyang as Liu Yan, a dancing girl who dies at the beginning
 * Fei Fan as Qingmei, a dancing girl who dies
 * Ren Sinuo as Tao Yatou, Liu Xi's daughter
 * Chen Yongsheng as a Song soldier
 * Zhang Yinan as Chen Xi, Song dynasty secretary

Special appearance

 * Ou Hao as Zheng Wan, a Song soldier

Development
The title is from one of the most famous poems Man Jiang Hong attributed to Yue Fei. Yue Fei was a military general of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279). He is a symbol of patriotism and loyalty to his country. However, Yue Fei was framed and executed by the Song emperor Zhao Gou along with Prime Minister Qin Hui. Although the poem is attributed to Yue Fei, there are theories that Yue Fei did not actually write it. Some even say that the poem was written in a different time period (e.g. after the Song dynasty), citing the fact that Helan mountains and Xiongnu are mentioned.

The poem Man Jiang Hong is recited during film by Qin Hui's double in front of the Song army.

Some characters (such as He Li) are based on the novel General Yue Fei, written by Qian Cai during the Qing dynasty. Some characters also share names with historical people from other time periods such as Lan Yu, a general who was executed by Zhu Yuanzhang during the early Ming dynasty, and Lüzhu, an ancient Chinese singer.

The movie's slogan says, "Enough suspense, laugh to the end." At the beginning of creation, Chen Yu made it clear that this was a "suspense film" with elements of comedy, but it was not a combination of suspense and comedy. In the current film market, he regarded it as An exploration and attempt of "new mainstream movies".

Filming
The film officially announced that the filming began on June 26, 2022. The filming took place in Taiyuan, Shanxi. It finished filming in August 2022.

Release
The film released the first trailer on December 27, 2022. On the same day, it also announced that the film was scheduled for release on January 22, 2023 in CINITY, IMAX, Dolby Vision and other formats. On December 29, 2022, the film released the list of full cast. On January 5, 2023, it released the character names of full cast.

Box office
The film made US$60 million on its opening day and US$181 million in its first three days, coming in behind The Wandering Earth 2. In just 8 days, the film had made over US$465 million.

As of March 18, 2023, the film is China's sixth-highest-grossing box office entry of all time and the highest grosser of 2023 Chinese New Year.

Critical response
On January 14, 2024, the film won the title of Most Influential Film of the Year at the 2023 Weibo Night; in February, it was nominated for the Best Asian Chinese Film at the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 16 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 75 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".