I do hope that the people behind the production of this movie gets a chance to read my honest review as an unsatisfied viewer.
While there is great effort from the Cast and it's immediate that this is a big budget effort with good cinematography; again the failings of the Director, Producer and Scriptwriters by casting too wide a net; fails to deliver the main story of sacrifice by the Men and Women behind this True Epic Story.
All they had to do was to develop the story based even on Wikipedia.
Great larger than Life characters like the Leader Col Xie Jinyuan is not developed, while the Girl Guide Yang Huimin could have done with a better back story.
Instead of focusing on the Men who volunteered to Fight at the Sihang warehouse till the end; the main story Focus became that of the 'Deserters'. Too much camera film is devoted to the few men who didn't want to fight instead of the Men who relished a chance to deal the Japanese a black eye, even at the cost of their own lives.
Overall, the Director makes the same mistakes that most grand historical Chinese movies do, which is to Focus too widely and to include way too many characters into the focus lens. While still a good Movie, this movie leaves a sense of Wanting in that it could have been honestly greater. This True Story deserves better.