The film tells the story of an American (Christian Bale) who tries to protect a group of Chinese students and prostitutes from Japanese soldiers in 1937 Nanjing. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
Bale is forthright and emotional in the role, and with a hint of boyish vulnerability, even reminds us of his 13-year-old self in Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.
It can look tremendous, even if Zhao Xiaoding's hyper-stylised '90-retro cinematography sits uneasily beside relentless bloodshed and sexual violations.
