Director Feng Xiaogang has proved to be one of the biggest box-office draws in mainland China. His last few films such as A World Without Thieves, Big Shot's Funeral and The Banquet have generally done well critically and commercially.

His new film Assembly is a big-budget and ambitious war epic that, at least for the first hour, plays like a Chinese Saving Private Ryan. Set mostly during the Chinese Civil War (1927—1950), it stars Zhang Hanyu as an army captain who is constantly tested in battle. His decisions are not always the right ones, and they lead to a fair share of victory and devastating defeats.

But when peacetime arrives, the deaths of his men continue to haunt him — so much that he decides to go on a personal quest to recover their missing bodies, as well as his honour and integrity as a soldier.

Clocking in at 124 minutes, this complex and compelling war epic is boosted by solid production values, as well as the fantastic lead performance of Zhang Hanyu. He carries the emotional weight of the film on his firm shoulders and becomes the weeping centre of the Civil War.

Assembly is certainly a rare gem to come out of China, and is a must-see for war aficionados.