Dante Lam (second from right), the film's director, and the crew during the filming in Morocco. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Another sequence showing the elite force heading into the conflict zone in search of the last Chinese citizen resembles Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998).

Dante Lam, 53, the film's director, a veteran from Hong Kong who is known for his action films, says that he was "perturbed" when he was asked to make the war-related film.

Speaking of how he prepared for the assignment, he says: "I watched previous productions. And, it was then that I could figure out how to show the Chinese Navy. I wanted to do something real, not a film shot in a studio."

Lam, however, is no stranger to turning true stories into cinematic spectacles.

In 2016, Lam made Operation Mekong, also based on a Chinese cross-border manhunt to bring a drug gang leader to justice.

One criticism about Operation Red Sea is that it is filled with battle scenes, giving the audience no respite.

Explaining the bloody scenes, Lam says he did this to focus on the cruelty of war.

"I wanted to provoke viewers' anti-war thinking," says Lam. "Under the surface of the action scenes, there are people's genuine emotions."