''Codename Cougar'' (also known as ''Codename: Cougar'', ''Operation Cougar'' or ''The Puma Action'') is a 1989

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

thriller film. It was co-directed by

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

and

Yang Fengliang Yang Fengliang is a Chinese people, Chinese film director. He is best known for co-directing the Academy Awards, Oscar-Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, nominated film ''Ju Dou'' (1990) with Zhang Yimou. References External link ...

. Unlike the bulk of Zhang's early works (ranging from 1986's '' Red Sorghum'' to 1995's ''

Shanghai Triad ''Shanghai Triad'' is a 1995 Chinese crime-drama film, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. The script is written by Bi Feiyu based on Li Xiao's 1994 novel ''Rules of a Clan'' (门规). The film is set in the criminal underworld of 1930 ...

''), which were all historical pieces, ''Codename Cougar'' is a modern thriller involving a skyjacked airliner and political intrigue. The film was made as a private investment by a friend of Zhang, but parts of their initial ideas were censored by the Chinese authorities. In the end, the film broke even but earned no profits. Zhang called it "a purely commercial gun chase film".

Plot

The film follows a commercial airliner on a routine flight between

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

that is hijacked and taken to mainland China by the fictional Taiwan Revolutionary Army Front. Communist authorities cannot seize the plane because of the presence of an important business figure on the flight, and agree to cooperate discreetly with Taiwanese authorities to defuse an already tense situation.

Cast

Gong Li Gong Li (Chinese: 巩俐; born 31 December 1965) is a Chinese actress. She starred in three of the four Chinese-language films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Gong was born in Shenyang, Liaoni ...

as A Li *

Ge You Ge You (born April 19, 1957) is a Chinese actor. A native of Beijing, often with a bald shaven pate, he is considered by many to be one of the most recognizable acting personalities in China. He became the first Asian actor to win the Cannes ...

as Zheng Xianping *

Liu Xiaoning Liu Xiaoning (; born in Qingdao, Shandong) is a Chinese former volleyball player, a member of the China women's national volleyball team from 1995 to 2001. She was part of the Chinese national team, the silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympi ...

as Liang Zhuang *

Wang Xueqi Wang Xueqi (; born 19 March 1946) is a Chinese film actor whose career has spanned over 25 years. He was often cast in early Fifth Generation films, such as Chen Kaige's ''Yellow Earth'' (1984) and ''The Big Parade'' (1986), Huang Jianxin's '' S ...

as Huang Jingru * Tian Min *

Yang Yazhou Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration pr ...

Yu Rongguang Yu Rongguang (; born 30 August 1958), also known as Ringo Yu, is a Chinese actor and martial artist. He is best known for the title role in '' Iron Monkey'' along with Donnie Yen as well as being featured in films such as '' The East Is Red'', '' ...

Reception

The film is generally considered a failure or a footnote to Zhang's general oeuvre; ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' referred to the film as Zhang Yimou's last "purely frivolous work."

References

External links

* * 1989 films 1989 thriller films 1980s Mandarin-language films Chinese aviation films Films directed by Zhang Yimou Chinese thriller films {{1980s-thriller-film-stub