SCARE OUT
(director: Yimou Zhang; screenwriter: Liang Chan; cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding; editor: Li Yongyi; music: Pang Fei; cast: Song Jia (Zhao Hung), Jackson Yee (Yan Di), Zhang Yimou (Deputy Director Wang), Yilong Zhu (Huang Kai), Mi Yang (Bai Fan, Huang’s mistress), Liu Yaowen (Jian Hao), Liu Shishi (Xiao Yu, pregant wife of Huang), Lin Boyang (Chien Li), Chen Minghao (Director Liu), Jiayin Lei (Li Nan), Nathaniel Boyd (Nathan), Jiang Qilin (Pin Shan, sniper), Du Yusen (Su Bin), Liu Shishi (Xianyu); Runtime: 104; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Lie Jie, Pang Liwei; CMC Pictures; 2026-China-in Mandarin)
“Filled with double-crosses, twists, and confusion.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Chinese filmmaker Yimou Zhang (“Under the Light”/”Raise the Red Lantern”), once a favorite with the arthouse crowd in the West, directs this stylish but over edited spy thriller set in an unnamed modern Chinese city (filmed in Shenzhen). The screenwriter is Liang Chan.
The plot revolves around Chinese government spies who work for the National Security Team and are attired in black uniforms when working, who have a mole in their spy network feeding the West high-tech industrial secrets on a new fighter jet.
This is the first Chinese film to receive approval by the government’s Ministry of State Security. It’s filled with double-crosses, twists, and confusion.
In the opening scene there’s a chase on foot after a scientist turned sniper (Jiang Qilin) wounds the government spy Hang Kai (Yilong Zhu) with an arrow fired from a cross-bow when he saves the life of his colleague Yan Di (Jackson Yee) by jumping in front of him to take the arrow in his shoulder, while his fellow spy (Du Yusen) on the suspect’s trail is killed. The killer is chased by the female drone operator (Chien Li) until he falls off a building and dies before questioned. The field spy Yan Di was following the suspicious middle-aged American Nathan (Nathaniel Boyd), who received from the courier Li Nan (Jiayin Lei) a package that exploded before it was searched. Nathan, when arrested, claims he was paid to pick-up the package for someone else and doesn’t know what it contained inside.
The bossy female Zhao Hong (Song Jia), who was on the National Security Team with Hang Kai and Yan Di, has been chosen to head the investigation called ‘Operation Scare Out’ to find the traitor in the spy network who is passing on the classified material to the West.
The 30-something Huang Kai (Yilong Zhu) has a pregnant wife (Liu Shishi) and a mistress Bai Fan (Mi Yang). He works for the spy agency in the field office, while the bachelor straight shooter in his mid-20s, Yan Di (Jackson Yee), works in the field. The government spies have a brotherly work relationship and look out for each other, but circumstances make them the two prime suspects to be the traitor when the Operation Scare Out program is launched.
The top supervisors work in the modernized spy building, where they issue orders for the use of surveillance cameras and drones. They are the Director Liu (Chen Minghao) and the Deputy Director Wang (Zhang Yimou). The futuristic surveillance technology allows the personnel in the control room to follow what’s going on in the field.
The fast-paced espionage thriller is visually attractive and competently acted, but it lacks psychological insight and its twisty story has too many twists.
The cautious Zhang is no longer the rebellious director he was in the 80s and 90s when he was a “fifth generation” filmmaker who acted heroically. Now he’s making state-approved propaganda films for the establishment and seems quite comfortable doing it.
REVIEWED ON 4/4/2026 GRADE: C+
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