The Warriors was directed by Ning Haiqiang (whose oeuvre includes 2015’s The Hundred Regiments Offensive), is set in 1935 and follows a regiment of the People’s Liberation Army – then known simply as the Red Army – led by Commander Huang Kaixiang (Ethan Li) and including Sergeant Yang Zhengwei (Nie Yuan), as it races towards a key bridge that has to be taken in order to stop the Kuomintang troups’ progress in the region.