Aye aye, Captain!
The Naval Commandoes is a military/war film directed by Chang Cheh, produced by Shaw Brothers, starring Alexander Fu Sheng, Anthony Lau Wing, David Chiang, Shih Szu and Ti Lung in a really, really minimal role. It is notably one of Chang Cheh's last war movies he made as a co-production with Taiwan’s Central Film Company.
During the Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese navy, under-equipped and ill-prepared for an invasion, is threatened by the superior, dreaded, and powerful Japanese aircraft carrier, the Izumo. Vice Admiral An of the Chinese navy decides to assemble a team of commandos for a daring raid to sink the Izumo, managing to recruit Shanghainese resistance fighter Xiao-liu, Naval Captain Hu Ching-yuan, Sergeant Shao Kang-fa, and a rather shabby team of fighters and punks who accepted this mission for their own reasons. The only other person whom they need for the mission is Song-san, a local businessman and nightclub owner, who is friends with the Japanese and often looked down as a traitor for selling his services to the wealthy Japanese invaders.
Naval Commandos contains examples of:
- Abandon Ship: The crew of the Ning-hai, after being completely obliterated by aircraft launched by the Izumo.
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: The bedroom talk between Xiao-liu and Cui Hsia, his potential Love Interest, the night before he sets off for the mission to take down the Izumo.
- Action Survivor: Vice Admiral An is the Sole Survivor of the final raid on the Japanese aircraft carrier, having witnessed every single one of his comrades' deaths and providing a firsthand account of the entire mission.
- Bad Guy Bar: Subverted with Song-san's club; Song-san is a wealthy nightclub owner whose club is frequented by the Japanese, including Captain Hiroda and most of the higher-ups of the Japanese Navy, but by the end of the day Song-san is merely a businessman who's interested in making money, and is by no means a villain.
- Category Traitor: Song-san is considered to be this by most of the commandos, due to being close friends with the Japanese.
- Characters Dropping Like Flies: As the climatic raid on the Izumo continues, we have one named character dying every 5 minutes until Vice Admiral An remains as the Sole Survivor of the mission.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The battle between the aircraft carrier Izumo and Ning-hai. Due to the latter being severely under-equipped and poorly maintained, and facing the superior firepower of the Izumo, it's crew ends up getting massacred when it gets sunk. But still...
- Curb Stomp Cushion: The crew of the Ning-hai did manage to shoot down at least a handful of planes launched from the Izumo before being sunk.
- Death by Cameo: Ti Lung as the Ning-hai captain. While his sailors managed to bail, being the captain, it's his duty to stay with the ship even as it's being blown up to pieces. And so he did.
- Dying Smirk: On Song-san, moments before his death.
- Face Death with Dignity: Song-san, upon realizing he's been mortally wounded, tells Vice Admiral An and the commandoes to proceed with their mission, before sitting down and allowing himself to bleed out. All by himself.
- Fake Defector: "Defector" may be too strong a word for Song-san the nightclub owner, who's providing services to the Japanese because he's being paid handsomely, but he ultimately supports the mission from Vice Admiral An and the commandoes.
- Foregone Conclusion: Since the movie literally begins with the now-elderly Vice Admiral An narrating the destruction of the Izumo which happened in his youth, it's quite clear that the admiral will survive the movie. The titular commando team, on the other hand...
- Framing Device: The movie opens with Vice Admiral An, now an elderly man with graying hair, relating his experiences during the naval war against the Japanese, to the new ROC/Taiwanese Admiral. Cue a Whole Episode Flashback depicting the entire mission.
- Janitor Impersonation Infiltration: This is the method used by the titular commando team to infiltrate the Izumo in the climax, pretending to be deckhands and cleaners, while hiding explosives in their cleaning buckets.
- Mutual Kill: The fight between Song-san and Captain Hiroda in the office of the Izumo ends with Hiroda grabbing a concealed pistol and shooting Song-san, but Song-san managed to stab Hiroda dead before he succumbs.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Song-san, the wealthy local nightclub owner, doesn't care that his local club is being used by the Japanese, because he's being paid extravagantly for his services. He eventually ends up supporting Vice Admiral An and the commandos' mission, though.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The titular commandos. Vice Admiral An and Captain Hu Ching-yuan are the only members which has any sort of military training, being assigned to put together a team in the last minute for a Suicide Mission. Shiao Liu and Shao Kang-fa are merely hooligans, Song-san is a local businessman who has to be talked into accepting the mission due to his connections with the Japanese, while the rest of the commandos are resistance fighters or coolies.
- Redemption Equals Death: Song-san.
- Taking You with Me:
- See Mutual Kill for how the fight between Song-san and Captain Hiroda turns out.
- Most of the naval commandos have dynamites attached to their bodies, preventing the Japanese sailors on board the Izumo from shooting them while up close. Most of them blew up themselves with multiple Japanese sailors in the climax (see also one trope below).
- Together in Death: A True Companions example with Shiao Liu and Hu Ching-yuan. Having installed explosives all over the boiler room and lower decks of the Izumo, and finding themselves locked in the hull with Japanese sailors surrounding them, they then trigger the dynamites they've strapped to themselves.
- Outrun the Fireball: At the end of the movie, Vice Admiral An jumping off the deck of the Izumo as the entire ship blows up behind him.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Shiao Liu, Hu Ching-yuan, Shao Kang-fa and most of the commandos fights bare-chested in the climax.
