The Eight Hundred (2020)

From the acclaimed filmmaker behind Mr. Six comes a riveting war epic. In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.

Director:

Hu Guan

Writers:

Hu Guan (screenplay by), Rui Ge (screenplay by)

Stars:

Zhi-zhong Huang, Zhang Junyi, Hao Ou

20 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zhi-zhong Huang	...	Lao Hulu (as Zhizhong Huang)
Zhang Junyi	...	Xiao Hubei
Hao Ou	...	Duan Wu
Xiaoguang Hu	...	Hubei Officer
Wu Jiang	...	Lao Tie
Yi Zhang	...	Old Abacus
Qianyuan Wang	...	Yang Guai
Cheng Zhang	...	Lei Xiong
Siyu Lu	...	Yang Ruifu
Chun Du	...	Xie Jinyuan
Vision Wei	...	Zhu Shengzhong (as Chen Wei)
En Bai	...	Yang Deyu
Youhao Zhang	...	Xiao Qiyue
Lu Cao	...	Jiang Jing
Yixin Tang	...	Yang Huimin

Storyline

From the acclaimed filmmaker behind Mr. Six comes a riveting war epic. In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in the middle of the Shanghai battlefield, completely surrounded by the Japanese army.

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Plot Keywords:

china | chinese history | shanghai china | chinese soldier | japanese soldier | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

One line of the film mentioned that the "800" from the 88th division have received German military equipment, it is only a partial information as that division was trained by German military advisers who were helping China's government since 1927.

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Goofs

The warehouse is located in the northern bank of the Suzhou Creek, the Suzhou Creek flows eastward and joins the Yangtze river roughly one kilometer afterward. Therefore the Yangtze should be east of the warehouse. Yet the position of the Yangtze on the VFX shot during the plane fight scene can be seen at the west of the warehouse.

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Alternate Versions

The original cut set to be premiered in 2019's Shanghai International Film Festival is 160-minutes long. The re-censored version, which got finally released in 2020, is only 147-minute, with many replaced shots and multiple scenes blown-up and cropped.

User Reviews

A gritty, authentic portrait of war.

This is a most curious film to watch from the comfort of a cinema seat - especially as the dramatic action depicted in this wonderfully evocative movie is also being carried out in front of an audience - as near to the battles as we are to the screen - sitting in similar safety and comfort in the foreign concessions just across a canal from the warehouse where a few hundred remnants of the Chinese army are trying to stop the invading Japanese forces from conquering Shanghai in 1937. I cannot swear to the historical accuracy of the narrative - like many films of this nature, the memorial nature of the screenplay can sometime become subsumed into myth and legend, but the performances of the ensemble here are super. The sense of peril faced by the soldiers - old, young, experienced, some willing, some not so, some scared, some less so - is palpable. The pyrotechnics and visual effects are potently effective without eclipsing what is essentially a human story of pride, sacrifice, brutality and dedication. Unfortunately, there is way too much dialogue; the imagery is powerful enough to demonstrate the senses of panic and fear without the need for what, at times, constitutes a sort of running commentary and at times that's detracting from the effectiveness of the presentation but overall this is a superior assessment of a battle in a war of which I knew little that left me wanting to find out more.

Details

Official Sites:

Huayi Tencent Entertainment Koch Media [Germany]

Country:

China

Language:

Chinese Japanese English

Release Date:

28 August 2020 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Eight Hundred

Filming Locations:

Shanghai, China

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$118,161, 30 August 2020

Gross USA:

$372,755

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$461,391,628

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beijing Diqi Yinxiang Entertainment, Huayi Brothers Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

149 min 160 min (original cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White (archive footage)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1