| The Eight Hundred | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Chinese | 八佰 |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Bābǎi |
| Directed by | Guan Hu |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Cao Yu |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Andrew Kawczynski |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Huayi Brothers CMC Pictures Holdings (international) |
Release date |
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Running time | 147 minutes |
| Country | China |
| Languages |
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| Budget | $80 million[1] |
| Box office | $461.4 million |
The Eight Hundred (Chinese:八佰) is a 2020 Chinesehistoricalwar drama film directed by and co-written byGuan Hu, and starringHuang Zhizhong,Oho Ou,Wang Qianyuan,Jiang Wu,Zhang Yi,Du Chun,Vision Wei,Li Chen, andYu Haoming. The film is based on the 1937defense of Sihang Warehouse by ChineseNRA troops during theBattle of Shanghai in the early stages of theSecond Sino-Japanese War.
Originally scheduled for release in July 2019, the premiere and the nationwide release was moved to August 21, 2020.[2][3] The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $461 million worldwide, making it thesecond highest-grossing film of 2020.[4][5]
During the early days of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, and on a greater scaleWorld War II, theImperial Japanese Army invadedShanghai in what became known as theBattle of Shanghai. After holding back the Japanese for over 3 months, and suffering heavy losses, the Chinese army was forced to retreat due to the danger of being encircled. Lieutenant ColonelXie Jinyuan of the 524th Regiment of the under-equipped88th Division of theNational Revolutionary Army, led 452 young officers and soldiers to defendSihang Warehouse against the3rd Imperial Japanese Division consisting of around 20,000 troops on a heroic suicidal last stand against the Japanese under an order by Generalissimo of Nationalist China,Chiang Kai-shek.
The decision was made to provide a morale boost to the Chinese people after the losses of Beijing and Shanghai, and helped spur support from the Western powers, who were in full view of the battle from theInternational Settlement in Shanghai just across the Suzhou Creek.[6]
Guan Hu had been preparing for the film for 10 years.[7]The Eight Hundred is the firstChinese film or commercialAsian film shot entirely onIMAX cameras.[8][9] The production team had built a real set of 68 buildings with an area of 133,333 square metres (1,435,180 square feet) inSuzhou,east China'sJiangsu province.[10] The investment amount of the film is as high asCN¥ 550,000,000 (US$ 80,000,000).[7]
Principal photography started on 9 September 2017 and wrapped on 27 April 2018.[10][11]
A theme song for the film titled "Remembering" (苏州河) was written by Bob Ezrin, Shridhar Solanki, Cheng Zhang and Isabel Yue Yin based on the melody of theLondonderry Air and was performed byAndrea Bocelli andNa Ying. The theme song had both an English and Mandarin version. The theme song was accompanied by the film's main theme and score written byRupert Gregson-Williams and Andrew Kawczynski.
| Name | Author/Singer(s) | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| When I Turn to Dust | Andrew Kawczynski | 2:48 |
| Great City in Ruins | Andrew Kawczynski | 2:48 |
| Day 1 | Andrew Kawczynski | 4:51 |
| White Horse | Andrew Kawczynski | 1:50 |
| Imminent Danger | Andrew Kawczynski | 3:10 |
| Overstepped Boundaries | Andrew Kawczynski | 5:29 |
| Day 2 | Andrew Kawczynski | 4:10 |
| True Heroes | Andrew Kawczynski | 5:36 |
| Day 3 | Andrew Kawczynski | 4:01 |
| Pure Gold Fears No Fire | Andrew Kawczynski | 4:39 |
| A Vision | Andrew Kawczynski | 2:50 |
| Day 4 | Andrew Kawczynski | 4:55 |
| Politics of War | Andrew Kawczynski | 3:59 |
| The World is Watching Us | Andrew Kawczynski | 3:12 |
| Before the Dawn | Andrew Kawczynski | 3:32 |
| Take Cover | Andrew Kawczynski | 6:48 |
| Last Stand | Andrew Kawczynski | 2:35 |
| You Will See My Smile | Andrew Kawczynski | 2:37 |
| Remembering (Chinese Version) | Andrea Bocelli andNa Ying | 4:51 |
| Remembering (International Version) | Andrea Bocelli andNa Ying | 4:52 |
The film was originally scheduled to premiere on 15 June 2019 during the prestigious opening slot of theShanghai International Film Festival but was pushed back to 5 July, due to "consultation between the production team and other entities".[12][13] Before the withdrawal, the Chinese Red Culture Research Association, a group managed by the state-runChinese Academy of Social Sciences,[14][15] held an academic conference on filmmaking where attendees voiced opinions on the film.[9][16] Attendees did not agree with the portrayal of the National Revolutionary Army, saying the film failed to portray "the class oppression within the ranks of the Kuomintang army, the misdeeds of its officers and its evil oppression of the people".[9] According to a report published on the social media platformWeChat, the participants complained that the film excessively glorified the Kuomintang army.[16][17]
Afterwards, the film's screening at the Shanghai film festival was cancelled.Jia Zhangke, a prominent filmmaker, criticised the decision, saying onSina Weibo "[things] cannot be done like that for the moviemaking business".[18]
The film was then delayed yet again from its 5 July 2019 release date.[19] Pushed back by over a year until 2 August 2020, the producers announced that the film was scheduled for release on 21 August 2020 nationwide in China.[9][20] The theatrical version is said to be 13 minutes shorter than the one that would have screened in 2019 at the Shanghai film festival.[21]
Previews of the film were screened on Friday 14 August, making $2.1 million, then on Monday 17 August and Tuesday 18 August, making about $7.6 million each night for a preview total of $16.8 million.[22] It then made $40 million on its official opening day.[23] It went on to gross a total of $116 million (RMB 803.2) in its opening weekend (including previews), the biggest debut of 2020 up to that point.[24] In calendar year 2020,The Eight Hundred had grossed more in a single territory than any other release, having made $366 million in China.[25][26] In total, it earned $484.2 million,[27] making it thesecond highest-grossing film of 2020.
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 27 critic reviews, 78% based on 100+ user reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[28] OnMetacritic, it has aweighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 7 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[29]
Ian Freer fromEmpire awarded the film 4 stars out of 5, writing, "The Eight Hundred is sprawling, and doesn't do anything in a hurry — the main title appears 20 minutes in — and there are ultimately too many characters to care about, but everywhere you turn there is fantastic filmmaking, flitting between grand sweep and quieter moments."[30]
Maggie Lee ofVariety described the film as "monumental, if sometimes unwieldy", comparing it toDunkirk (2017) and writing, "the saga does share similar sentiments of survival, grit and triumph in defeat ... it too plunges audiences into both the intimacy and magnitude of brutal war spectacle while immersing them in a stunningly mounted period canvas." However, she also felt that "the character roster is so bloated, it's hard to keep up with their trajectories — and ultimately, to care deeply. As Col. Xie Jinyuan, whose leadership was the driving force of their indomitable resilience, Du Chun displays almost no range in his performance."[31]
Cath Clarke ofThe Guardian awarded the film 3 stars out of 5, characterizing the film as an "Ear-rattling, breathtaking battle for [the] ChineseAlamo ... Guan goes hammer and tongs with the special effects, delivering stupendously, joint-rattlingly-loud battle scenes and combat sequences edited to the lightning pace of a superhero movie." However, he expressed that "it's hard to care much about who lives or dies", because "with so much intense focus lavished on the action, there's none to spare for the characters' emotional lives".[32]
Michael Ordoña of theLos Angeles Times, reviewing the shorter theatrical version of the film, similarly commented that it "skips over the whole character-development part, along with the logic of many choices and scenes ... Rather than immersing us in the moment as, say,Black Hawk Down does with its unrelenting intensity,Eight Hundred has plenty of meandering downtime spread out among its massive cast of characters. Yet somehow, we don't get toknow any of these folks." He added that it celebrated "fervent nationalism" or "fetishized martyrdom" and described the "sort-of protagonists" as "more types than actual people".[33]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Effects Society Awards | April 6, 2021 | Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature | Sefano Cieri, Aaron Auty, Simon Carlile, Patrick Zentis(for 1937 Shanghai Downtown) | Nominated | [34] |
| Jamie Macdougall, Mark Honer, David Pekarek(for Shanghai Warehouse District) | Nominated | ||||
| Golden Reel Awards | April 16, 2021 | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Foreign Language Feature | Kang Fu, Steve Miller, Ai Long Tan, Lan Long, Fei Yu | Won | [35] |
