The Eight Hundred was the biggest grossing film of 2020 , beating Tenet but it's not surprising when you think about it. It was released during the pandemic and China has a population of over two billion , so in theory they could beat Hollywood every year.
Having said all that , this is a much better film than Tenet anyway .
It's the story of a group of Chinese soldiers and draft dodgers , in 1937 who put up a four-day defence of a Shanghai warehouse complex just as Japanese forces are overwhelming China.
This film looks amazing. As war films go it's right up there and i was surprised to see it only cost only eighty Million dollars. Perhaps that is because they didn't spent so much of the budget on actors wages as Hollywood , would normally ?
I have to admit the logistics had me confused at times. I would have liked more of an explanation as to why one side of the river was so different to the other and why people of all nationalities were just watching the chaos go on .
The acting was really good and i like the fact that they were not afraid to kill off main characters.
It's biggest problem is it's too long . In fact it's that long the opening credits were still playing twenty minutes after the start of the film. I did think at one stage that i might have to watch it in two parts but thankfully i manages to see it through and in the long run , it was definitely worth it.
I'm sure the Chinese people will have loved this. It does feel a little flag waving at times , almost as if it's a propaganda movie but i can forgive director Hu Guan for that because he has produced a stunning piece of work.
