Quench your Quentin Tarantino with THE EIGHT HUNDRED, a more hateful eight than his Western of the same name.
Imagine Tarantino helming the epic spawn of Saving Private Ryan and The Dirt Dozen and you get some idea in what is in store with THE EIGHT HUNDRED.
It’s not D Day the Sixth of June 1944, but rather, October 26th, 1937, almost the end of the three-month battle of Shanghai. The National Revolutionary Army seems doomed to failure against the might of the Imperial Japanese forces.
The main Chinese contingent has started retreating to the west while the ‘Eight Hundred Heroes’ led by Commander Xie Jinyuan stay and defend the Si Hang Warehouse, also attempting to draw attention for worldwide support against Japanese aggression.
By accident, a group of draft dodgers get caught and forced to join the defence. The Japanese army starts several waves of attacks. All the besieged draft dodgers want is escape from this “tomb”.
Across the river, residence on the concessions are watching the dying struggles of the Chinese army indifferently. Through the progress, the fearless bravery and sacrifice shown by Chinese army have cast subtle influence among the draft dodgers and civilians on the concessions.
Faced with pressure from multiple parties, the government commands the defending soldiers to cease resisting and to retreat. After holding out against numerous waves of Japanese forces for 4 days and 4 nights, the group of draft dodgers make the ultimate decision – they will stay behind to cover the retreat of the remaining forces.
At midnight, under the fierce attacks from Japanese army, Xie leads the ‘Eight Hundred Heroes’ across the bridge toward the concessions, while the remaining defenders stay in the warehouse and fight to the last man.
THE EIGHT HUNDRED is an epic; immense in scale, sweeping in spectacle.
It’s a harrowing war movie, the death and destruction horribly, gruesomely awesome.
Talk about the sweep of history, director Guan Hu utilises the sweep of cinema to create a stupendous, immersive, sumptuous cinematic experience, somewhat overwhelming at times, illustrative of the overwhelming situation of its subject.