The next big Chinese sci-fi blockbuster after The Wandering Earth misses the target in pretty much every aspect…
After Frant Gwo’s mega-blockbuster The Wandering Earth pulled in more than USD$700 million worldwide, many were quick to hail the long-predicted coming of age of Chinese science fiction cinema. Unfortunately, such proclamations were swiftly made to look rather hollow with the release of Shanghai Fortress, a much-vaunted and anticipated adaptation of Jiang Nan’s highly popular novel, which was met with derision by Chinese audiences and critics, and by deeply unimpressive box office figures. Despite an all-star cast, a potentially epic premise and the promise of big-budget special effects, the film only served to inspire director Teng Huatao (mainly known for romantic TV dramas, though who also helmed The Matrimony, a surprisingly decent and rare Chinese supernatural outing, starring Fan Bingbing) to publicly apologise for how shabby it was, followed quickly by writer Jiang Nan.
The film is set in the future, with the earth dependent upon ‘xianteng’, a new energy source brought back to the planet by space explorers, but which unfortunately turns out to have been stolen from an alien race. By the time the film starts, the aliens have decimated the earth, with Shanghai left as humanity’s final hope, protected by a xianteng-fuelled forcefield and relying upon a giant but unstable power cannon to try and defeat the attacking motherships. New military graduate Yang Jiang (played by heartthrob singer Lu Han) is one of the newest members of the United Nations Defence Committee, basically a futuristic version of the Chinese army with designer space uniforms, though the plot finds him more concerned with whether or not he should admit his feelings for Shu Qi’s senior Chief Commander Lin Lan, something which proves more difficult when the aliens redouble their efforts to wipe out the human race.
Whereas The Wandering Earth went for the over the top hyper-masculine patriotism and bombast of Armageddon, Shanghai Fortress aims for a mix of Independence Day and Battle: Los Angeles – at least on paper. In reality, what Teng Huatao and Jiang Nan instead deliver are short opening and closing acts which follow these films closely, with an only tangentially connected and very long middle section focusing on romance and desperately sappy camaraderie. While there’s certainly something to be said for the idea of a moving tale of love against a backdrop of alien invasion and the threat of extinction, Shanghai Fortress doesn’t even come close to nailing this, with its central pairing of Lu Han and Shu Qi falling utterly flat, mainly consisting of scenes of him staring at her, staring out of windows, or staring up at the sky as he wrestles with the decision whether or not to confess his feelings – over and over again. Matters aren’t helped by weak central performances (to be fair to Shu Qi, she doesn’t have much to do apart from being stared at), and the film fails to generate any kind of chemistry or interest, limping along at a slow and muddled pace.
The film might have been salvageable if the action scenes were actually exciting or spectacular, though while the scenes of Shanghai being levelled (complete with plenty of baffling though pretty-looking tidal waves and massive explosions) are reasonably impressive, the CGI alien design is depressingly generic, and the aerial dogfights come with no sense of impact or speed, coming across like sub-standard video game cut scenes. Without giving the viewer any characters to care about, the film never feels tense or engaging, its many, many long death scenes and final noble speeches and chat about sacrifice are hard to sit through, only serving to drag out the running time. There’s very little here which is convincing, from the military barracks which resemble an Ikea-furnished college dorm through to consistently undisciplined and daft behaviour of the supposedly elite soldiers and the predictable stupidity of every single plan the protagonists come up with to thwart the aliens, and worst of all, the film isn’t even amusing in an incompetent manner, quickly becoming dull and plodding.
It’s really a shame to see Shanghai Fortress flop so spectacularly as, for all its faults, The Wandering Earth did at least entertain and impress visually, leaving fans around the world hungry for more Chinese science fiction. Sadly, it’s hard to see the film as anything than a massive misstep, and whether Teng Huatao, Jiang Nan or the cast are to blame or not, the end result is something that even the least discerning sci-fi or romance fans are likely to enjoy.