Oho Ou

In the opening battle of The Eight Hundred (2020), inexperienced soldiers struggle to take in the violence around them. Oho Ou plays Duan Wu in Guan Hu's crowded ensemble, where the soldiers' shared danger is clearer than their separate personalities. We were shaken by the rookies' disorientation, because Cao Yu's photography makes the danger clear without making the men seem ready for it. Lin Mu's warehouse design helps us follow the defence, but the writing is less successful at distinguishing the soldiers. Ou fits into the group; the difficulty is remembering these men as separate people.

His early work was less dominated by men in uniform. Zhang Yang in The Left Ear (2015) brought him notice before the move towards war and disaster films gathered pace from 2017. He went on to play co-pilot Xu Yichen in The Captain (2019) and firefighter Xu Xiaobin in The Bravest (2019), while Vortex (2019) gave him the crime role of Xia Xi. His willingness to perform demanding driving and water sequences without doubles is a useful strength.

Full River Red (2023) gives him another supporting assignment, as Zheng Wan, within Zhang Yimou's crowded murder mystery. The film's chief pleasure comes from Shen Teng and Jackson Yee's comic timing. Li Yongyi's editing supplies briskness in the action, and Han Hong's music keeps the energy up, but neither prevents the investigation from running on too long. It is a film we would consider for the double act, not one we would choose to demonstrate what Ou can do.

Our reservation about Ou himself is that he can push dialogue too hard. The force that suits demanding action can leave quieter exchanges feeling stiff, with too little variation in how he speaks. Better-developed parts would help us separate his limitations from those of the writing. We would welcome a role that asks him to listen, rather than endure another emergency.