's summer vacation this year has changed. After several film schedule adjustments, the Chinese film "Sweeping Drugs 2", which was not the absolute mainstay, has become the focus of public attention. As the second installment of the previously well-received "Anti-drug" series, the lineup surpassed the previous one. In addition to Louis Koo's continued participation, veterans such as Andy Lau, Miao Qiaowei, and Zheng Zeshi have joined in one after another. Even the guest roles are Lin Jiadong. The actor-level actor, people have to report great expectations. The facts of
did not give people too many surprises, but at least they did not disappoint movie fans too much. Anti-Drug 2 is an overall passing Hong Kong film, with all the necessary elements, and the necessary scale has not been cut. But despite this, it is still just passing. I don't know if the pattern of Hong Kong films has come to an end, or that the local stories in Hong Kong have been filmed so that no new ideas can be found. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult for Hong Kong films to have decent works. Since the peak of the "Infernal Affairs" series in 2002, Hong Kong movies have entered a period of decline as a whole. Although there are movies such as Tou Qifeng's gang shootout series and Er Dongsheng's "The Disciples" and "Shinjuku Incident" are dotted with them, but the overall lack The fact of novelty cannot be concealed. Around 2010, with the large-scale development of Hong Kong filmmakers to the mainland, Hong Kong films gradually withered. Apart from the occasional classic flashbacks like "Chill", it can be seen that Hong Kong films have been in a frantic state of struggling to survive, even the best kung fu films. Only one Master Ye is left to fight alone, and the success of "Chasing the Dragon" is more like returning to the light, telling everyone that the glorious era of Hong Kong movies is gone.
The layout of "Sweeping Drugs 2" is actually the same as the first one. It is mainly based on Hong Kong, and one of Southeast Asia is the second two-line match, so as to enlarge the geographical pattern as much as possible. The first is Thailand, and the second is the Philippines, but the second part has very little overseas content, which is not as fresh as the first Thai scene. However, in the gunfire scenes and the car chase scenes, the handling of "Sweeping Drugs 2" did not lose the first part at all, and in many cases it even became an important means to undertake the rhythm of the plot. It seems that starting with "Chill", Hong Kong films have found a new breakthrough, that is, the elite life style of exquisite suits, cigars, whiskey and high-end office buildings, trying to create a Hong Kong that is no longer a market. Even the elder brother of Jianghu, his taste is much higher than before. The side stove is no longer used, and the food stalls are no longer eaten. Instead, he smokes cigars and drinks foreign wine in a suit and leather shoes. "Sweeping Drugs 2" follows this tone, even if the boss played by Zheng Zeshi performs family law and the funeral after death, they are all very delicately shot. Even if there is a white filial piety lion at the funeral, but without the smoke and rivers and lakes of the past, the boss has become the entrepreneurial era and can't get up.
Hua Tsai's acting skills are always online. Gu Tianle basically doesn't care in any drama, as long as he plays the drug dealer, he can't see what is wrong, but Miao Qiaowei's policeman has no place to shine. And there is nothing new in the story, that is, the traditional Hong Kong film routines are based on the conflict between drug trafficking and anti-drug. What’s interesting is that in the Philippines, Yu Zetian, played by Andy Lau, witnessed the shocking drug proliferation in the Philippines and saw the speech of the President of the Philippines on TV. He wanted to fight against drugs at all costs, as a metaphor for the Philippine President Duterte in real life. Special anti-drug methods with an iron fist, the practice of directly killing drug dealers even ignoring legal procedures, has quite the meaning of fighting drugs with drugs. But I have to say that Lao Du's method really suppressed the Philippines' years of drug trafficking. Thaksin in Thailand used similar methods to solve the long-standing Thai drug problem. Yu Zetian was obviously influenced by this point of view and saw the results, so he returned to Hong Kong and chose to do this with all his financial resources. Fighting drugs with drugs, and the drug dealers did not follow the rule of law, and directly killed them, but in the end they were also bitten by this method.
The plot of "Sweeping Drugs 2" failed to break out of the vicious circle of recent Hong Kong movies. Although there are innovations in scenes such as subway chases, actions alone cannot save the whole scene. In the past few years, the scene of "Storm" starring Andy Lau was even more popular, but it was basically a film that was forgotten after you watched it. On the contrary, it was not as good as "The Bomb Disposal Expert" directed by Qiu Litao. In the end, it has to return to the story itself. This is the most important question that Hong Kong filmmakers should think about. Don't rely on the acting skills of old dramas to support the story. I hope that Hong Kong movies will break through and find new breakthroughs.
□ Yang Tian (film critic)
