2023 is another good year for Zhang Yi.
Whether it is the small screen or the big screen, the works are one after another.
The new year started with "Horse", the Spring Festival was with "The River is Red", March was with "Who Is He", July was with "Happy Face", November was with "Priceless Treasure" and "The Point of the Knife", and December was with "The Three Brigades" 》.
seven works in one year, one word is too much, two words is really a lot.
With so many works, whether they are backlogged or new, it is impossible to make them all perfect. Although "Kurst" became a big hit, it did not reap many dividends for Zhang Yi, although he did not need it. "River Red" was a box office hit, but received mixed reviews. "Who Is He" starts high and ends low, ending badly. "Happy Face" has limited scenes, but the quality is good. The remake of "Priceless" is quite satisfactory, while "Point of Knife" is a bit bad. "The Three Brigades" is his personal high-quality masterpiece this year.
Looking at these works, the worst one is of course "The Point of the Knife". You can say it is bad, but it is not all bad. In the end, it can only be said to be mediocre. As the leading actor, Zhang Yi was also cheated and became the leader in these years. One of his rare failing works. In addition, "Who is He" also failed.
1,
"The Point of the Knife" is director Gao Qunshu's second spy film after "The Wind", and "The Point of the Knife" is also adapted from Mai Jia's novel of the same name. But this time, "The Point of the Knife" did not produce the same quality as "The Wind". Naturally, the reputation and box office were disastrous.
"The Wind" has a Douban score of 8.4 and a box office of 235 million, which was a pretty good result that year.
But today's "The Point of the Knife" has a Douban score of 5.6 and a box office of only 51.82 million.
Today, the result is a complete failure.
Although this is a backlog of work, it was filmed as early as 2018. Due to various reasons, it was not officially released until five years later.
However, this is not a reason for mediocrity.
For director Gao Qunshu, he once again said that "The Point of the Knife" is not a spy film, and emphasized, "The Point of the Knife is not "The Wind," not "The Wind," not "The Wind." "..."
It seems that he is afraid that others will compare "The Point of the Knife" with "The Wind", but it is not up to him.
But in fact, in his opinion, "The Wind" is not a spy film, but a crime film, a typical police and gangster structure of "police interrogating suspects".
As for whether it is a spy movie or not, it’s not him who has the final say.
Regarding "The Point of the Knife", Gao Qunshu bluntly said that this film is about the choice and helplessness of personal destiny in the complex and turbulent era of the time. To use a modern saying, "it depends on who comes first, tomorrow or the accident." .
No matter what type of film it is, no matter what it tells, it must at least comply with basic history and logic, and respect the audience.
But compared to "The Wind", "The Point of the Knife" obviously ignores these.
If according to the standards of spy movies, "Point of Knife" is even more difficult to describe in one word.
2,
At the beginning, "The Point of the Knife" did have the flavor of "The Wind", full of espionage flavor, but towards the end, it became more and more outrageous.
started with the assassination of cryptographic expert Bai Dayi. The contest between the various forces was thrilling and exciting enough. However, as the identity of the heroine Lin Yingying was suspected, the entire plot began to collapse. The so-called collapse of
refers to the rapid offline withdrawal of important characters on the one hand, and also refers to the fact that the entire plot design is too bland. From spy films to anti-Japanese war films, there is no longer a high-intelligence competition, but just fighting and killing, and this kind of fighting and killing seems very simple and deliberately sensational.
Perhaps the most bizarre thing is the heroine Lin Yingying. She had multiple identities and was pregnant. She managed to survive until the end and gave birth to a child. However, she died after giving birth to the child.
This is the most criticized place. She escaped the hail of bullets, but died after giving birth. Although
can understand the meaning of this character design and the symbol of a child, such an unconventional plot is still unacceptable.
In addition, all the prominent figures from all parties have gone offline without any trouble, from Gao Kuan of our party, who is also Lin Yingying's husband, to Ge Lao, the top leader of the Nanjing area under military control, etc., if they are not secret agents, , then it doesn’t matter how you handle it, but they are all important characters with complex identities, and the ending in the film seems too hasty.
Jin Shenshui, played by Zhang Yi, although he is the protagonist, he plays more of a connecting role. Of course, there is also the narration of the narration, which is really limited in the first half and mostly gives way to the immortal heroine.
Gao Qunshu once said about the film that the biggest suspense in "The Point of the Knife" is who will survive.
But from the beginning, the audience had already guessed it. Didn't Zhang Yi's narration alone imply that he survived in the end?
As for whether the heroine Lin Yingying can survive, it is no longer important, because she is destined that the child is the future and hope when she is pregnant.
Therefore, such suspense design itself is a mistake, and this is also a major reason for the mediocrity of the film.
The entire theme is straightforward and not profound enough.
In addition, I have to say that the details of the film are even worse.
For example, cement telephone poles appear in the mountains, but in bustling cities they are still wooden poles.
In the final scene where the Japanese army celebrates the battle, the modern red brick and cement walls are even more dramatic.
The design of the entire scene is too rough.
There are also some plot aspects, such as at the scene of the heroine Lin Yingying's fake marriage, she and her husband cried when faced with the sudden information about the Japanese army's victory. However, they were all lurking members of our party, and there were a large number of Japanese soldiers in the audience. and members of the Wang Puppet Government.
In terms of actors, Li Shiwu, the director of the Wang Puppet Anti-Special Division played by Sha Yi, made people laugh as soon as he appeared. But five years ago, Sha Yi was really young and really thin. Now he is already a greasy middle-aged uncle. . In the film, he even farts after being hanged. I have to say, this fart really matches this character. Sha Yi has really been ruined by variety shows these years.
3,
"The Point of the Knife" has a top-notch cast and an excellent original work, but the result was a mess.
made a good subject into a mediocre film, but looking at the spy dramas on the small screen in the past two years, this is not the case.
"Thin Ice", "Infernal Affairs", "Stalker", "Hive", "Thrush"...
Each one is more unsightly than the last, and each one is more disappointing than the last.
The spy war is no longer exciting, no longer suspenseful, no longer full of ups and downs, but has become dull, or it may be super, and it has become a divine drama.
The same is undoubtedly true for "The Point of the Knife". Gao Qunshu encountered Waterloo, and Zhang Yi was also fooled.
Directors and screenwriters who make spy films and spy dramas really need to reflect on this.
