Recently, the martial arts action movie "Blocking Horses and Seizing Swords" produced and produced by Wu Yue, directed by Feng Xiaojun, starring Song Tianshuo, Zhang Xintong and others, is currently being screened in iQiyi Cloud Cinema.
Poster of "Blocking the Horse to Seize the Sword"
The film is based on the classic opera "Blocking the Horse". The two daughters of the famous Northern Song Dynasty general Yang Ye (played by Wu Yue), Yang Bajie (played by Zhang Xintong) and Yang Jiumei (played by Liu Xinlei), enter the Liao Dynasty to search for the golden sword. Develop the story as the main line. After Yang Ye died on the battlefield, the golden sword was left in the north. Two female generals from the Yang family were chased by Liao soldiers on their way back, and met Jiao Guangpu (played by Song Tianshuo), an old soldier of their father's who ran an inn incognito. The core of martial arts spirit is patriotism, bravery, perseverance and high morale.
As the first film of iQiyi Cloud Cinema’s “Action Master Season”, “Block a Horse and Seize a Sword” is not only a solid martial arts action film, but also incorporates classic plays from Huangmei Opera, Kunqu Opera, Yue Opera, Peking Opera and other opera types. , innovatively integrates opera and action elements in the film's narrative, allowing fists to be fleshed out and freehand brushwork to be balanced. The film also incorporates suspense, comedy and other elements, which not only shows the pleasure and hatred of traditional martial arts movies, but also satisfies Movie viewing needs for family fun during the Chinese New Year.
Group photo at the Shanghai premiere of "Standing to Seize the Sword"
Wu Yue spent his own money to bring in newcomers
The producer of this film, Wu Yue, is a well-known action actor who has appeared in "Fist of Heroes Chen Zhen", "Liancheng Jue", " The Prodigal Son Yan Qing" " Journey to the West " and many other film and television dramas have created various "hero" images. Wu Yue said in his own words that the origin of "Standing Back the Horse and Seizing the Sword" came from the film " Sanchakou ", which was adapted from Peking Opera many years ago. He already liked traditional Chinese culture very much, so he came up with the idea of filming the story of Yang Clan's loyal martyrdom. idea. "Blocking the Horse" is also a famous excerpt from Peking Opera. It shows the duel between Wu Chou and Hua Dan. Two people with different identities are both loyal and capable of fighting beautifully.
Stills from "Standing in the Way to Seize the Sword"
Wu Yue said that this movie was about him working with a group of young people who love action movies. All members of "Blocking Horses and Seizing Swords" are "martial arts". Director Feng Xiaojun is a senior action director in the industry and has directed many works that are familiar to the audience, including "囧", "The Beloved Concubine", "Fire Horse", etc. The male protagonist Song Tianshuo was born in a family of opera lovers, and has been very familiar with "singing, reading, doing, and playing" since he was a child. As an action director who has followed Donnie Yen for many years, Yu Kang ensured that the film's action scenes were hard-core.
"The newcomers in this movie are sincere and do not fool the audience. I just want to make a different Jiao Guangpu and Yang Jiajiang. Most of what you see now are beautiful and fairy-like looks, which one I don’t even know how someone on the battlefield can dress so well and move so lightly.” Wu Yue also mentioned that action superstars such as Jackie Chan, Wu Jing, and Donnie Yen have spent their own money to train their own martial arts teams to bring fresh blood to the industry. , "I am willing to use some of my own money to support new people to do something. All the martial arts in our drama, all the dragon and tiger martial arts masters, are not over 25 years old. We must give new martial arts opportunities to serve China." Action movies do their best."
Martial arts moves are integrated with singing, chanting, and fighting
This is the first independent work directed by director Feng Xiaojun. He admitted frankly that he has been making action movies before, and this time he is using all the accumulated experience in the past ten or twenty years. All the experiences I have gained are integrated into this play. Before filming started, Wu Yue's request to Feng Xiaojun was to "arouse everyone's love for martial arts movies." In terms of action and scene design, Feng Xiaojun deliberately incorporated classic scenes from old Hong Kong martial arts movies, such as the scene where old Yang Linggong died in battle, which paid tribute to the Jackie Chan movie "Myth" that he had participated in the production of.
The important scenes of the entire film take place in an inn, which makes the audience easily think of classic martial arts movies such as "New Dragon Inn".In this regard, Feng Xiaojun said frankly that on the one hand, due to the limited budget, he decided to place the story in a closed scene during the script brainstorming stage. At the same time, he also said, "In an environment, how can we make the audience happy?" It’s more difficult not to get bored, and each character is related and interesting.”
The film has traditional martial arts movies with swords, lights and shadows throughout, and opera performances have also become the highlight of the fight scenes. Wu Yue, who has long been a fan of Peking Opera, said, "There are many clever double fights in Chinese opera culture. We integrated fighting opera with opera and applied Peking opera scenes to the martial arts scenes in Jiao Guangpu and Yang Bajie's mind after they looked at each other. Create a exciting and thrilling suspense action movie."
He believes that the film should be grounded and have new ideas based on historical facts. The production of this film is also based on this concept. The film's fighting scenes are very ingenious. All martial arts movements and weapons used are designed according to the characters' personalities and characteristics: Liao soldiers use iron rods, Jiao Guangpu uses short knives, Yang Bajie and Yang Jiumei uses a silver gun. The fighting scenes are smooth and natural, and the martial arts moves, singing, chanting, and fighting are integrated into one, and the opera and martial arts open up a new world of martial arts films.
Stills from "Block a Horse to Seize a Knife"
Wu Yue said that in the future, he hopes to create a "Block a Horse Universe" and make the second and third movies. "It's really not easy to make an action movie. I'm happy that this movie made me happy, even if I lose money." I want more, no problem. At worst, I will perform from beginning to end next time, but I have to always give opportunities to newcomers."
