"Defiant 2" is wonderfully shot, but it can't hide the faint sadness it exudes.
The once-unparalleled martial arts movies have sunk into the sunset genre. No one watches martial arts, which has become a consensus in the industry.
And its descendants, fairy tale films and fantasy films, have taken advantage of the popularity of online novels and the popularity of special effects production. Collect some box office.
The great directors did not want to get involved again after the grand martial arts dinner ended more than 20 years ago. After Er Dongsheng 's " The Third Young Master's Sword ", only a bunch of stubborn people like Xu Haofeng and Lu Yang are left.
The new wave of martial arts has never been launched again.
Without famous directors and stars, there would be no financial investment. Therefore, most of the martial artists in Hengdian were busy during the Beiyang government period.
90 post-90s director Yang Bingjia was a screenwriter before. He likes martial arts movies. "defiant" is his first attempt to direct a movie. When
was filming the first film, he was interviewed and told the reason for making this film. First of all, he loved martial arts and hoped that by filming "Defiant", he would arouse the desire of those senior masters to film martial arts again.
8 million investment failed to prove that anyone would watch martial arts.
They have not stopped. Producer Wei Junzi wants to create a small IP.
"Defiant" will be launched in June 2022, and filming of "Defiant 2" will begin in October of the same year, which is also "Defiant: An Eye for an Eye."
The second part strives to be less related to the first part, so that people who have not watched the first part can understand it. The approach of
series of films is very pleasing. The attention has increased, and more and more water is released.
All of this, in addition to the efforts of the director, is inseparable from the starring role, Xie Miao.
For older people, the name Semyon seems to be in their memory.
In the 1990s, he was selected by Wang Jing to collaborate with the Kung Fu Emperor Jet Li and starred in the movies "New Shaolin Group Five" and "Letter to Dad", which was a smash hit. After
, Xie Miao faded away from the entertainment industry, but he did not stay away. After completing his studies, he has been participating in the filming of martial arts action movies.
After filming the two films of "Defiant," Xie Miao would sigh at his martial arts moves every time he saw the finished film: "It's so handsome!"
This sigh came from the acceptance of the results of his and the director's joint exploration of action scenes.
is cool and neat, and flows smoothly. Whatever the audience likes to watch, they will study it and produce it.
To be able to play the hero well, the actor must have his own understanding of the character.
In the second part, Xie Miao made deliberate changes in his literary performance. When acting opposite others, he would deliberately slow down the beat to express his thoughts as a blind man.
Xia is multi-faceted and tangled. In the first part of
, the blind man takes pleasure in grudges and kills decisively.
In "An Eye for an Eye", we see another side of him.
His originally closed heart began to think and struggle after Zhang Xiaoyu questioned him, and a thought became lingering. Director
also conducted a reverse deconstruction of the image of the blind man. Anyone who has watched the first film knows that the double flaming swords of the blind man are the representative of his image.
It was really hot. During the filming of the fire knife scene, Xie Miao's hair and eyebrows were burned.
However, he is looking forward to dancing the fire knife again in the second part, because he is really handsome.
But the director did not follow his wishes. This time he assigned the double flame swords to Cheng Blind's opponent and defeated Cheng Blind. The purpose of
is to let the audience see that a blind man is not invincible, and he also has his moments of embarrassment.
In doing so, the blind man's choice to sacrifice his life to rescue Zhang Xiaoyu finally became a more meaningful chivalrous choice.
heroes are those who have suffered humiliation and are legendary. In
, the director has clearly set out the story of the blind man, and he even filmed the blind man talking about his past experiences.
Cheng Blind joined the army in his early years and fought hard, but he was framed for rebellion and his family was killed. After avenging his family, he was arrested and exiled to Youzhou. He could no longer engage in other livelihoods and could only be a knife catcher.
However, this dialogue was cut out by the director. The reason was that in order to create the image of the hero, there must be blank space to increase the mystery of the blind man.
Only by saying more can arouse the audience's interest and become more like a hero.
In the setting of director Yang Bingjia, after the death of a blind man, Zhang Xiaoyu, who symbolizes the two pools of water in his eyes, will become a knife catcher a few years later. When asked why she became a knife catcher, she will tell others about her relationship with Cheng. The experience of the blind man.
At that time, the blind man will be a legendary hero in the eyes of the world.
If the word "wuxia" is to be established, it must not only be capable of martial arts, but also have the existence of a knight.
Xie Miao's performance method of being ruthless and speaking little, just like Hong Wending who "catch a fly by listening to the sound and distinguishing the position", solidly established in the audience's mind the image of a blind man who can distinguish the position by listening to the sound and smell.
"Defiant: An Eye for an Eye" is a new film full of traditional martial arts background. It has a single villain, punishes evil and promotes good. There is no beating around the bush, only light swords and fast horses.
took it seriously, even if it is cliche, some people still like it.
Looking at domestic entertainment and even the entire Chinese film and television industry, who else is an actor who can not change his original intention, always love martial arts, and at the same time have both martial arts and good looks? Perhaps, Semyon is really the last hero.
It wasn’t Xie Miao who chose Internet University, but Internet University who took in martial arts. Coincidentally, Xie Miao was insisting on martial arts and guarding martial arts films, an endangered genre.
For the forty-year-old Xie Miao, this is worthy of our respect.
