Who would have thought that the first bad movie in 2024 would actually be a theatrical movie with a famous director and a best actor . Later, due to the disastrous box office results, it was promptly announced that it would be withdrawn and changed to an "online major".
Currently, the rating of a certain category is only
.3, and 80% of people only give it one or two stars.
Some netizens commented like this, "Children play house, the darkest moment of Hong Kong movies..."
Some people even asked, "What happened to Hong Kong movies?"
Regarding this issue, we stay Discuss later.
Let’s go back to this movie.
Actually, this movie was originally going to be released in theaters. Although the expectations are not as good as some comedies and realism themes, Hong Kong action police movies still have some appeal.
Therefore, in terms of the number of people who "want to see" a certain eye, there are ten thousand people before the release.
Frankly speaking, even if there are 10,000 people, such data is extremely poor.
In Uncle Fan’s opinion, there are three reasons.
First, the film does not have a trailer .
You must know that in recent years, theater movies cannot attract audiences without two or three trailers. Even if they are movie stars, if the trailers cannot catch the audience's attention, it will be in vain.
Secondly, director Peng Fa is "not good" .
As a former "ghost director" in Hong Kong, in recent years, Peng Fa's directing ability has caused many people to question it.
Especially the two recent movies - "The Beast" and "Exorcism", both have a rating of about 4 minutes.
Thirdly, the progress of the movie also made the audience doubt its quality..
"Breaking War" has been launched as early as 2019 and will be completed in 2020. According to normal speed,
will be online by the end of 2020. However, in 2021, the film is still going through review. It was belatedly arrived after three years. The "difficult" feeling of
makes people worry about its quality.
Perhaps due to the above-mentioned concerns, "Breaking War" was released in some theaters in mid-February, and the results were predictably poor.
had less than 400 moviegoers, a box office of only 15,000, and its reputation set a new limit for theater movies in 2024.
Fortunately, the official "Broken War" did not fight with the theater chain.
promptly announced its withdrawal and changed its name to "Network University". No,
won the first place in the distribution list after only two days of being online. The cumulative distribution is as high as more than 3 million, which is much better than the performance of the theater chain.
But even so, netizens lamented, "It is heartbreaking that Hong Kong movies have fallen to this level!"
Having said so much, what exactly is this movie about that makes everyone evaluate it like this? consistent?
01. The dull and illogical plot makes people feel on pins and needles
To be honest, after watching this movie, I deeply understood the three "ru" idioms of teacher Li Chengru.
Its story is actually not complicated at all. tells the story of a "life and death" showdown between a person who committed crimes in the name of a "savior" and the Hong Kong police.
Let’s not talk about whether such a script is worth filming. The male protagonist’s character alone is enough to make people complain. In the
film, Mo Sir, played by Ng Chun-yu, still has the usual image of the male protagonist in Hong Kong police and gangster films - capable, ignorant of the world, and a little decadent. When
started, Sir Mo received an alarm call from the boss of a company, saying he was being threatened.
Generally speaking, such an opening should create a tense atmosphere and arouse the audience's curiosity.
But Breaking War is not.
The crime team and the caller argued for several minutes about whether was a prank or not, , followed by a several-minute discussion of stock knowledge.
What is even more absurd is that Sir Mo did not rely on clues to investigate the case, but relied on a word from his subordinate.
What caught Uncle Fan the most was that he said, "If a person commits a crime not for money, then the reason is that he is very rich himself.".
What kind of magical logic is this?
What's even weirder is that the crime team "discovered" the "short column case" involving Zhou's head office while constantly fighting, and the villain successfully made his debut.
And when the villain appears with his injured girlfriend, the audience can naturally predict the "revenge" that follows.
It’s hard to imagine that in 2024, Hong Kong movies are still stuck in the bad police and gangster routines of the last century.
If early Hong Kong films were still willing to tell stories and explode the conflicts and contradictions between characters, then this time "Breaking War" is a complete failure.
It's not even as compact as an average TV series episode.
The nearly three-minute opening and six-minute ending. Subtract these 9 minutes from the 86-minute movie. How much is left. Coupled with the bland plot and the old drama characters on the poster, isn't this the current routine of "bad movies"?
Let me ask you, why should the audience pay for such a movie?
02, "Breaking War" is about "breaking" but not "war". In recent years, the "common problem" of Hong Kong movies has become more and more serious.
Is it true that stories like "Breaking War" cannot be filmed?
is not!
"Destroy the War" should focus on "destruction" rather than "war".
To put it bluntly, it is an alternative "Police Story". Early Hong Kong films on this subject firmly tied the audience's attention to "war".
For example, in "Police Story" starring Jackie Chan in 1985, especially his jump in the mall, he became a god in one battle.
There is also the fierce gun battle in John Woo's "The Bloody Heroes", which makes people fearful.
It can be said that the "battle" in early Hong Kong films was exciting and interspersed with friendship, not just gun battles and action.
"Broken War" is different. It has been criticized mainly in two aspects. The first is that
, is so "broken" that it has no energy.
As mentioned before, the overall plot of "Broken War" is very dull, and there is a strong sense of separation between the characters and the main story.
The roles played by two veteran actors in the film do not promote the story line in the slightest.
And the villain’s girlfriend is even more outrageous. She is like a virgin from heaven. Regardless of her boyfriend’s careful care for many years, she turns around and stabs her in the back.
This kind of "breaking" seems to be forced in, especially the villain's "revenge" at the end, which is directly a sap against the Western District Chief Superintendent Bai Sir (played by Simon Yam).
As for the reason for revenge, the reason given in the film is also very vague, even a bit far-fetched.
The second is that the "battle" scene is too small and too fast .
Speaking of which, there are many elements in "Breaking War", including suspense, racing scenes, gun battles, action...
But after you actually watch it, you will find that they are all gimmicks.
As for the so-called racing and gunfights, the villains are robbing people and finally kidnapping the chief superintendent. The rest are basically dialogues between the characters, without any novelty.
In fact, the problems exposed in "Breaking War" are also "common problems" shown in Hong Kong films in recent years.
It’s not that the routines are bad, but that Hong Kong films themselves lack vitality. They have been imitating and have lost their original creative atmosphere.
Why old Hong Kong movies are so good to watch is because there are such a group of people who love creation.
On "Round Table", director Wang Jing mentioned such a thing. When John Woo was filming "A Better Tomorrow", Chow Yun-fat was just a guest star, and the little Ma Ge he played was originally played by Starring Zheng Haonan.
But after filming a few scenes, the director felt that Chow Yun-fat acted well, so he changed the script and added scenes for the latter. For them,
is all about works, and constant thinking and innovation serve this goal.Nowadays, it is difficult for you to hear such stories.
03 and "Breaking War" bring the darkest moment of Hong Kong films. I am not surprised.
If we say that 2023 is the year of "complete collapse" of Hong Kong films.
"Breaking War", which opened the new year, brought about the darkest moment of Hong Kong films.
According to data, a total of 12 Hong Kong films will be released in 2023, with a box office of up to 400 million and a minimum of 300,000. The themes are mostly police and criminal films, and the ratings are also low.
In these movies, we can see many big names and famous directors, but the box office and reputation are not satisfactory.
can see that they are all trying their best to recreate Hong Kong's golden age, but in today's times, they seem to be unable to do so.
Looking back on the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong, as the world's second largest film industry base, could produce an average of nearly 300 films every year.
Good works cannot be seen at all.
Not only that, a number of outstanding filmmakers have also emerged in the Hong Kong film industry, giving Hong Kong films an inexhaustible source of material and creation.
But with the rise of the mainland box office market, many Hong Kong directors have begun to choose to go to Beijing. Well-known directors such as Tsui Hark, Stephen Chow, and Wong Jing have poured into the "China-Hong Kong joint venture" film field.
In addition, old fans of Hong Kong films are gradually moving away from cinemas, and the soil on which Hong Kong films rely for survival is gradually being lost.
Hong Kong flavor is gone!
Of course, they have also struggled, and it can even be said that they have catered to it.
In the movie "Disconnected", in addition to a large number of special effects, popular mainland goods delivery elements are also displayed in the movie.
In "Break War", there are also many classic scenes from traditional Hong Kong police and gangster films.
"Innovation" and "nostalgia" seem to be two things, but they only ignore the distance between the play and the times.
Now is no longer the era that advocates individual heroism. Compared with the past, everyone is more willing to pay attention to ordinary people and the fireworks life related to us.
Therefore, "Breaking War" is more like a gilded copy of Hong Kong films that are unable to compete with the times and lack the ability to grow.
Finally, let’s talk about Peng Fa, the director of "Broken War".
Early years ago, he was an excellent film editor.
The "Infernal Affairs" trilogy was all produced by him, and for "The Hero of the Storm", he also won the Academy Award for Best Editing.
Later, he became a director, co-creating the classic "Hell" trilogy with his brother Peng Shun, and independently directed "Wrongful Love" and "Child's Eyes", and was nominated for Cannes' "Un Certain Regard" and "Child's Eyes" respectively. "Horizon" unit in Venice.
But since entering the mainland, his directing ability seems to have not improved. He has made bad movies for nearly ten years, including many Internet celebrities.
Previously, he was on the hot search list because he "spent all his money helping his wife treat cancer and had to declare bankruptcy." Fortunately,
turned around later.
However, just when everyone was expecting him to shine again in Hong Kong films, "Breaking War" gave everyone a slap in the face.
Some people say, "The first stupid thing he did in 2024 was to believe Peng Fa again after the trapped beast died and cried."
Perhaps, the era of Hong Kong movies is really over, and the Hong Kong flavor we are familiar with Has completely disappeared.
Although we can still see the familiar actors, directors, and scenes, the flavor that moved us and made us unforgettable is no longer there, which is really a pity!
(Movie Rotten Tomatoes Editorial Department: An An)
