text | Linghu Boguang
The May 1st Film Festival has officially started. Mr. Boguang watched two movies in a row, but I won’t talk about the other one, so as not to praise it and criticize it. Then there is "Peacekeeping" directed by Li Dachao, produced by Liu Weiqiang, starring Huang Jingyu, Wang Yibo, Zhong Chuxi, Ou Hao, Zhu Yawen, Gu Jiacheng, Zhao Huahua, Mulan, Bai Narisu, Yu Peishan, Liu Xue, Nan Fulong, Wei Chong, etc. Riot Squad.
directly concluded that the quality of this film is very poor, several times worse than " King of the Sky ".
Although there is traffic in the eyes of netizens, modern war movies are generally classified as one type of main theme movies. They may only have some expectations for the works of top directors (such as Red Sea 2), but after watching so many similar movies, I really have a suggestion: Can be used? Stop using Hong Kong directors to make movies with main themes. If you see a Hong Kong director making a mainland movie with a main theme, don't watch it.
Since the popularity of " Wolf Warrior 2" in 2017, the main theme movies have risen. Netizens have classified them into one category regardless of indiscriminateness, but in fact it can be roughly divided into three categories.
1. Gift blockbuster collaboration between directors from cross-strait and three places. The representative works are "Changjin Lake" and "King Kong River"
. This is why there is a demand for this gift every year during the National Day. The Sino-US trade war has accelerated this trend. At that time, the top investment was from cross-strait and three places. Big directors gathered together to film " Changjin Lake ", but it was interrupted due to the epidemic and the construction period was too late. And because the war movie "Eight Hundred" became popular that year, Guan Hu was brought in to produce, a popular mainland young man. Director Guo Fan and Lu Yang teamed up to film a temporary version of "King Kong River ".
The construction period of this movie is very short, and the quality is naturally very divided like "Changjin Lake".
The top gift film after this is "The Volunteer Army Trilogy", but this director only has Chen Kaige. Chen Kaige was not happy with the collaboration. He wanted to complete the macro-narrative war epic trilogy, and the two-part "Changjin Lake" above was a huge hit, so he gave top-notch investment and resources.
On the contrary, " Thousand Miles Homeward " is a normal commercial project.
2, main theme movies directed by young mainland directors, Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior" series, Rao Xiaozhi's "Ten Thousand Miles Home", Liu Xiaoshi's "The King of the Sky"
Yes, there are only these three that are more mainstream (not counting Internet majors), I I found that only young directors from the Mainland can truly understand the ignition points, tear points, pain points, and cultural details of expression of the main theme of the Mainland. For example, "Wolf Warrior 2" has the best narrative rhythm of domestic commercial films in recent years. In the demolition scene at the beginning, Yu Qian The charming image of the uncle, the male protagonist's appropriate ridicule of American imperialism (Boomerang, which has become popular in the past two years), and how to make the mixed-race female protagonist fall in love with Chinese men, as well as the display of modern Chinese national integrity. There is nothing like it.
It is well-deserved for its high box office, and it also made a great contribution to the breakthrough of the Chinese film industry at that time.
"Homecoming" is still the pinnacle of similar domestic theme films in recent years, in my opinion. The film and television industry, narrative rhythm, character creation, story plot, the tragedy of destruction caused by war in other countries, the Chinese people's obsession with home and other cultural details are all The filming is spot-on and delicate. This is definitely a very good commercial film.
has shortcomings. Firstly, it is the traffic star that netizens dismissed as soon as they talked about it. Secondly, it is deleting and abandoning certain content, which makes the content character somewhat regrettable. For example, I don’t understand why the scene where the villain leader lost the deception and his men shot the villain leader was deleted, which made the final gambling scene a bit untenable (wearing the mask for a long time really makes you look bad, which is the coup of the whole film) The main narrative line)
also made me feel that it was a pity to delete the decisive battle between Ji Fa and his gay friends in the Yellow River at the end of "Fengshen". Now the ending is a bit untenable.
The last one is "King of the Sky". Netizens criticized it when talking about it. In fact, apart from the traffic criticism and the so-called professional ridicule, I always think it is a traffic problem. In addition, the movie itself is a bit inferior. Look at "Top Gun 2" 》Don’t you criticize professionalism? Movies are only about whether they are well shot, and professionalism cannot be 100% perfect.
From a movie perspective alone, the first half of this film is relatively poor. The main problem is the narrative rhythm. However, the second half revolves around the test flight mission and the scenes where Hu Jun’s leader sacrifices. Although it is still a very clichéd Chinese-style military sacrifice. and dedication, but as a commercial film of this type, I think it is still good. Especially the scene where Hu Jun's character sacrifices his life, many of the filming techniques have the quality of a top-notch blockbuster. You may not believe what
said, but I think the whole story is better told than " Operation Red Sea " and most theme-themed films made by Hong Kong directors.
3, main theme movies shot by Hong Kong directors, such as Lam Chao-hsien's "Operation Mekong", "Operation Red Sea" and "Emergency", Liu Weiqiang's "Chinese Captain" and "Chinese Doctor", Qiu Litao's "Moscow Mission", "Jedi's Pursuit", etc.
As for other police and gangster films "Anti-Violence", "Extraordinary Mission", firefighting movies "Heroes of Fire" and "Shocking Rescue" also have the same configuration, but we are not included in them.
The director of "Peacekeeping Riot Squad" is Li Dachao. The director's previous films are "The Legend of Lanthanum" and "Snow Eagle Lord" and other ancient movies. He only did technical work in movies such as "Heroes of Fire" and "Blood Drops". He is probably the same as "Tomorrow". The director of "War Chronicles" also worked as a technical professional and became a full-timer. This is his first big-investment film.
After all, this director is not a first-rate director in Hong Kong, not even the director of the "Anti-Corruption Storm" series.
Let me tell you about the finished movie. What does it look like? It is super super low-profile with Qiu Litao. It has a looming main line connecting the story. It is probably about an evil warlord in a foreign country who massacred innocent villagers. The international court wants to try him, but he keeps looking for it. No witnesses. The Chinese peacekeeping force initially just performed a mission, but unexpectedly encountered a witness. Then they began to help the witness, fight against the villain, and finally sent the witness to the court to try the evil warlord.
One of these two lines is the camaraderie within the team, and the other is the testimony from witnesses that the war is cruel and the peacekeepers are the troops of justice. The plot of the movie
is very similar to Liu Weiqiang's " Chinese Doctor ". It probably starts with an intense action scene, where the protagonists are frustrated and wronged in various ways (which will make you worried). After the scene is over, background music is played, the actors cry in pain (sensation), and then the main theme slogan is shouted, how rare justice is; there is another tense action scene, the protagonist's conflict and sacrifice, after the end, background music is played, the actors cry in pain, the character awakens, and then Shout the main theme slogan.
In the middle, there is probably the joy of the peacekeepers and the locals getting together, the witness recalls the misery of crying, and the protagonist recalls the rareness of the family. It is like an eight-part essay. Anyway, all the narratives are repeated like this, and the narrative rhythm control is perfect. The film is full of all kinds of bang-bang-bang gun fights, action scenes, and explosion scenes, each one getting bigger and bigger than the last. The ending is just like Qiu Litao's " Moscow Mission " + " Jedi Chase ", Bombing all over the place and giving you a storm (Rainstorm and Flood in Deadpool), and finally calling it a day.
"Moscow Mission" and "Anti-Drug 2" ended with fighter jets, and this film ends with an armed helicopter.
You really think you are Qiu Litao No. 2. The Hong Kong director is obsessed with bombing fighter jets indiscriminately, right?
In fact, in addition to "Mekong", Lin Chaoxian also shot "Red Sea" and " Emergency Rescue " in this way. The narrative is also pieced together with various fragments. It is not a complete film narrative. The difference is that Lin Chaoxian has reached the world's top film industry ( There is really no director in the Mainland who corresponds to Lin Chaoxian for the same theme). In fact, there are no other plots, character creations, or cultural details.
Audiences spoke highly of "Operation Red Sea", mainly because China's top film and television industry is so handsome, explosive, and wonderful. Instead, they were deeply impressed by the portrayal of sporadic characters. If you look at "Emergency", its box office was the best. If it collapses, it will be useless no matter how strong the film and television industry is.
Qiu Litao has already made a career as a director. The similar narrative is "Anti-Drug 3" (the Hong Kong brothers all failed to make it), and the other two movies "Jedi's Pursuit" and "Moscow" are actually similar, but Qiu Litao is at least a member of that generation of Hong Kong. One of the representatives of major directors, the film and television industry is better, and the narrative rhythm is better. However, it does not use popular stars. It uses Huang Xuan, Andy Lau and Zhang Hanyu, etc., and it can barely be watched.
This "Peace Keeping Riot Squad" is a super low-profile Qiu Litao, really crappy in every aspect.
Another movie with a bad main theme? It has nothing to do with the main theme, nor does it have anything to do with traffic stars.
Finally, since the restructuring of the domestic system, directors and creators have been lost and retired in this system, and no new people have been supported to come forward (it is as solidified as the circles of opera, writers, etc.) , now that we encounter this kind of theme films and tribute films, it is okay for directors within the system to make revolutionary films like "The Island Keeper" and "Gutian Bugle".
However, when making commercial blockbusters with higher investment, they are mainly recruited from the market, and are often distributed to film companies. They seem to be really superstitious about Hong Kong and Taiwan directors, but Hong Kong and Taiwan directors have been doing their jobs for a long time. They can only say that the construction period is fast, but so many films prove that the results are not good.
Netizens lump together traffic and main theme movies and criticize them. From the movies listed above, you can see that the most important thing about a movie is the director team. Three main theme movies in Mainland China have traffic, "Wolf Warrior 2" Zhang Han, Wang Junkai from "Ten Thousand Miles Home", and Wang Yibo from "The King of the Sky".
Even the worst "Sky King" is still watchable.
By the way, there is also a rescue film "Peak" that counts. At that time, Zhu Yilong was also a traffic leader and could watch it.
Apart from Lam Chiu-hsien (Tsui Hark is also not good), other Hong Kong directors are really not good at this kind of theme films, and I don’t think Liu Weiqiang and Qiu Litao are good either (the better ones are on the same level as "The King of the Sky", they are just popular stars) Raise the threshold for criticism).
They just use money to do things, beat and beat, cry emotionally, click, click, click, click on the values, and the final ending is a violent storm that destroys the world, fighter jets and heavy weapons bombard them indiscriminately, and call it a day.
Brothers, you are making money in the Mainland again.
This has become an assembly line of commercial bad movies. I would rather make more "King of the Sky".
