"Eastern Condor" is an action movie directed and acted by Fat Master in 1987, and the Seven Little Fortunes almost gathered. The
film tells the story of a miscellaneous army of criminal felons who landed in Vietnam. The goal was to blow up the arsenal left by the US army during the Vietnam War. Afterwards, each person could receive 200,000 bonuses and become American citizens. After the
vulture team landed in Vietnam, they went to Niujiazhuang to help the colonel to find relatives. They were ambushed in the woods and captured by the Viet Cong. They escaped with a trick. They reached the last pass of the target, a Vietnamese bridge. After crossing the bridge, they fought in the arsenal. . The
movie is composed of various fragments, which are connected in series with the activities of the main characters through the story.
The plot of "Eastern Condor" is really simple, there is no puzzling business logic, the main line is clear, and all the information needed to advance the plot is displayed at the beginning. The
vulture team followed an established route straight to the destination, eliminating the obstructing Viet Cong on the way. The conflict is obvious, and people are moved by wonderful action scenes, so there are many fighting scenes in the movie.
"Eastern Condor" brings together the two major heroes of Hong Kong film, Sammo Hung and Yuan Heping.
Sammo Hung's martial arts style is hard bridge, hard horses and real throws, punches are fierce and energetic.
Yuan Heping pays attention to creativity, uses kung fu and other elements to form refreshing action routines, and he is very particular about visual processing.
is realistic in the former and freehand in the latter.
and Bruce Lee's martial arts instructor Lin Zhengying, a good martial arts instructor plus a group of solid kung fu actors, Yuen Biao, Yuan Hua, Zhou Billy and so on. The powerful martial arts lineup of
gives the film a wonderful martial arts scene.
Because there are many elements of war in the movie, the martial arts style can not be the playfulness of the past, but serious, hot, simple and fierce, in order to express the bloody and cruelty of war. The selling point of
kung fu movies is the martial arts scenes, which must be distinctive and eye-catching. The beautiful kung fu of the Seven Little Fortunes and the use of slow motion to enhance the action effect make the action more explosive.
And those iconic action scenes are entirely long shots, one shot to the end, no editing. Back then, the martial arts actors actually fell down, and even the beaten dragon and tiger martial artists needed real materials.
These dragon and tiger martial artists often need to cooperate with the actor to perform a backflip and then fall down (although there is a layer of foam on the ground, it is inevitable that if you are not careful).
"Eastern Condor" is a war action movie, which includes both large-scale gun battles and blasting, as well as the kung fu of the Seven Little Fortunes. The combination of the mainstream "Kung Fu" of
and the rain of bullets from the popular gangster movies at that time made the action scenes of the movie more exciting.
And these wonderful action scenes can make the rhythm of the thin plot more lively and compact, and the narration is more concise.
The Vietnamese who fled to the United States because of the Vietnam War, but returned to their homeland as mercenaries, are the most extraordinary. Sammo Hung and Yuan Kui are heroes who have emerged from troubled times.
Sammo Hung's Tong Mingxin, although the modeling is to imitate Stallone's "First Blood", with a red turban on his head and a machete in hand, the image of a tough guy he creates is very Hong Kong movie-like, with extraordinary skill, calmness and courage. Extraordinary and loyal.
In addition to Sammo Hung, several other impressive representatives of the Condor team, Lieutenant Colonel Lin Ching-ying, who is dedicated to his duties; Yuan Kui, who dangles a cigarette but does not light it; Yuan Biao, a Vietnamese ruffian who has always been neutral to the left and right; very Gao Lihong, who has a sense of justice; Lou Nanguang and Yuan Heping, who are in charge of the funny; Qin Xianglin, who always pretends to be a cool girl...
Kung fu movies are very masculine, full of blood, and often more inspirational.
However, Yuanhua’s external image determines that it is difficult for him to act as the protagonist of this type of movie, but the opposite image is more appropriate, like the Japanese devils beaten by Bruce Lee in "Jing Wu Men" or the "Eastern Condor" The ultimate villain.
Yuanhua is very distinctive as soon as he comes on the stage, and makes people shine when he comes out. A wretched, seemingly weak sissy, but martial arts is very strong, this contrast is really impressive. The
movie is set in 1976, the second year of the Vietnam War, and has a grand historical background as the world view. It has a big pattern.
Everyone in "Eastern Condor" is a small person, a group of small people who wander the fringe of society, travel far away, and walk into troubled times just to gain a stable life.
Xu's "Story of Hu Yue" is also based on the Vietnam War. Chow Yun-fat, who participated in the Vietnam War, smuggled to Hong Kong after the Vietnam War, and then from Hong Kong to the Philippines.
Zhou Yunfa killed people because he had no identity. He killed people to obtain an identity, and he killed people to avoid killing in the future.
In that era, they had no choice. They were abandoned by the era. What they resisted was not the Viet Cong, but the helplessness of that era. The
Condor team is under the torrent of historical background, and the real little people struggling to survive in the war is what this movie wants to express.
In the woods, Qian Jiale complained that it had rained for too long. Two of the team had been killed in action. The team was in danger all the way. Sammo Hung, the leader of the team, apologized to them.
Yuankui said: "Everyone will understand your idea even if you don't know it. You are for everyone's sake. It's just that the rain is too long and everyone is upset." The
film is "the next rainstorm." It is a vague metaphor for their encounters. Wars are not for them to dominate. In the torrent of the big age, the little people are only deeply helpless.
And Zhang Guoqiang's death is a very direct irony of war. He was killed by a child because of his temporary goodwill. The war distorted human nature. The new generation of children became cold-blooded and cruel because of the war, playing Russian roulette and killing people.
Although Yuan Heping and the Vietnamese veteran Yuan Kui sacrificed their lives for justice, they were very heroic and tragic, but the death of the two was the most helpless. They suffered gunshot wounds but had no conditions to treat them. They could only wait for death in vain.
Although the sky is not dense with gunsmoke, the sky that the dying uncle saw was black. Sister
has a lofty belief in the pursuit of freedom, so she can shoot at her partner who has lived and died for many days without hesitation. Sammo Hung, as the leader of the other side, can also cut off the eldest sister without hesitation for the bald eagle team. Head hand.
Here, war returns mankind to the most primitive state. Under the law of the jungle, there is no right or wrong, no justice or evil, right and wrong depend on strength.
In this sense, this group of mercenaries who have gone to other places do not have the meaning of right or wrong, and some are just the cruelty of war. The respectable thing about
is that even though the members of the team died one after another, even if they were in a difficult situation, they still did not forget to tease their own situation. Yuan Heping and Lou Nanguang, their humor invisibly weakened the cruelty of the war.
"The Story of Hu Yue" at the end Zhong Chuhong died, and his friend Asan died. Even if Chow Yun-fat killed so many people, he would not get an identity. At the end, he was sitting in a flat boat and driving in the vast sea. The future is still unknown. Only with the ethereal hope of "settling down in the United States" in my heart.
Only Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Lou Nanguang survived in "The Eastern Condor". Whether the plane of their dreams will arrive, whether the 200,000 bonus and the identity of a U.S. citizen can be obtained, is still unknown. Director
gave a bird's-eye view at the end, perhaps heralding the arrival of the plane carrying them to the United States.
Most Hong Kong filmmakers in the 1980s only made films for making money. For example, if a film became popular and sold for money, you must follow the trend and shoot it until you die. How many gangster movies have been made in Hong Kong since "Heroes"? In the golden age of
, an average of 300 movies per year are more of a flashy appearance and lack of inner cultural connotation.
"Eastern Condor" was a commercial film of that period, not only had wonderful action scenes that brought strong sensory stimulation and entertainment, but also reflected on war in art.
also has that hot action scene, compact plot, three-dimensional and distinctive characters, profound themes, and superb performances of old dramas, entertaining without losing culture.
This is a classic movie for the Hong Kong film scene at that time, or now that it has entered the 21st century.
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