Cooperated with Jackie Chan many times and made Donnie Yen become popular. The director who can make police and criminal films in Hong Kong is gone.

This afternoon, the author posted a sad news on social media:

​According to media reports, Hong Kong action director Chen Musheng unfortunately passed away on the morning of August 23 at the age of 58.

This is the golden age of directors at such an age. It is really regrettable that he died so early.

Chen Musheng's latest work is "Anger" starring Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse, which is also one of the Hong Kong police and criminal films I personally look forward to most this year.

Unexpectedly, before the movie was released, the director of Hong Kong's most proficient cop action film had already left us.

For fans like me who grew up watching Hong Kong action movies, Chen Musheng is a name that cannot be avoided in Hong Kong film history.

So I wrote this article temporarily today as an action movie fan to commemorate Director Chen Musheng!

Director Chen Musheng

Part

z5

In 1961, Chen Musheng was born in Hong Kong and has six siblings, he is the youngest one.

was the time when the Hong Kong film industry took off. The martial arts films represented by Shaw Brothers were popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, which gave Chen Musheng the first film enlightenment. In his childhood, Chen Musheng often spent time alone in the cinema.

When he was 12 years old, his brother took him to see Bruce Lee's "Brother Tangshan" and "Jing Wu Men" . On the way home, he flew with excitement, learning Bruce Lee's posture and howling, he felt it for the first time Kung fu movies can be so exciting and shocking.

In 1981, after graduating from middle school, Chen Musheng joined Li TV and switched to wireless the following year. On TVB, Chen Musheng met the enlightenment of his film career, the director Du Qifeng who was still working as a director on the TV at the time. Chen Musheng started with Du Qifeng's assistant director and participated in the production of TV series such as "Flying Fox in the Snow Mountain" and "Tale of the Dragon Slayer", which was highly regarded by Du Qifeng.

The Hong Kong film scene in the middle and late 1980s was still in its heyday. At that time, hundreds of films would be shot a year, so it gave new directors many opportunities for training. In 1987, Chen Musheng decided to leave the official TVB film circle. Relying on the introduction of his predecessor Du Qifeng, Chen Musheng met the famous New Art City tycoon Huang Baiming .

Chen Musheng (third from left)

He has directed " vinegar husband " for Huang Baiming, and " kills love " for Liang Puzhi. Although the box office and word-of-mouth of these two films are often good, they are often ignored by the audience. With this executive director, the big star and the big director overwhelmed Chen Musheng's limelight. From the beginning of his debut, Chen Musheng seemed to be destined to make wedding dresses for others in the future.

"The vinegar man"

It was not until 1990 that Chen Musheng directed the film " if there is love " for the first time. Mainland audiences are familiar with Chen Musheng from this film. Starring Andy Lau, Wu Qianlian and Wu Mengda, the film tells the story of the love tragedy between a young underworld youth Hua Zi and a rich lady Jojo. The film not only sold well at the box office, won 12 million at the box office, but also won four nominations at the Academy Awards that year, and finally won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Academy Awards, making Chen Musheng, the first director of the tube, famous. .

After the film was released, Andy Lau's prodigal image was popular among thousands of young girls. Although the film was gangster, drag racing, smoking and drinking, Andy Lau was riding a motorcycle with a picture of Wu Qianlian on the back seat.It satisfies all the imagination of young audiences about romantic love at the time. It is recognized as a model of classic love in Hong Kong films. Together with the famous song composed by Luo Dayou, it became a classic scene in Hong Kong movies in the 1990s.

Tian Ruo You Qing Yuan Fengying-Tian Ruo You Qing The original soundtrack of the movie

Part

z5

8z

The audience remembers the charm of Liu Ruoyou but the protagonist, although the audience remembers the great charm of Liu Ruoyou, but the protagonist.

In addition, because this movie was planned by two big directors, Johnnie To and Lin Lingdong, who were also famous at the time, Johnnie To himself took the lead in the production, so Chen Musheng did not have much dominance and the style of the film Basically, it completely depends on the director Johnnie To. For this reason, after this movie, Chen Musheng's contract was mostly commercial works with emotional dramas.

"Heaven If Love 2"

followed by "Heaven If Love 2", "Taipe Hong Lang", "Mong Kok Sky" , etc. are also mostly such works. Although these works have certain action elements, they are essentially Still pay more attention to the portrayal of male and female emotions, supplemented by action scenes. At this time, Chen Musheng has not established a relatively formed personal style, and can only be said to be a relatively qualified commercial film director.

"Sky of Mong Kok"

During this period, "Sky of Mong Kok" is relatively worth mentioning. The film abandoned the traditional undercover film and gangster film mode, let the actor Ren Dahua announce the end of the undercover mission as soon as he appeared on the scene. The plot development of the film is the story after Ren Dahua returned to the police force. The undercover career completely changed his life. The grievances with the gang elder brother Yu Rongguang and his girlfriend Zhong Liti, even if the undercover police officers return to their normal lives, they can't forget the black time undercover.

"The Sky in Mong Kok" is relatively novel in terms of story conception and scene processing, but it is a pity that the market around 1995 was still dominated by box office superstars such as Jackie Chan , Stephen Chow, Andy Lau. There was no obvious entertainment stunt in this one. It’s difficult to achieve good results in the market for his movies, and Chen Musheng has therefore turned to the production of action blockbusters.

At the same time, there is also a martial arts film "New Crane Needle", which was produced by Tsui Hark and adapted from Wo Longsheng's novel. This is Chen Musheng's only ancient costume martial arts film so far. The film brings together big names such as Guan Zhilin, Anita Mui, Tony Leung, Liu Songren, etc. It is a typical New Wave martial arts film. In the movie, Anita Mui's white-clothed bamboo flute is still a classic scene in Hong Kong martial arts.

However, the story of the film itself is lackluster, but the line in the film that Rosamund Kwan uses her internal power to detoxify in the film, through the spread of the Internet era, has actually become a famous scene, this is something to follow.

Although "New Crane Needle" maintains Chen Musheng's consistent and rigorous production standards, it does not highlight much of his personal style. On the contrary, the producer of this film is more noticed by the producer Tsui Hark, who has always worked under the reputation of a big-name director. , Chen Musheng's pressure is self-evident.

So in this period, apart from focusing on the film industry, Chen Musheng also cooperated with ATV and Donnie Yen, and filmed two action dramas "Jing Wu Men" and "Hong Xiguan", both of which are Hong Kong martial arts dramas. The classic. In particular, the character of Chen Zhen portrayed by Donnie Yen, although imitating Bruce Lee, is more aggressive than Bruce Lee's version of "Jing Wu Men", making Donnie Yen, who had a stagnant career at that time, succeeded in becoming popular.

Part

z5

The 1996 police action film " Stormtrooper " directed by Chen Musheng is regarded as a landmark work in his personal creative career. This film presents all aspects of the film, whether it is scene scheduling or actor performance. The perfect posture is still one of the masterpieces of Hong Kong police action movies in the 1990s.

This film is a police film with a Hollywood-style shadow. It tells the story of the unanimous EU team led by Liu Qingyun, who will arrest the gangsters at the expense of "extraordinary authority", whether it is in character handling or shooting scenes. In terms of control, Chen Musheng was photographed with passion.

There are many actors in the film, Liu Qingyun, Huang Qiusheng , Wu Zhenyu three big giants gathered together, and Zhang Daming, Huang Zihua, the duo laughable friends who are responsible for the funny, the ultimate villain was a lot of Hong Kong movies that year. The mainland actor Yu Rongguang showed a fierce light as soon as he appeared, singing Peking Opera to Liu Qingyun. From the scene where the two confronted each other in the elevator, the fight continued until the end of the film.

In addition, the film has many more exciting and exciting police and robber wars than reality, and even broke into military airports to intercept aircraft at the climax. Although it mimics "Die Hard 2", it is based on Hong Kong movies. In terms of production conditions, it has been considered a rare large-scale scene in police and criminal films. In addition to the shootout, the director also interspersed the side plots of friendship (Liu Qingyun and a group of subordinates and Wu Zhenyu ) and family (Chen Xiaochun and younger brother), which made the whole plot more full, which was generally modeled in Hong Kong movies at the time. As far as the image of the police is concerned, it is a rare piece of sincerity.

At the same time, the film also established the style of Chen Musheng's work in the future. The scenes are intense, the plot is compact, and the action scenes are used to match the plot . Many of Chen Musheng's later action movies almost use this routine. The box office of

was not very good that year, but its reputation was excellent, and it finally won eight nominations including Best Picture and Best Director at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards. This made Fang Jiahe, the behind-the-scenes producer, firmly confident and determined to use Jackie Chan's blockbuster masterpiece " who am I " directed by Chen Musheng. This film with an investment of 70 million was the largest production of Jiahe that year. In the end, Chen Musheng lived up to expectations and made the film global In the scope, it won 100 million yuan in the box office. So far, it has also opened the prelude to the cooperation with Jackie Chan, and thus ushered in the take-off of the film industry.

"Who Am I" is Jackie Chan's "Red Zone", another fashion action giant trying to break into the international market. The film was Jackie Chan's most ambitious work at the time. The opening African scenes were eye-catching, and then the story was transferred to the Netherlands and Rotterdam. The local government even supported Jackie Chan's filming for free, sealed five streets, and dispatched numerous helicopters and speedboats. , Can be said to be the highest-level production scale of Hong Kong films.

Although there is no shortage of common problems in action movies, the characterization is relatively weak, but the international pattern and bizarre plot settings still make the movie have a quite good rhythm control, at the same time this movie can be described as Jackie Chan movie action It’s the pinnacle of the work, the dangerous action is not only occasionally cute and hilarious, but in many cases it is breathtaking, especially Jackie Chan’s high-altitude scene on the mansion, that is admiring the desperate spirit of shooting difficult actions. At the same time, it also created the most memorable highlight moments of this movie. After

"Who Am I", Chen Musheng filmed two " special police new human ", using Nicholas Tse, Wu Yanzu, Feng Delun, Li Cansen and other fledgling young actors, the film also follows the new human style and international big action. The path of the scene brings out a cool and enjoyable youthful feeling in the genre of police and criminal films.

Chen Musheng arranged many actions in the filmDramas, including fighting, blasting, and skydiving. Because many large-scale designs are reluctant to lose, the budget has been increased from 15 million to 30 million. The three youth special police are witty and cold. The villain Daniel Wu has outstanding acting skills. Zeng Zhiwei and Wu Zhenyu also showed tragic feelings in entertainment films and became the Hong Kong box office champions.

Part

z5

8z

After entering the new century, Chen Musheng continued to explore the pattern and vision of Hong Kong-produced police films.

On the one hand, he continued to work with Jackie Chan to shoot two films with completely different styles, "New Police Story" and "Baby Project".

The former is Jackie Chan's transformation work after he entered middle age. In the film, he is no longer the undefeated justice policeman Chen Jiaju, but a decadent middle-aged man Chen Guorong living in the shadows. With the "Police Story" series of signs, the film did not continue the story. The difference between

is that the first four police stories are about creating heroes. In this film, the corner bricks are removed and the legendary color collapses instantly. The film caters to the fashion trend of young audiences in the new era and weakens the aura of some heroes. More To express the police role played by Jackie Chan from the heart of the character. For Jackie Chan, this is a challenge and an innovation.

is Jackie Chan's rare non-positive character appearance in "Baby Project". The flip flop played by Jackie Chan is a failed middle-aged man. Although he has extraordinary skills, it is a pity to use the wrong place to become a thief. , Indulges in gambling all day long and has no goal in life, and alienated from his family, he steals with the charter company and Baidu and commits sneaky crimes. The warmth element in the film is also rare in Jackie Chan movies before. It has both hilarious and funny sections and beautiful fighting actions. It is the most successful work of Chen Musheng's northern co-production film.

On the other hand, after entering the 21st century, Chen Musheng's directorial skills have become more mature, and his work styles have begun to show a diversified trend, but he is always inseparable from his old line-police films.

In the past ten years, Chen Musheng has still handed over a lot of wonderful works, such as " Sanchakou " which tells the secret fight of three parties, " duo " with hypnosis as the theme, according to the Hollywood thriller "First Line" "Sound Machine" is adapted from " Keep Talking ", and " Sweeping Drugs " which pays homage to Hong Kong action movies. Especially the latter, Liu Qingyun, Louis Koo and Zhang Jiahui play a scene where the anti-drug policeman is trapped in the Golden Triangle drug dealer's nest. Chen Musheng moved out of the land-air battle, which fully demonstrated his profound skill in controlling popular action scenes.

and 2007's "Men's True Colors" is a movie closer to Jackie Chan. Chen Musheng borrowed from Jackie Chan's action film filming method, and finally made Nicholas Tse the second action superstar who dares to kill his life in the Chinese film industry. Most of these works are good at the box office, making Chen Musheng a representative figure in the field of Hong Kong action films after the new millennium.

Every good director has inevitably made bad films, and Chen Musheng is no exception. For example,

once again collaborated with Jackie Chan, bringing together Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse and Wu Jing and other all-star lineups of " New Shaolin Temple ", but the reputation is unsatisfactory, while " City Guard " which combines action and science fiction elements and the Republic of China martial arts film " " Dangerous City " and the family sci-fi comedy " Meow Star Man " have also been labeled "bad movies" by many viewers.

However, this does not prevent Chen Musheng from becoming the "most anticipated director" in the hearts of today's audiences- he learned from Du Qifeng,However, he was deeply influenced by Jackie Chan and Tsui Hark, and finally created his unique style, which still bears the distinctive brand of old Hong Kong movies on him.

Although his latest movie "Rage" has not been released yet, judging from the materials currently exposed, the film will be a very exciting action cop blockbuster. The

movie tells the story of a series of intrigues and dangers encountered by the crime squad in the process of hunting down criminals. The crime team inspector Zhang Chongbang played by Donnie Yen saw that his comrade-in-arms had just decided in front of him to investigate the truth of the matter. It turns out that the master behind this incident is actually a good friend of his own, and the grievances between the two also involve a series of stories. The future and the past between the two of them have now become a must to face. Contradiction.

It is a pity that director Chen Musheng will never see the moment when the film is released.

Looking back at the works of Director Chen Musheng, you will find that there is a heroic complex in his works. Director Chen once said in an interview: He himself grew up watching martial arts novels and hero movies, so he admires the heroic ambitions of heroes, so he incorporates these understandings of the general idea into his movies. It not only satisfies my youthful feelings, but also satisfies the needs of the audience.

The media once commented on Chen Musheng:

He does not have idol temperament, but like a meticulous craftsman, professionalism is his strong point. Director Chen

, go all the way!