Sohu Entertainment Special Article (Hamai/text) claims to have an investment of 3 billion yuan, and the main producer is in a financial storm, repeatedly skipping tickets. In the middle, "Legend of the Gods", "Journey to the West: The Daughter of the Kingdom", "Asura" and other magical blockbusters have overdrawn their credit for this genre.
But if these "concerns" and "prejudice" are put aside, "Fengshen" is really not a bad movie, but it exceeds many people's expectations. Douban has a score of 7.7 and Maoyan has a score of 9.4, which is not low in the camp of Chinese and foreign fantasy films. It can even be said that Wu Ershan is rebuilding the reputation of domestic fantasy films by himself.
(the following involves spoilers)
is more than realistic
Many domestic fantasy films hit the street, not because of lack of imagination and special effects, but because they can't tell a story.
Magic movies are first and foremost movies. The story is attractive and the characters are standable.
It can be seen that "Fengshen Part I" put a lot of effort into the story and characters. It jumped out of the trap of the domestic fantasy film, which is based on magic and supplemented by realism. It is just the other way around, with realism as the main and magic as the supplement, and it grasps the key point.
The movie has made a bold adaptation on the basis of the original "Fengshen" story, focusing on the two characters Yin Shou and Ji Fa.
In ancient times, China had a vast territory, and the transportation and military were inefficient, so the ruler came up with a good way—dividing the feudal princes, each in charge of its own region, but loyal to the imperial court, paying tribute and guarding the border. But the imperial court was also worried that these princes would rebel, so they adopted the sons of the princes in the imperial court as "protons".
Ji Fa is such a proton, raised by Yin Shou.
Yin Shou is brave and good at fighting, with great talent and great strategy. The protons all admire this nominal father, and Ji Fa does the same. They regard him as the hero in their hearts and the person they want to be in the end.
But Yin Shou has ambitions and schemes, which the protons can't see, and the protons are just him as a pawn.
During the battle to suppress the rebellion of Hou Suhu in Jizhou, Su Hu's daughter Su Daji was killed and possessed by a fox demon. The fox demon saw through Yin Shou's ambition and followed him into the palace, killing his brother and father, and soon helped him sit on the throne and began to rule tyrannically.
But Yin Shou's own son Yin Jiao and adopted son Ji Fa couldn't see through all this, they believed that his father was just bewitched by a fox demon, and Ji Fa even arrested his biological father Ji Chang and regarded him as a traitor who deceived the public.
It wasn't until the end that the loyal minister Bigan dug out his heart and forced the fox demon to show up. Yin Shou's true face was exposed, and they realized that all this was not just caused by the fox demon, but by Yin Shou's willingness. The fox demon was using Yin Shou, and Yin Shou was also using the fox demon.
If you have evil thoughts in your heart, you will commit evil. Adapted in this way, the character Yin Shou appears plump and three-dimensional, and is no longer just a symbolic image of a tyrant. The story of "Fengshen" also breaks away from the frivolous mythological sense of "Daji's disaster for the country", and has a sense of history.
On the basis of the fullness of the characters, there is a basis for watching the performance.
Yin Shou played by Fei Xiang is very successful in many people's eyes, full of charm, he is handsome, strong, meritorious, has a city, has ambition, understands strategy, like a tycoon who can dominate.
Ji Fa, the core character, has also grown fully.
In the traditional system of loyalty and filial piety, he is Yin Shou's son spiritually and Ji Chang's son physically.
He wants to be loyal and filial at the same time.
When Yin Shou, who is black-bellied and vicious and good at PUA, forces him to kill Ji Chang, trying to completely defeat him mentally and manipulate him, Ji Fa bursts out with great pain and contradictions in his heart, and he wants to find a way out for himself in the desperate situation.
With such a mental journey, when Ji Chang finally said, "Whose son you are is not important, who you are is what matters", the growth of this hero with kindness and righteousness is convincing, and it also paved the way for him to become King Wu of Zhou and set up an army to conquer Zhou.
Through the reinterpretation of stories such as "Daji's Disaster for the Country", "Bigan Digs His Heart", and "Wen Wang Shizi", the script of "Fengshen" is self-consistent. Under the framework of the classic three-act drama, there are substitutions, conflicts, and climaxes, which make people watch.
Magic is not enough
This movie captures the core of the rise and fall of dynasties in the long river of history, which is the duel between people's hearts, and also the duel between good and evil. Real strength is never power, not coercion, not weapons, not the army, but the most essential goodwill.
But it is precisely this kind of setting that focuses on writing tactics and human nature, and on the growth of characters, which weakens the magical color of "Fengshen Part One".
Su Daji, who is well-known in the story of "Fengshen", has become a supporting role.
It used to be a demon in the previous dynasty, and was sealed under the mountain. Only the blood of the great merchant royal family can free her. The blood that Yin Shou shed in the decisive battle with the Soviet army happened to save it, and it possessed Su Daji and charmed Yin Shou.
As a fox demon, she can read Yin Shou's heart and know what he wants. She can heal him by licking Yin Shou's wound with her tongue. She told Yin Shou that he could live forever. Therefore, Yin Shou also protected her not to kill her, even after she was forced to show her original fox shape.
The film's explanation of the fox demon is only these. There is no foreshadowing, no deep digging, and no display of her human side. She is more like a functional character that externalizes Yin Shou's ambition.
In the performance, she did not deliberately shape the ability of the fox demon to confuse people, but focused on showing her as a beast. She is bloodthirsty, brutal, and wild. She walks like an animal, crawling on the ground, more like a pet attached to Yin Shou.
Other mythological characters appeared Jiang Ziya, Erlangshen, Nezha, Shen Gongbao, and Lei Zhenzi.
Jiang Ziya has great love in his heart. For the common people in the world, he would rather give up decades of practice, waste his divine power, and return to the world. Accompanied by Erlang God and Nezha, he looks for the "Common Lord of the World" and entrusts him with the "Fengshen List".
When he found out that Yin Shou was cruel and inhuman, and not the "common master of the world" in his mind, he ran away, and was chased by Yin Shou's soldiers along the way, as well as Shen Gongbao, who wanted to win the list of gods, and started the "parkour" journey.
The main responsibilities of Erlangshen and Nezha are to help Jiang Ziya, who has lost his supernatural power, resolve the crisis, and to help him send someone to Yuxu Palace. They are like two thugs and couriers, but they are not outstanding.
I don't know if it's a problem of imagination or because I don't have enough money to spend on special effects. The appearance of Jiang Ziya and the gods of Yuxu Palace, the visual effects can't satisfy many audiences.
The scene where Shen Gongbao moved his soul and two stone unicorns chased Jiang Ziya and Ji Fa was also somewhat unappetizing. It seemed that the special effects were shown for the sake of showing special effects, which did not reflect the necessity, and the visual effects were commonplace, not new and advanced.
Lei Zhenzi just showed up, focusing on his relationship with Xibo Hou Jichang. His ugly appearance is also in a realistic style. It may be eye-catching just by looking at the concept map, but it is not obtrusive and acceptable in the movie.
Of course, these characters are not the focus of "Fengshen Part I". It depends on the gods from all walks of life showing their supernatural powers, and the battle of King Wu's defeating Zhou and Muye, and the second and third parts.
As a "trailer", "Fengshen Part I" is a success. It tells the story believably, and the characters are fully portrayed, which arouses the audience's expectations for the second and third parts, and also arouses the audience's interest in Chinese mythology.
But its magical plot and special effects realization ability shown in the first part made the audience who were waiting to watch the magical blockbuster a little worried.
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