文|Linghu Boguang
This year's Spring Festival movie is quite weak. I would describe the two top films as " Azuma " versus " The Wandering Earth 2", and "Li Huanying" versus "Tang Detective 3". As a result, "The Wandering Earth 2" and "Tang Detective 3" are gone, and "Li Huanying" and "Man Jiang Hong" have been concentrated for a year.
Even this year’s film list does not include blockbusters "Assassination of Novelists" and "Crazy Alien".
If the quality of the two leading films is mediocre, it is unlikely that "Flying Life 2" and "Bear Infested" will really become dark horses and win the championship. Of course, there is an analysis of the reason why the movie has not been released. So, have you ever thought about a question? They are both suspense comedies that top the Chinese box office rankings. Which one is better, "Tang Detective" or "Man Jiang Hong"?
The "Tang Detective" series is quite special among domestic films (although each one is worse than the last). It is a great breakthrough for China's suspense mystery commercial blockbusters and the Chinese film and television industry. After all, since 2012, in addition to the Wu Jing "Wolf Warrior" series, the " Wandering Earth " series; others such as the "Action Series", there is also a Hong Kong police and gangster blockbuster, which is said to be a commercial series blockbuster, but the result is not only the plot and There is no connection with the previous film, even the actors in each film are different.
The "Tang Detective" series has been filmed three times in a row, as well as an online drama, truly becoming China's first "IP universe" in the new era.
But the problems with this series are not small. Each of the three movies has a higher box office than the last, but the reputation of each one is worse than the last. The second movie has a "suspected plagiarism" controversy, and the third movie has a record-breaking box office and has the worst reputation. This is just like the "Tang Detective" web drama. The first two cases are classics, but the five great soul boys in the third case simply failed.
These have led to the IP "Tang Detective" having a very special status in China. A group of netizens talked about it and disliked it; but a large number of viewers are looking forward to the sequel, just like the web drama "Tang Detective 2", hoping that its quality will pass the test and not be like the first one. A crappy one. The online drama "Tang Detective 2" has not yet been broadcast, and "Tang Detective 4" and "Tang Detective Prequel 1900" have not yet started filming.
If I want to make a personal comment, it would be that Chinese audiences underestimated the IP "Tang Detective", especially the first one.
Among the current box office rankings of Chinese movies, the only suspense comedy blockbusters are "Man Jiang Hong" and "Tang Detective 3". We all know that "Tang Detective 3" is terrible. But if you compare "Man Jiang Hong" and "Tang Detective 1", you will find that "Tang Detective 1" is far undervalued among Chinese commercial suspense movies.
The second part is suspected of plagiarism, but the third part is too bad? Why "Tang Detective" was successful
From the perspective of genre films, "Man Jiang Hong" and "Tang Detective" are similar. They are mainly a combination of two types of comedy + suspense. The protagonists of both films use a lot of comedians. Narratively, the investigation of a case is constantly reversing and reversing, and finally there is a final reversal to sublimate the theme.
It's just that "Tang Detective" is a discussion of the good and evil of human nature, while "Man Jiang Hong" is the sublimation of national justice.
"Tang Detective" is also a serious suspense reasoning blockbuster. The geographical setting is quite complicated, and the reversal of the investigation case only lasts three or four levels until the final twist.
"Man Jiang Hong" is a secret room script killing movie. The scale of time and space is very small. It can be infinitely reversed based on the existing characters, and even reversed for the sake of reversal.
I believe that as long as you have watched these two movies and look back and compare them now, you will find a phenomenon. Although the second and third parts of "Tang Detective" are not great, the first part is still very classic. Ordinary viewers may not remember the reversal of the previous investigation, but they will definitely remember Sinuo's evil smile at the end when he discussed the good and evil of human nature. .
There are so many twists and turns in the middle of "Man Jiang Hong" that you just can't remember the plot. The final twist is Qin Hui's substitution and not killing. Firstly, the above expression is controversial, and secondly, the use of substitutes has long been overused, even Zhang Yimou used it in "Shadow".
Even if this ending theme is sublimated and discussed, you will be more impressed by the reversal of the plot of "Tang Detective".Why is this so? That's because the narrative structure of "Tang Detective" is more standardized, the characters are shaped, and the dramatic conflicts created by narrative advancement are better, which all make the audience more impressed.
For example, in Tang Ren, Qin Feng ran to Axiang's (played by Tong Liya) house thinking he was committing murder, but a group of people came to Axiang's house to meet one after another. Hong Kong movies represented by the great director Tsui Hark have failed in the comedy segment where multiple forces meet, but "Tang Detective" still has new ideas.
For example, the protagonist group + the two forces’ misunderstanding of the hospital shootout scene + old songs, this has become the iconic scene of "Tang Detective".
There are many similar scenes in dramas like "Tang Detective". Do you still vaguely remember this scene? Even though "Tang Detective 3" is generally recognized as a bad film that only cares about one thing but not the other, and has weakened the reasoning and comedy in order to cater to commercialization, there was a scene where multiple actors accidentally beat up the nurse in the hospital elevator. When the
movie was released, many netizens felt sorry for the nurse, but the theater viewing effect was still very good.
At the same time, the first part is also the most classic in terms of character creation. The ultimate villain Sinuo, Pan Yueming's adoptive father, the funny villain Xiao Shenyang trio; to Chen He's nose, Xiao Yang's Sheriff Kuntai, etc., not only the character image , and even many of the lines are remembered by everyone, which is why the movie is excellent.
The first part is not suspected of being plagiarized by the second part, and the third part weakens the comedy and reasoning plot due to other plots.
But these things are still there in the first film, and finally, coupled with the sublimation of the human theme at the end, it has the kind of excellent business reasoning blockbuster with a neat narrative, a full business perspective, and depth.
It is also a suspense film. Comparing "River Red" and "Tang Detective", the difference is obvious
"River Red" was very controversial when it was released, but the more reason is that it bumped into "The Wandering Earth 2" and all kinds of chaos The public opinion triggered is deliberately belittling. Nowadays, when online public opinion criticizes a person, he will criticize and trample on ten thousand feet for everything. There cannot be any advantages, and even if there are advantages, they are also shortcomings.
itself is still a commercial film with good entertainment effect, but it is also a suspense film. Let you recall it now. I guess many people are concerned about the character plot of this film, except for the reversal of the poem reciting at the end and Qin Hui's stand-in.
Between the comedy scenes of Shen Teng and various plots, you thought it was OK at the time, but you just can't remember it now.
You have to say that there are many outstanding scenes in terms of storyline, character creation, and dramatic conflicts. For example, Zhang Yi's mysterious dagger, Yue Yunpeng's waist knife that was repeatedly snatched away, and the waist card that he always used to threaten others, as well as the singing scene between the male protagonist Shen Teng and the new girl Mou.
Finally, when Yi Yang Qianxi interrogated Shen Teng, he cut his back with a knife to "serve the country with loyalty" and so on.
However, if I didn’t mention these plots deliberately, wouldn’t you be able to remember them at all? The most important thing about is that as time goes by, I bet the audience will gradually forget these plots, and in the end they will only remember the negative cultural symbol of reciting poems at the end and killing the substitute instead of Qin Hui.
In the future, when netizens talk about "Man Jiang Hong", in addition to the negative definition of public opinion like "The Wandering Earth 1" versus "Shanghai Fortress". Even if someone does talk about this movie, there will never be many specific fans who remember the specific plot.
What is the reason? It is exactly the opposite of the advantages of "Tang Detective 1". Now that we are talking about the "Tang Detective" series, the second part is probably remembered as "suspected plagiarism" and sporadic clips, and the third one is a bad movie and sporadic plots (there is also the foreshadowing of Andy Lau at the end). But I can remember a lot of characters, classic plots and exciting moments from the first part, and the reversal of human nature at the end is also quite profound.
"Tang Detective 1" is a commercial suspense blockbuster that has been underestimated by the audience, while "Man Jiang Hong" is just a comedy + script that reverses the suspense aspect for the sake of being funny, and the comedy is funny for the sake of being funny, but it does have more problems in other aspects. It's a commercial suspense movie about killing and has good entertainment effect.
In the end it was a huge success commercially, but it didn't leave much behind as a movie.
The box office of a single movie is not as good as "Man Jiang Hong"? But it turns out that "Tang Detective" is heading towards another domestic blockbuster.
"Tang Detective", "The Wandering Earth", "Man Jiang Hong", and the "Tang Detective" series cannot be compared with "The Wandering Earth 2", but the "Tang Detective" series Its status will also be higher than that of "Man Jiang Hong", although the combined box office of the three "Tang Detective" films is higher than that of "Man Jiang Hong".
We are talking about these three movies now. "The Wandering Earth 2" is one that anyone who has watched the movie seriously will be shocked to the point of wondering whether the Chinese can make it. Half a year later, this movie is still released from time to time. discuss.
Finally, "The Wandering Earth 2" has a huge promotion effect on Chinese science fiction movies, the Chinese film industry, and even the Chinese pop culture industry; while the "Tang Detective" series is at least one, or two, weaker, but at least for China Commercial mystery blockbusters, Chinese commercial blockbusters still have a driving effect.
Let alone comparing "Man Jiang Hong" with "The Wandering Earth 2", I think it is not a movie on the same level as "Tang Detective".
In the end, it is understandable that everyone in the Spring Festival season is so fond of "Man Jiang Hong". After all, the impact of the three-year "epidemic" had not yet completely passed. The entire industry had been suffering for three years, and the Spring Festival season had just been released. This approach of all parties is considered It's like killing the goose that lays the egg, but it's understandable.
Now that the "epidemic" is almost over, it seems that China obviously needs film and television works like "The Wandering Earth" more, even the "Tang Detective" series, rather than movies like "Man Jiang Hong".
Now I just hope that the online drama "Tang Detective 2" will be aired as soon as possible, and "Tang Detective 4" and other sequel movies will be shot as soon as possible. In addition, the web drama must avoid the third case of "Tang Detective 1", and the movie must avoid the problems of the second and third parts, so that the entire Tang Detective IP can become bigger and go further. If
really succeeds in becoming the largest commercial reasoning IP in China, it is not impossible.
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