Copywriting | Sesame
Editor | Bu Mang
The Chinese drama market in April is quite lively.
, " and Feng Xing " and "Storm Chaser" led the craze first, and then a large number of dramas were launched.
CCTV has released two dramas, " Cheng Huan Ji " and "City within the City", one with a top-notch lead and the other with a cast of actors, both of which achieved very impressive results.
On the other side, Mango Channel produced "When the Stars Shine", which ranked first in satellite TV ratings for many days in a row.
At the same time, another new drama "Harbin 1944" was launched. Looking at the current Chinese drama market, it seems that the only one that has both popularity and reputation is "City Within a City".
There is no doubt that the biggest opponent of "Harbin 1944" is "City Within a City".
So, which of the two dramas is better?
Watch 6 episodes each and give my answer -
"City Within the City": Chasing to the End
"City Within the City" tells the story of two generations of financial professionals facing the financial crisis and constantly choosing between career bottom line and monetary interests. story.
The biggest feeling this drama gives to the audience is that they dare to film it.
One of them dares to photograph the darkness of the financial workplace.
Zhao Hui ( Yu Hewei ) relied on his own efforts to resist various temptations and step by step to the position of vice president.
When the position of the bank president became vacant, everyone thought that Zhao Hui, who had outstanding ability, would be the best candidate for the new bank president. However, because he was unwilling to facilitate certain people in his work, he was targeted and lost his position as president.
The new president knew that Zhao Hui's ability would threaten him, so he evaded Zhao Hui's power so that he had no chance to stand up.
Zhao Hui seemed to be compromising, but he was already involved in the situation, setting a trap to remove all his old classmates and the new president who framed him.
Infighting in the workplace is as cruel as fighting with real guns and knives.
Second, dare to photograph the weaknesses of human nature.
Zhao Hui's darkening was expected by his good brother Wu Xianlong ( Wang Jinsong ) and classmate Xie Zhiyuan ( Tu Songyan ).
Wu Xianlong's company had financial problems and asked Zhao Hui for help, but at first Zhao Hui stuck to the bottom line and remained unmoved.
However, Zhao Hui's daughter was ill and needed surgery money urgently. Wu Xianlong finally had a good opportunity to give Zhao Hui money, so that he had to do things for himself.
Zhou Lin (played by Long Ni) arranged by Xie Zhiyuan to be beside Zhao Hui reminds Zhao Hui of his late wife frequently. Now that the child is sick, Zhao Hui feels more guilty about his wife and must take good care of the child no matter what.
It can be said that Zhao Hui's only weakness is his love of love. He is grateful to Wu Xianlong for saving his life, and he also misses the relationship with his late wife.
Wu Xianlong and Xie Zhiyuan took advantage of Zhao Hui's weakness to break through his last line of defense.
Zhao Hui suffered a loss at work, was unsatisfied in life, and was resentful, gradually heading towards the abyss. However, Wu Xianlong and Xie Zhiyuan tried their best to drag Zhao Hui into the water, just for their own interests.
And their actions also reflect the greatest weakness of human nature-greed.
In addition to the plot, another highlight of "City Within a City" comes from the acting level.
Zhao Hui, played by Yu Hewei, has a hard time saying it, Miao Che, played by Wang Xiao, is always upright and sincere, Xie Zhiyuan, played by Tu Songyan, is cunning and sinister, and Wu Xianlong, played by Wang Jinsong, is unfathomable.
The powerful actors in the uncle circle are so enjoyable to watch. Every character becomes vivid under their interpretation, which also raises the level of the whole drama.
The excitement of this drama is incredible.
"Harbin 1944": Abandoned drama
"Harbin 1944" tells the story of our party's intelligence officer Song Zhuowen ( Qin Hao) sneaked into the enemy's interior and went through all kinds of painstaking efforts to obtain the secret service chief Guan Xue. ( Yang Mi ) and the new appointment of senior Japanese officials to clear the way for the final victory of the war.
Spy dramas pay most attention to the rigor of logic, but this drama has almost no logic. At the beginning of the
series, Guan Xue pretended to be a comrade from our party (played by Tian Xiaojie) to have a meeting, but the traces of the watch mark on her wrist were discovered. After that, the spy war drama began to enter the funny segment.
Old Duan used a stool to hold up the door, slowly took the fire from the stove and put it into the iron basin, burning the information that covered the bed one by one. The situation was so urgent, so he just burned it in the stove.
When Guan Xue broke open the door outside and the paper in the iron basin was burned clean, I suspected that Guan Xue was an undercover agent. Even if he smashed the door for a long time, his companion opened it with two bangs.
What, your people over there are not allowed to carry guns when performing tasks? So where did this gun come from?
Note that the first thing Guan Xue did when entering the house was to put out the fire with a kettle, trying to find the fragments of information that had not been burned in time.
After flipping through nothing for a long time, she stood up. At this time, there was an inexplicable gun in her hand.
This magic made me stunned for a while, and those who didn’t know it thought I was cheating.
After catching Lao Duan, Guan Xue asked him why he was exposed. Lao Duan said unabashedly that our people did not wear watches.
If you have been caught in the rain, you should tear off other people's umbrellas. The difficulty of other comrades' tasks has been upgraded to another level thanks to you.
But I don’t blame Lao Duan for saying that Guan Xue and his gang are really stupid.
mistakenly thought that Lao Duan was dead, so he threw the body in a random place. There was a body lying alone on the green grass, for fear that others would not be able to find it. This was another piece of evidence that Guan Xue was an undercover agent.
When a Japanese man suddenly appeared at the train station, Guan Xue raised his gun and persuaded him in Chinese to put the gun down, regardless of whether he understood it or not. The Japanese really did not dare to act rashly.
And as a lackey of Little Japan, how could Guan Xue not speak Japanese? The more I watch this plot, the funnier it becomes.
In addition to the plot that is full of loopholes, the heroine's acting also dissuaded many viewers.
Guan Xue is ruthless and extremely sensitive. She should have played the role of a femme fatale with great tension, but Yang Mi couldn't play it that way.
The ruthlessness she showed was all reflected in her twisted expression and flying facial features.
either frowns and stares or bares his teeth when angry. He doesn't have the high intelligence of a female agent at all, which is extremely disappointing.
Even if Qin Hao, Zhang Guoqiang, Jiang Qiming and other acting talents join the show, it will not help.
From the plot to the acting, "Harbin 1944" has flaws.
Conclusion:
I have watched 6 episodes each of "Harbin 1944" and "City Within a City". One of them has given up on the show, while the other is binge-watching it to the end.
I have to say that it is not unreasonable for Yang Yi to leave the prime time slot to "City Within a City".
Regardless of the quality of the plot or the level of acting, "City Within a City" is far ahead of the dramas aired at the same time. The further you look at it, the more surprises the drama will bring to the audience.
And "Harbin 1944" only brought disappointment to the audience. The opening few episodes of
are full of loopholes, the logic is not rigorous, what kind of spy drama is there, and there are obvious gangsters. The sincerity of the crew is simply zero.
The acting skills of the heroine Yang Mi are also a major flaw, which affects the quality of the whole drama.
So, which one of these two dramas do you think is better?