Time Editorial Department | Stealth drinking
Heal life with movies.
At the end of 2019, "Manslaughter" turned out.
It is the most eye-catching box office dark horse before the epidemic, with a cumulative box office of more than 1.3 billion, and word of mouth has also brought surprises.
It not only broke through the box office ceiling of domestic suspense crime films, but also led this genre to open up a new situation in the mainland market.
Today, the sequel to the series was released as scheduled and continues to play the highlight of this year's Lunar New Year slot.
Manslaughter 2
Like the previous game, "Manslaughter 2" still tells the story of an ordinary father who is desperate and desperate for his children, even risking his life and committing crimes.
But this time, the main creative team chose to "start again".
Today, let's talk about this new work, is it hardcore enough to look good?
The core of affection
Everyone is so looking forward to "Manslaughter 2" naturally because of the good impression left by the previous game.
The suspenseful atmosphere of the previous work is strong, the rhythm is clean and clean, and the performances of Xiao Yang and Chen Chong are full of tension.
Remember the fear of being dominated by Chen Chong?
But what caused the audience to discuss the most was that two families of different classes, because of the children, launched a life-and-death contest.
"Criminal Shell + Family Core", stringing together the "Manslaughter" series of two movies in the same theme.
It's simple, it's pure, it's all about saving children.
"You don't know what a father can do for his children."
This is the most touching line of Xiao Yang in "Manslaughter 2", and it is also the title of the whole film.
In the new film, Lin Rilang, an ordinary father played by Xiao Yang, found that his son Xiao Worm suffered from heart disease, and it was difficult to wait for the right "life-saving heart" to match, but it disappeared and was robbed.
Desperate, he took the initiative to create a kidnapping with a gun in an attempt to regain the heart that originally belonged to his son.
In this new story, xiao Yang's father is a second-rate screenwriter, and undoubtedly an unarmed little person.
He is not only confronted with his son's cruel condition, the injustice of the medical system, but also a huge invisible conspiracy.
He didn't know who had robbed the heart, time was lost minute by minute, and if his son couldn't wait for the heart, he could die at any time.
Xiao Yang said that in the role of Lin Zhilang, he must "find some kind of memory, an animal instinct." ”
It is this "animal instinct" to protect children that makes him burst out of the evil thoughts of crime.
He grabbed a gun and kidnapped doctors, patients and family members in the emergency room as bargaining chips.
His request was also simple, "Within an hour, get your heart back, or I'll start killing." ”
Of course, the police are not vegetarians, and in the tug-of-war with Lin Zhilang, they are constantly delaying time, and his demands are not met for a long time, and everyone becomes more and more impatient and anxious...
"Manslaughter 2" focuses not only on this desperate father, but also on the dilemma of a small person who faces a dilemma and is cornered.
In terms of creative team, it is in line with the previous works.
Executive producer Chen Sicheng has been escorting, from screenwriter Li Peng to the behind-the-scenes production team, all of them are the same original team.
However, the director changed from Ke Wenli to Dai Mo.
Although Dai Mo is a newcomer director, he has already intersected with Chen Sicheng, and he is the director of the second story of the web drama "Detective Chinatown", "The Name of the Rose".
The "manslaughter" team + the "Tang Detective" team joined forces, and the production level was first stabilized.
"Manslaughter 2" is also more compact in rhythm, the narrative is crisp and clean, and the story begins with a tense and exciting gun kidnapping scene, which catches people's attention at once.
The audience will also be curious, Lin Zhilang is so desperate, is his son finally saved? He stabbed such a big basket himself, how could he retreat with his whole body?
This suspense remains until the end of the film.
Crime piece shell
Domestic crime films are undoubtedly scarce in the mainland film market.
The two works of the "Manslaughter" series are both crime stories that unfold from the perspective of ordinary little people.
"Small people are forced to make big mistakes", the crime is unforgivable, but there are extenuating circumstances, and this perspective is even more unique and rare for crime genre films.
There are also many interesting changes in the details of the two works.
In the first part, the confrontation between good and evil, the sword is fierce, the fierce competition across classes, with a strong suspense element, makes people addicted.
In the second part, we see more of the "kidnapper" Lin Zhilang and Zhang Zhengyi, who represents the police, fighting on the surface, in fact, they are also enemies and friends, and the bigger enemy has always been hidden in the shadows.
Who stole the heart that should have belonged to Lin Zhilang's son? And who can still cheat and hide after "stealing"?
In the first film, Li Weijie, a veteran film fan, used a "montage" film technique, he used time and space to confuse people's memories.
In the second part, As a screenwriter, Lin Rilang took the initiative to create a chaos and designed a self-directed and self-acting drama.
On the back of his script, the words "Plan B" are revealed, in addition to taking hostages in the hospital, what new plans are being planned?
The audience can't help but wonder whether the screenwriter is making up his own story or living a real life.
And the bigger question is, is Lin Zhilang a good person or a bad person?
In fact, he is in a complex gray area of human nature, not black and white.
The audience was sometimes provoked by his so-called ferocity, and Xiao Yang's open-minded eyes simply made people retreat.
Sometimes sympathetic and resonant with his father's love, the picture of a family of three enjoying themselves is a rare short-lived bright color in the whole film.
At the very least, would you believe he was a good father, and would there be a better choice if you moved to his place?
Lead actor Xiao Yang feels that in his heart, Lin Rilang's key word is "fear".
He was originally an ordinary person, he was afraid, afraid of trouble, more afraid of losing his child.
But because of the love for the child, he aroused great energy and made him a real father.
As director Dai Mo said, "You can't define a person with one thing." The definition of a person is itself a layer of manslaughter. ”
Human nature is complex and difficult to determine, which is also the charm of crime films.
Just like the rivalry between Ren Dahua and Xiao Yang, the policeman is only separated by a layer of transparent glass, and the policeman's face has an intriguing smile.
Is the line between good and evil really so clear?
This is the step that "Manslaughter 2" as a crime film, after revealing the truth, is another step forward.
Finally determine what kind of person this father really is, only after watching the movie, everyone has their own answer.
The actor is also remarkable, the actor Xiao Yang's acting skills are more sophisticated and mature, and his face has more fireworks and traces of age, just perfectly integrated with the image of his father.
He showed precisely what it meant to "kill someone" with his eyes.
Ren Dahua plays an old policeman who is obsessed with finding the truth.
His gray hair, scruffy, unruly appearance of not wearing a police uniform suggests that he does not succumb to authority.
Wen Yongshan plays Lin Rilang's wife Ah Ling, who almost appears in the film with a vegan face, which shows the haggard helplessness of a mother and the tenacity and responsibility that should be there.
Although the story of "Manslaughter 2" takes place in Southeast Asian countries, it still allows us to feel the connection between the movie and reality.
In the current film circle, it is not easy to appear such a work with the depth of realism, daring to expose the complexity of human nature and call for justice.
Doctor-patient contradictions and corrupt power carry more serious practical issues.
Justice may be temporarily late, but it will never be absent.
In the movie, Lin Zhilang's son's name is Xiao Worm, and the English title is "Daytime Firefly".
Fireflies represent small, helpless, and glowing little people. Fireflies in the sun are invisible, and only when they get together in the dark of the night, and the more they gather, the brighter they are, can they awaken the hope of more people.
No one knows how much energy a father would have.
After watching "Manslaughter 2", maybe you will understand.
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