On August 23, 2020, Hong Kong media reported that director Chen Musheng died of nasopharyngeal cancer at the age of 58. Another star in the Hong Kong film industry has fallen...
Today, director Chen Musheng's posthumous work "Anger and Serious Case" has landed in major theaters in the mainland and is currently being screened.
The day before yesterday, the crow had already watched the screening. I know, a lot of people are concerned about the quality of this movie.
However, before evaluating this film, I still want to talk about this breathtaking director: Chen Musheng.
Speaking of Hong Kong film directors, Chen Musheng does not seem to be the first to be remembered.
Before his name, there were Wong Kar-wai, Wu Yusen, Du Qifeng... There have been too many people, too many brilliant creations, and they have been recorded in film history...
Yes, Chen Musheng is not the best Hong Kong director.
Most of his works are decent, full of commercial flavor, heavy drama, light literary drama, and the level is high and low.
Under normal playing conditions, the average score is basically around 7.5 points on Douban. In recent years, there have been a lot of bad films...
Among his works, the best reputation is the early production by Du Qifeng, "Heavenly Love", which was released in 1990, with a Douban score of 8.3.
The film tells a tragic love story between an ancient boy and a rich woman, and now it seems a bit old-fashioned.
But in the distant 1990, this love film without any gorgeous scenes has become an eternal classic in the hearts of many people with its sad and romantic plot and exciting and addictive action scenes.
"Heavenly Love"
A friend once told the crow: When I saw this movie, Hua Tsai rode a motorcycle too handsome. Since then, I have been poisoned by motorcycles, and I have always dreamed of saving money to buy a...
At the end of the movie, there is a classic shot:
Andy Lau was beaten to the point that his nose was blue and his face was swollen, and his nose was bleeding wildly...
He was dressed in a white suit, riding a motorcycle, carrying Wu Qianlian in a snow-white wedding dress, speeding all the way on the highway...
This plot is almost one of the most romantic scenes in a Chinese romance film...
It is said that when this movie was released in South Korea, it shocked all of Korea...
Some netizens rumored that because it was too hot, this film was released in South Korea for 9 consecutive months.
Because of its age, this information has not been verified at present, but the popularity of "Heavenly Love" in South Korea is beyond doubt.
In many Korean film and television dramas, there are traces of tribute to this movie...
"Shut Up Family"
In 1998, Chen Musheng co-produced the action movie "Who Am I" with Jackie Chan.
It is also in this movie that Jackie Chan staged a "shocking jump" that shocked the world.
This plot is: Jack, the amnesiac agent played by Jackie Chan, was hunted down and killed, forced to the edge of a tall building, and had no way out. In the end, you can only jump and slide down from a tall building...
This scene, tense and exciting, made many viewers sweat, becoming one of the most classic clips in action movies, enough to be recorded in film history.
Later, Tom Cruise also imitated this action in Mission Impossible 3...
After the release of "Who I Am" in Hong Kong, it won more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office, ranking among the top three in the Hong Kong box office rankings in the same year.
"Who Am I"
In the nearly ten years since then, Chen Musheng seems to have found his own direction, and has filmed nearly 10 police action movies in succession.
His list of works includes the ones that have been repeatedly shown on movie channels: "Two Males", "New Police Story", "Baby Project"...
The actors he often cooperates with are the well-known Jackie Chan, Dawn, Gu Tianle, Nicholas Tse...
"Two Heroes" "New Police Story" "Baby Project"
As a commercial film director, Chen Musheng has a clear positioning of himself.
He tirelessly shoots action movies, with solid skills, to build one thrill after another thrilling scenes: chases, gun battles, explosions, firefights, hand-to-hand combat...
Once, in an interview, Chen Musheng said:
I hope to promote Hong Kong action movies and tell others that we can do it. I want to make a film that others know that Hong Kong has the ability to make such a large-scale film. As long as someone is willing to invest, Hong Kong can also make a blockbuster.
At the beginning of the 21st century, Hong Kong cinema has been declining and has begun to decline...
But Chen Musheng in this period, with the type of action movies, hard to kill a blood road.
The action scenes in Chen Musheng's films almost never disappoint, thrilling and exciting, always can grab the hearts of the audience and make people deeply worried about the fate of the characters.
In "New Police Story", Nicholas Tse uses iron rods and ropes as slides to slide down from a tall building upside down, making people feel addicted;
In "Baby Plan", Jackie Chan holds a baby and escapes on the roller coaster tracks, which makes people worry about both adults and children;
In "The True Colors of Boys", the protagonist group runs on the roof of the building, jumping in the gap between the building and the building, and the blood of the people is boiling...
Released in 2013, "Sweeping Drugs", starring Gu Tianle, Zhang Jiahui and Liu Qingyun, is an ambitious work directed by Chen Musheng.
In this film, you can see that the director consciously reinforces his personal style and is trying to fill in the gaps in past works.
Pay more attention to the light and color of the picture, increase the proportion of gun battle scenes, the script has been carefully polished, and the characters are more full. With delicate brushstrokes, it depicts the brotherhood between men, combining the "rigidity" of martial arts with the "softness" of literary drama...
Chen Musheng seems to have been silently accumulating efforts, trying to complete a blockbuster film with stunning four seats.
But in the end, the film's reputation is still flat, and the Douban score is 7.5, although it has led many similar works, but it still does not exceed the director's personal best.
And the most impressive thing in the film is a sentence that later became a paragraph: Ah Wei is dead.
It is regrettable that in the years after "Sweeping Drugs", Chen Musheng did not make police action movies again.
In his lifetime, Chen Musheng was nominated for the Hong Kong Film Awards 9 times. But unfortunately, every time there is no grain harvest.
However, the actors who worked with him were all affirmed for their acting skills because they participated in Chen Musheng's films, and even won awards.
In 1991, Wu Mengda won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards for his Heavenly Love, an inconspicuous little.
This is also the only time in Wu Mengda's life that he has won the Academy Award. And in February this year, Uncle Da also left us forever;
"New Police Story" released in 2004, starring Jackie Chan and Wu Yanzu, won the best actor and best supporting actor trophies at major film festivals in the three regions of the Taiwan Straits;
In 2005, Aaron Kwok won the Best Actor Award for the first time with "Three Forks", becoming a film emperor...
Perhaps because of this, the actors who have worked with Chen Musheng regard him as a mentor and a good friend, and have a deep affection for him. Even if chen Musheng's film is filmed, if it is to be tossed hard, it is as willing as a gluttony...
Nicholas Tse once said in an interview: I have been filming with the director since I was 19 years old. He was the one who let me know that I could go down the path of action movies.
Our cooperation has gone through many life-and-death moments. For example, the first time someone asked me to roll down from the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, or from the 41st floor of a certain building, and threw me a dozen times...
Yes, perhaps Chen Musheng's works do not represent the highest standards of Hong Kong cinema.
But his contribution to Hong Kong action films is unquestionable.
For Chen Musheng, a Douban netizen gave such an evaluation: Unfortunately, director Chen Musheng always felt that he was going to hold a blockbuster film out, shaking the entire Chinese film circle, who had wanted to die before he was paid.
It is a pity that the "Fury Case" released today did not become the blockbuster that shocked the Chinese film circle.
The plot of the movie is very simple, even more clichéd:
Zhang Chongbang and Qiu Gang'ao were originally police colleagues.
The two are also teachers and friends, born into death for more than ten years, deep feelings...
However, during a mission, Qiu Gang'ao accidentally killed the suspect and was sued by the police force.
In court, Zhang Chongbang appeared as a witness, and as long as he told a small lie, he might be able to save Qiu Gang'ao...
Zhang Chongbang, who is upright, chooses to tell the truth of the matter...
Qiu Gang'ao was dismissed from his post by the police force and even sentenced to four years in prison.
Once a great hero, overnight, became a shame for the police.
His belief as a policeman completely collapsed...
Four years later, Qiu Gang'ao was released after completing his sentence.
The first thing he did after he was released from prison was to seek revenge on Zhang Chongbang.
To this end, Qiu Gang'ao laid out a big game.
Comrades-in-arms who used to be shoulder to shoulder are about to launch a deadly fight on the streets of Hong Kong...
This is a very Hong Kong film style movie, and it is also a rare action movie in recent years.
The film's cast is incredibly strong, and Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Tam Yiu-man, Lui Leung-wai, and Ren Dahua are all common faces in Hong Kong films.
The whole film has a very personal style of Chen Musheng, he integrates all the action scenes you can think of into one movie, from cold weapons to actual combat hand-to-hand combat, from chases to flying cars, from gun battles to explosions...
The thrill of the martial arts scene is enough to make people exclaim the return of Hong Kong action movies.
The action director of this play is Zhen Zidan, and several core martial arts scenes in the film are personally designed and completed by him.
The martial arts action deliberately pursues a sense of reality, fist to flesh, and really highlights the sense of strength in Zhen Zidan's play.
The most surprising scene is the duel between Zhen Zidan and Xie Tingfeng at the end of the film.
Nicholas Tse held a butterfly knife in each hand and fought against Zhen Zidan, who was holding a long stick.
Zhen Zidan used the speed, rigidity and strong explosive power of his martial arts movements to the fullest.
Although Nicholas Tse is not an action actor, he also contributed a wonderful and flowing performance in the film...
Unfortunately, the script of the film is still rough.
The story is old-fashioned, you can guess the development of the subsequent plot in each scene, the characters are not motivated enough, and the female characters are reduced to tool people...
There are a few passages, even clearly, that are the director's imitation of his own classic work...
Overall, this is a qualified commercial film and is more entertaining. Recommended for audiences who like action genre films or have feelings for Hong Kong movies.
By the way, there are a lot of violent and bloody scenes in the film, and the crow sincerely reminds you not to take your children to the cinema to watch.
On July 28, the premiere of "Fury And Serious Cases" was held in Beijing.
According to the media reports, on the day of the premiere, Chen Musheng's long-time friends, director Wang Jing, actor Jackie Chan, Xie Tingfeng, etc. were present to stand for the film.
Between Jackie Chan and Wang Jing, a seat was vacated, which was specially prepared for the late director Chen Musheng...
This is the last work that Chen Musheng left to the world, it is not perfect, and perhaps the box office will not be too high...
But I think it will still be loved by the audience.
Although, in the end, he failed to surpass himself, nor did he hold out a blockbuster movie that shocked him as netizens said...
However, it must be admitted that Chen Musheng's contribution to Hong Kong action genre films cannot be ignored.
He is not a genius, but he can be called a professional and self-demanding craftsman.
He debuted at the end of the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, experienced the decline of this film miracle, but still added a strong touch to it in his own unique way...
Perhaps, since "Fury Serious Case", this kind of pure Hong Kong-style police action movie will also watch one, one less...
An era, after all, has passed.