[Military Sub-Plane] Author: Yang Shu
As early as June this year, the trailer for "Showdown in England" quickly became a big hit as soon as it was released, becoming the number one trailer on IMDB within 48 hours, outperforming many popular films such as "Dunkirk" and "Rise of the Apes 3". After watching the screening, Junwu mushrooms also think that this is a wonderful movie worth watching, why can such a film with Chinese as the protagonist be widely recognized by audiences in European and American countries and China? Because it contains many elements of history and reality.
Trailer for Showdown in England
"British Showdown" tells the story of a father who avenges his daughter, Jackie Chan plays a Chinese Guan Yuming living in the United Kingdom, his young daughter was unfortunately killed in an explosion attack created by terrorists, Guan Yuming wants to get justice for his daughter but runs into walls everywhere, he finally chooses to take revenge alone, using various tricks to force the villain played by Pierce Brosnan to hand over the list of murderers and get revenge with his own hands.
▲ Steven Lesser, the original author of "Showdown in England"
Five of his works have been adapted into film and television dramas
Supposedly, this is only a more clichéd revenge story, but the cliché story is still good, one of the reasons is that this film has a solid foundation in the original literature. "Britain Showdown" is based on the 1992 novel "The Chinaman" by British writer Stephen Leather, but it should be noted here that "chinaman" is a derogatory term for Chinese (the normal title should be Chinese), equivalent to "Chineseman". Although the name is "Chinese Yankee", the protagonist of the novel turns out to be a Vietnamese.
The protagonist in the original book is a Vietnamese named "Nguyen Nguyen Nguyen Minh", who served as a demolitionist in the North Vietnamese army, and after his father was killed by the Viet Cong, he switched to the South Vietnamese government and was highly used by the United States. After North Vietnam unified Vietnam, Nguyen Nguyen Fled with his family to Hong Kong, where he was looted by Thai pirates on the way, killing his two daughters. Nguyen Ngoc Minh, who survived the disaster, eventually fled to Hong Kong and went to England to make a living by opening restaurants, but his only youngest daughter was killed by terrorists... He asked the leaders of the relevant departments for information about the killer, but was contemptuously called (it seems that the author of the novel did not discriminate against the Chinese, but only to satirize the inactive bureaucrats), so he returned to his old business and embarked on the road of revenge.
When a novel becomes a movie, it is actually a new art form, and it is inevitable to make some changes. The film replaces the Vietnamese in the original book with Chinese, making the film's potential audience more widespread, which is understandable. However, apart from the protagonist becoming a Chinese born in Guangxi, other information has not changed much, and Guan Yuming in the film also fought in the Vietnam War, escaped from Vietnam, and was also looted by pirates. Another change was to travel to the UK via Singapore instead of Hong Kong, in 1984, and the time is justified.
Film itself is an art form with its own realistic attributes, in short, the more real it is, the more it can be recognized by the audience. In "Showdown in Britain", the terrorist attack plot runs through the whole process, and it is easy for ordinary viewers to think that this is based on the realistic background of the current terrorist attacks in European countries. This realistic background is certainly not false, but this movie is actually not only reflecting reality, but also reflecting history.
In the era of the original novel, the terrorists in the Middle East were far from the climate, and there were few terrorist attacks in the world, but the United Kingdom was an exception, and the British people fully understood the terrorist attacks from Ireland decades before the world. Why did the Irish terrorize Britain? Simply put, it is for independence. Ireland under British rule, essentially the closest colony to Britain, had several uprisings in their quest for independence from the 16th century onwards, but all were suppressed.
▲ This kind of scene is truly reflected in the movie,
It's just that the time of the occurrence is put in the present
This beam was held until after the Second World War, and in the 1970s, the "Irish Republican Army", which took the armed struggle to win independence as its platform, even did not hesitate to carry out terrorist acts to achieve its goals. From 1970 to 1997, bomb attacks occurred in the UK almost every year. On 21 July 1972, 19 bombs exploded in Belfast in less than an hour, killing nine people and wounding one hundred and thirty others, and even Lord Mountbatten, the "royal relative" (the last Governor-General of India who engaged in the partition of India and Pakistan), was killed by the IRA on a yacht, and Mrs. Thatcher, the Iron Lady, was almost victimized.
In 1992, the terrorist attacks reached their peak, and in London alone, there were 38 bomb attacks in a year, and the whole of The United Kingdom was shrouded in an atmosphere of panic - 1992, which is the time of the publication of "Chinaman", now you understand the origin of the terrorist attack plot in novels and movies, right? There is also a small tidbit here - when filming the Lambeth Bridge bombing in London, the surrounding people who did not know the truth were alarmed by the movement created by the crew, because people did not know that it was filming, and people who estimated that they were a little old thought that it was "the old days have reappeared".
▲ The most handsome "007" Piers Bruceland in the history of a righteous person
Now I am also old, but I play the villain from another angle, and the style is still the same
The arch-villain played by Pierce Bruceland in the film, a senior government official in Northern Ireland, comes from an organization called "UDI", which is based on the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Can former members of terrorist organizations still be officials? Is this true? In reality, in Northern Ireland, there are political parties such as the "Irish Republican socialist party" and "Sinn Fein Party", which are inextricably linked to the IRA. It is not surprising that after the IRA and the British government reached a ceasefire agreement, some members changed parties and became high-ranking officials in self-governing Northern Ireland through elections and other means. The senior northern Irish official played by Pierce Bruceland is a figure who moves left and right between "UDI" and the British government, trying to use UDI to do things to consolidate his position, but it is self-defeating, wrong again and again, and finally does not end up with a good ending.
In addition, there are some members who are reluctant to give up the armed struggle to do it themselves, and the "real UDI" that creates the explosion in the film corresponds to the real "real IRA". In fact, even today, Northern Ireland has a strong anti-British sentiment, which is also expressed in the film. Of course, the specific plot, or go to the cinema to see it, there are no spoilers here, but after knowing the historical background, you will definitely feel that the film has more flavor.
Finally, let's talk about the protagonist Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan is a popular star that Chinese audiences can accept and love from the post-60s to the 90s, he has been in the film for more than fifty years, has made more than 200 movies, broken a lot of bones, and is the first Chinese to win the Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award, which is enough to prove his strength. But Brother Long can no longer fight hard like the hairy guy, he must create a new idea on the road, according to Jackie Chan's own words, it is "to be an actor, not a martial arts actor."
Jackie Chan appears in the film as an old state that has never been seen before, but this is also in line with the age of the characters in the play. His role as "Kwan Yu Ming" is a veteran of the Vietnam War and has rich combat experience, and his action design in the film also reflects this.
▲ Make a few liquid bombs
Although it is still necessary to fight, after all, this is Jackie Chan's consistent style, it is impossible to completely abandon it, but we also know that in real war, whether it is one-on-one fighting or fighting, we must pay attention to simplicity and practicality, one move to defeat the enemy, and it is useless to embroider legs with fists and legs. So, you won't see fancy comedy moves anymore, but real military martial arts and all kinds of traps and tricks, just like Stallone's performance in "First Blood", so that the audience can experience what is real.
In the movie, jungle warfare is the most exciting place, how can a person fight against more enemies than himself? This requires the use of everything available in the jungle, Jackie Chan first ignited a fire in the forest to lure the enemy into his ambush point, while attracting the attention of the enemy, and forgot to look at his feet.
So the first person was silently tripped and killed, and then disappeared.
Then, continue using the decoy tactic and use your own backpack to lure the enemy into the trap. Screams will cause other enemies to gather as well.
The enemy who comes to rescue his teammates then re-enters the trap, just like a sniper deliberately lures his teammates after knocking him down. Think about how terrifying it is for someone without combat experience to fall into the hands of a veteran.
▲ Although Jackie Chan is a little old, but
There is still a wonderful dagger fight at the end
Jackie Chan's literary drama is also outstanding, which is rare in previous movies. Guan Yuming has witnessed the murder of relatives twice, the only little daughter died unexpectedly, this impact caused great psychological damage to people, Jackie Chan will be that kind of crying without tears, heart like ashes, and then extremely resolute psychological activities interpreted very imagely, any audience with children will experience this deep pain, will be moved by Jackie Chan's performance, which is a breakthrough in Jackie Chan's "British Showdown".
In short, "Showdown in England" is full of elements that are familiar and loved by European and American audiences, and the protagonist is set to Chinese, or the popular Jackie Chan performance, Chinese audiences will also buy it, plus martin campbell, a big-name director who has directed "007" ("GoldenEye" and "Casino Royale"), and a luxurious multinational production team - the confrontation between the two old drama bones in China and the West, absolutely wonderful, absolutely worth the ticket price!
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