If it were not for the recommendation of friends, the editor would not know about this movie, the action film "Tattoo" starring Zhao Wenzhuo was released on January 14 last week, but it did not seem to set off a wave, and the next row of films was almost negligible, resulting in a tragic box office since its release. It is reasonable to say that actor Zhao Wenzhuo has always been a rare tough guy male star at the moment, and in recent years, he has not only broadened his road with his tough appearance and acting skills, but also seen Zhao Wenzhuo's unique affinity charm and high emotional intelligence with the variety show "Brother Who Cut Through Thorns", which can be described as soaring popularity.
And the movie "Tattoo", in addition to starring Zhao Wenzhuo, also brings together the "first sister of the network movie" Xu Dongdong, the powerful Fan Yichen, Li Mincheng, who plays the medical soldier in "Chosin Lake", the French parkour master David Bell of "Violent Neighborhood", and the amazing child star Wang Shengdi in "The Hidden Corner". But why did "Tattoo" end up in such a situation? Is it the problem with the movie?
Of course not, after watching the movie "Tattoo", Xiaobian found that the film is not a bad film, but has a good point of view.
The story of the film takes place in 1935 and is a Republican theme, but it is more like a Western than a common Republic of China work.
Chinese-style Westerns, the trend brought by "Let the Bullets Fly" that year, aimed the scene at the western region of China, and most of the time of the story took place in the Republic of China period (there are exceptions), the era of strife, the divided land, the uncivilized west, the story unfolds in this environment of three disregards, mostly with legendary highways, adventures, crime themes. In fact, whether it is an American Western or a Leone film, as a more regionally representative film, Chinese western films do not develop into a momentum like foreigners, and they are rare after "No Man's Land", but they also have distinct characteristics.
In the territory of power, outsiders broke the established structure of the local area, which led to many events, which is the biggest feature of Western cinema in both the East and the West. This "Tattoo" is exactly like this, zhao Wenzhuo played by the tattoo artist Ah Chang has a small reputation in the local area, and the southwest border where he is located, the scenery is picturesque and simple, the local Green Dragon Gang and the official government are at peace, but in the chaotic world of the Japanese invasion, Ah Chang and his family are also involved. It can be seen that the background setting of the movie is a large dyeing vat mixed with many forces, the gang, the Wokou, and the official three-legged stand, and Ah Chang and his daughter are wrapped in it, thinking that all the forces will not be guilty, but inadvertently they have become the winners and losers.
Because Ah Chang is famous as a tattoo artist, suddenly one day the Japanese came to visit, Ah Chang wanted to refuse and kill him, but there was an accident in the middle, and Ah Chang himself was suspected of being a traitor because of his contact with the Japanese. Unexpectedly, the subsequent development was unexpected, and the people who came into contact with Ah Chang were inexplicably assassinated, and Ah Chang also became the object of suspicion, and for a time the rebels left, and he had to take the risk in order to clear the charges and for the safety of his daughter.
From the perspective of this film, the shadow of "The Golden Three Darts" can be seen everywhere, and all the elements in the Western such as robbery, bounty hunters, and gun duels scenes are not lacking in this film, and the tone of the Western is still formed after the East Crossing. However, while borrowing a lot of scenes and plots from the original work, he has made a very imaginative transformation of his own work, so that although the whole story has a strong Western characteristic, after the scene is transferred to East Asia, the audience does not feel abrupt and blunt, especially the time set in the thirties of northwest China, the first half of the last century, the changes in the land of China coincide with the genre characteristics of western films, which is very in line with the needs of the plot and the background of the characters in the play. The existence of the puppet regime, the struggle against the Japanese armed forces, the rampage of gangs, and the madness of the Japanese Kou all all fit the characteristics of this period and also provided an opportunity for the final chaotic war and hilarity of the film.
Style is ultimately the form of film, for the director, the film is nothing more than a means of paying tribute to the Italian Western master Leone, moving the products of the pattern to the East, not simply copying and pasting, otherwise painting the tiger according to the cat will definitely produce water and soil dissatisfaction. The extremes that appear on the elements. For example, Ah Chang is a martial arts master who never uses a gun, and in gun fighting, whether it is a knife for tattoos or a cold weapon such as a dagger, it is refreshing. In particular, the battle between Zhao Wenzhuo and the martial monk Yilong became the best in the whole film.
In addition, the film in the child love, brotherhood, father-daughter love, emotional drama full of drama, the Green Dragon Gang gang rules show, the sense of ceremony highlights are many, the most eye-catching is the tattoo, is the film exclusive, the movie Ah Chang to Xu Dongdong played the role of the tattoo scene can be described as full of eyes, semi-naked posture is beautiful, the eyes are confused, accompanied by the pain caused by tattoos, audiovisual expression is very good.
It can be seen that "Tattoo" is a classic action movie with a unique temperament and complete genre elements. There are large-scale, high-intensity fights and confrontations, and there are also dazzling and dizzying style characteristics. The film also has obvious flaws, such as too many monologues and jumpy editing, etc. After all, "Tattoo" has both strengths and weaknesses. However, westerns are gradually fading away, and the current resurgence is coming from the East, which is really interesting. In the market where many bad movies are in the way, "Tattoo" can be called a clear stream, but why did it end up in such a situation?
Checked on the Internet, it turned out that the film had once had a broken chain of funds, but with the support of China Film and Nortel, it was originally hoped to be released in 2020, but it encountered a sudden epidemic and had to hide it so far. In the near future, the film is also "naked" without any publicity, and in the final analysis, there is still no money to get such a situation.
It can be seen that the value of a work is not fully reflected in the price, the box office can not measure the color of a movie, just like the work of "Tattoo", there are shortcomings, but it is very sincere, much better than many bad films on the market, but it encounters such a status quo, the only sigh. Xiao wrote this article, not to appeal, presumably the film has now returned to the sky, but just hope to let the film return to the film, some works, should not be buried.