As the old saying goes, new year, new atmosphere.
Chinese filmmakers did the opposite, playing nostalgia and continuing in the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger: "This Killer Is Not Too Calm", Happy Twist reproduced Gene Kaili's "Song in the Rain" and played a new trick of the old terrier; the end of the new work of the national teacher Zhang Yimou reproduced the classic war film footage to pay tribute to the heroes of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea; director Wang Jing filmed "The Dragon Slaughter in the Sky" in 26 years, and the dog tail continued to sable, ending the century expectations of fans.
Even the classic martial arts IP "Zhang Sanfeng" has returned to the jianghu and fought in the film world again.
It's just that the main actors have changed from Jet Li to Wu Fan and Liu Yan.
"Zhang Sanfeng"
Let's start with the good aspects.
The new version of "Zhang Sanfeng" has a fairly good appearance, director Lin Zhenzhao will be the classic bridge section of hong Kong-style martial arts films in a pot, zhongyuan righteous soldiers and foreign tribes iron hooves decisive battle in the desert north, famous and upright and cult demon head mountain top fight, male and female protagonists due to different beliefs of different ways to go their separate ways...
The audience is familiar with the plot, and not a single one has fallen.
With the help of more advanced special effects technology, Zhang Sanfeng also has richer and more fancy tricks, and the martial arts master has stepped out of the category of traditional martial arts and become a fairy hero like Zhang Xiaofan.
A few leaves can have unlimited lethality, and when they fall off a cliff, they can also talk to holographic projections, and martial arts such as flying with swords and harnessing monsters are not to mention.
In addition to reproducing the classic plot and designing cool special effects, the filmmakers also invited a luxurious lineup that did not lose the same cinema blockbuster: the veteran tough guy Wu Fan, the first goddess Liu Yan led, and the flashing supporting roles were also Zhang Chunzhong's old drama bones.
Yue'er, played by Liu Yan, has a plump body and a stubborn personality, although she is a young lord of the Nether God Sect who is rejected by the martial arts upright sect, she still maintains her kind nature and becomes an important enlightener on Zhang Sanfeng's way to advancement.
In the film, Liu Yan's shot of driving the dragon silkworm has both beauty and imagination, and is full of martial arts, which has become one of the few memory points in the whole movie.
Teacher Zhang Chunzhong's Nether Sect Leader Kui Tianxing, with his eyes, moves, and lines, is full of evil spirit, and he can grab the audience's attention in a second and pull them back to the golden age of martial arts films.
Wu Fan also interprets Zhang Sanfeng's inclusive and changeable martial arts movements just right.
There are both gentle and light and highly ornamental moves of the Wuji Sect, as well as the fierce and vicious means of the Nether God Sect and the means of inviting death.
The martial arts movements are exhilarating and highly ornamental, even compared with the predecessor Jet Li's version of "Zhang Sanfeng", it is not left behind.
Veteran tough guys, beautiful actresses, top special effects, classic bridges.
The new version of "Zhang Sanfeng" brings together the audience's favorite martial arts elements, imitating the temperament of classic martial arts films in a one-to-one way, but what disappoints the audience is that the martial arts plot of the film is mostly a copy of the works of predecessors, picking up people's teeth and wisdom, and the so-called innovation is also fancy and full of thunder points.
True and ruined classics.
For example, the Eight Gate Sect and kui Tianxing's mountaintop fight section.
In martial arts movies, there is no shortage of scenes in which famous and upright people issue heroic orders and besiege cult aliens, and in "Zhang Sanfeng", Zhang Junbao also learns from him, summoning the Eight Gate Sect to fight against Kui Tianxing.
This is the most familiar and most anticipated paragraph of martial arts fans, and it should be the highlight of the film, but director Lin Zhenzhao has taken the fight scene in one stroke, and the martial arts master has not yet appeared before he was defeated by Xie Tianxing's hands and sent a head.
The only surviving Mo family heir, Fat Xiaosi, was also portrayed by the director as a greasy, funny, and combat effectiveness of about zero clowns.
Another example is Zhang Junbao's epiphany at the bottom of the lake.
In Jet Li's version of "Zhang Sanfeng", Zhang Junbao, after dementia, felt the power of water in the water tank to be soft and rigid, and then penetrated the two poles of yin and yang, becoming a generation of martial arts masters.
When I arrived at Teacher Wu Fan, the epiphany was like a "conference" of a technology company.
Zhang Junbao was seriously injured and sank to the bottom of the lake, and when his life was in danger, he talked with the 3D water curtain projection of Kui Tianxing, Yue'er, and Huolong Zhenren, and after receiving the encouragement of love, he became a martial arts master in seconds.
Well.
Technology is changing the world, including martial arts.
The biggest innovation of the film is that the director injects a fantasy soul into Zhang Sanfeng and lets the martial arts master catch the last train of fantasy martial arts.
On the one hand, there is nothingness, because of the fantasy fairy trend popular in the network Shuangwen, on the other hand, there is a real existence, because of the martial arts novels and film works famous all over the world, although they all have martial arts elements and imagination components, but the essence is still two themes.
The idea of the main creator to make Zhang Sanfeng look new is commendable, but the effect of the film is not different, not earthy.
Neither the sweet sadomasochism and fantasy imagination that the immortal hero theme should have, nor the solemn seriousness and unfathomable that a martial arts master should have.
Finally, let's talk about the two lead actors.
Liu Yan and Wu Fan's performance strength, martial arts skills are unquestionable, the combination of goddess tough guys is indeed eye-catching, but limited by the script, Yue'er and Zhang Junbao's emotional line is exaggerated and rough, the two actors work hard to "love" each other, very hard to let the audience feel this "love", very hard to let the audience have "love" empathy.
But it has never been able to impress the audience.
From the highly successful "Ghost of Qiannu: Human Love", to the new "Truant Weilong" and "Copper-skinned Iron Bone Fang Shiyu" produced by the trend, to the "Journey to the West: Origins" in the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, the new "Zhang Sanfeng" and the new "Dragon Slaughter" series.
With the blessing of the ability of "banknote", the director of the Internet University has the opportunity to reproduce and remake the classic works, and even the original actors will participate in the performance, but the effect of the film is difficult to say, and the so-called tribute has also become the official saying of "destroying the classic".
On the Douban platform, the original version of "Journey to the West" scored 9+, and the new version only had a pitiful 5.6; the 91 version of "Truant Weilong" scored 8.0, and the new version scored 4.1; the 93 version of "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon" 7.8, and the 2022 version became a 3+ bad film.
In 1993, "Tai Chi Zhang Sanfeng" was released, although it is not the pinnacle of Jet Li's martial arts films, it is also a classic of Hong Kong-style martial arts films, and it was also named one of the "19 Greatest Kung Fu Films" by the American entertainment magazine EntertainmentWeekly.
Look at the new version.
In addition to the popularity list of the screen-dominating video website, there are no other eye-catching achievements to speak of.
Obviously, there is no loss of the original production budget, more advanced special effects level, more eye-catching beauty tough guy combination, but it is better to destroy "Zhang Sanfeng" to the slag.
Whoops.
Codeword: Small supporting characters