Since around 2017, major video websites have begun to launch a "network movie" with a duration of about 60 minutes, and this form of video literature and art has been hyped by the industry as soon as it was launched, followed by a blowout burst of related works.
However, although the creation of "online movies" is in full swing in the industry, it has not been able to create a phenomenal explosive product that has successfully come out of the circle. On the contrary, most of the works created in the industry leave the impression of low quality and vulgar taste.
On February 26, another "network movie" appeared in everyone's field of vision. Co-starring Han Dong, Liu Mengmeng, Zhai Yishu and Wang Li Danni, "Liaozhai Painting Wall" was officially launched on the online video platform.
This movie mainly tells the story of Jiangnan painter Zhu Xiaolian who is accidentally sucked into the mural world where there are demon spirits, where he meets Ozei, who is in love with him. In order to rescue Zhu Xiaolian from Tailing, he accidentally exposed his identity as a god, and since then the two have embarked on a road of escape.
Later, in order to defeat the bird demon, Zhu Xiaolian chose to sacrifice himself to help Ozei transform into a phoenix, and finally defeated the bird demon and saved all living beings.
As a traditional Chinese chi story, "Liaozhai Zhi Wei" has been an IP that directors are very interested in for a long time, and it has been shown in the early "Liaozhai Series" TV series and 2011's "Painting the Wall". However, even if it is a classic IP, the work is not good and cannot win the applause of the audience.
Only two days after the launch of "Liaozhai Painting Wall", the Douban score was dominated by one star and two stars, and many viewers directly commented that the film was "blind in plot" and "poor special effects, just show the flesh directly".
The plot is simple and cheesy, the characters are degraded, and the special effects are rough production, which is indeed a disaster for moviegoers. It can be said that this is simply the "hottest eye" online drama in 2023, and Han Dong can't save this drama, and the full screen is powerless to complain.
The story setting of "Liaozhai Painting Wall" is actually basically in line with the tonality of this IP, if you can grasp the details, you can actually retain the audience, but unfortunately, this film leaves people with only many slots.
- The first is the cliché and nonsense of plot design.
At the beginning, when the male protagonist was a baby, one day when his scholarly father was selling calligraphy and paintings, a strange thing happened, and the good end suddenly had paper money flying all over the world. Seeing such a strange thing, the scholar's father was so frightened that he hurried to the house, and after returning home, he said to his wife that he had "bumped into an evil spirit".
The form is so strange, but the scholar's wife does not believe in evil, and she has to be fearless to see what is happening, this look is good, she is directly possessed by the monster. After being possessed, the scholarly husband did not care about his wife and held the child stupidly.
Obviously knowing that something was wrong outside, the scholarly husband did not block his wife at all, allowing her to go out and be possessed by monsters, I have to say that such a plot arrangement is really degrading.
Then, the biggest boss in the film, the bird demon, came out to make trouble, fortunately, a group of Taoist priests passed by at this time, and the Taoist priest fought with the monster in order to understand the savior's family, and an uninvited guest flew in the melee, and the phoenix and the bird demon flew between them. In the end, under the righteous sacrifice of the Phoenix God, the Taoist priests were able to successfully seal the bird demon into the mural.
According to common sense, for the monsters that were sealed with difficulty, at least some measures should be taken to take care of them, but after the group of Daoist priests finished sealing, they quickly left with the male protagonist. And when the male protagonist grew up, he didn't know the story about the mural at all, but like his mother, he was sucked into the mural driven by curiosity and lived with a group of monsters.
- The second is the special effect of pulling the crotch in the film.
At the beginning, the special effects of the fight between the phoenix god and the bird demon were like two thick clouds of smoke of different colors colliding with each other, and they were not as exquisite as the special effects of fantasy films should have.
There is also a layer of yellow light on the heroine's body when casting spells, which is full of cheapness. The scene when the male and female protagonists talk about love, blurred to the river and sky that has lost its boundary, can't help but make people suspect that the so-called romantic scene is just a curtain.
Special effects are a very important element for fantasy-themed movies, and exquisite pictures and a good viewing experience are inseparable from exquisite special effects. However, "Liaozhai Painting Mural" discards this important factor that captured the masses.
It is conceivable that the audience naturally does not buy it, after all, no audience is willing to waste time on works that have not been carefully prepared.
- Finally, there is the suspicion of this movie.
In fact, Liaozhai IP is all women-oriented, "Liaozhai Painting Wall" is no exception, there are many beautiful women in the film, which is also a major attraction of the film, but the film side seems to have deviated the direction of this point of view.
There are many pictures in the film that make people's faces red and heartbeat, the banshees show off their sexy and hot bodies, and there are even some suggestive pictures that can be described as vulgar, which can be described as low-level.
The heroine Weisheng played by Liu Mengmeng only has two sets of clothes in the film, but none of these two clothes are designed to match the identity of the heroine.
The first is the first one, a low-cut suit with a layer of coat, this set of clothes is no problem from the front, but from the side, often revealing a lot of key parts, plus the clothes are tight, the flesh is strangled a lot.
The other is her battle suit, in the film, Ozei is a fake demon lurking beside the bird demon, and her real identity is the phoenix god. Logically, this is a sacred identity, but her battle armor is actually a low-cut suit, and the tightened battle suit makes the already explicit war armor even worse.
In fact, the experience brought to the audience by this eye-catching approach is very fragmented, and the huge contrast in identity and styling is also invisibly interrupting the reputation of the movie.
There is also the intimate scene between the female protagonist and the male protagonist, and the scene was once bloody.
The heroine Tail Sheng is going to suck the man's essence during the undercover period, and there is no need to say more about how to suck it.
Therefore, the two of them pulled to the extreme in an ambiguous atmosphere, the intimate scenes were very explicit and warm, and the heroine spared no effort to present the ultimate seductive state. This kind of picture creation with the suspicion of brushing off the edge has also caused discomfort among many moviegoers.
There is also Wang Li Danni, who plays the bird demon in the film, she has actually shown off her figure in various films many times before, and can even be said to be a "well-known actor" in "Internet movies". This time, Wang Li Danni's good figure was first shown on the movie poster, and her proud figure was revealed under the overhead shot.
It can be seen that the director should also have some Sima Zhao's heart when he looks for her to star.
Sure enough, in the main film, Wang Li Danni's "degree of dedication" is several steps higher than that of the female protagonist.
Under the dress of low-cut clothing, Wang Li Danni is no longer a little dewy chest. In the later scenes, the film also presents Wang Li Danni's figure from the perspective of male gaze. And in addition to the starring role, the other female characters in the film are dressed in low-cut clothing. This kind of expression actually reveals disrespect for women.
In addition, there is a very offensive detail plot in the film.
In addition to the main CP, there is also a pair of women chasing men in the film, but this pair failed to be happy, but the way the boys refused was very down-pleasing. When this man rejected the girl's pursuit, he did not specify the reason for his refusal, but he used two hands to gesture in front of his chest, and his behavior could be described as vulgar and indecent.
To sum up, it is not surprising that "Liaozhai Painting Wall" was brushed by one star and two stars. In fact, since the birth of "online movies", most of the works circulating in this market have been difficult to obtain good reviews, and the reasons behind this are worth considering.
"Online movies" are Internet platforms seeking to create new Internet business models, which determines that the creation of films will inevitably lead to forks in the road under the influence of strong commercial appeals. Under the influence of business thinking, it is difficult for creators to create calmly, and there is no patience to polish their works, and the only patience is used to rack their brains to figure out how to obtain click-through through unconventional means.
For example, the previous "Rich Girl Lonely Heart", "One Night Stand", "Fengsheng: Daji", etc., these films choose the theme of attracting people's attention and playing the edge, whether it is from its title, poster or synopsis, they do not hide their intention to pursue deformed attention and robbery.
In addition, the low threshold for the creation and acceptance of online movies is also an important reason for their low quality. The investment in an online movie often does not exceed one million, and the staff involved in the production are generally not very professional, and many of them are peripheral personnel who have not received formal training.
The short-term business model, low-threshold access, and the producer's mentality of viewing online movies as money props in the capital market, it can be seen that the ecological environment of online movies still has a long way to go.
Nowadays, there is a big gap between online movies and film art in all aspects. If online movies continue to go their own way and rely on gimmicks to obtain short-term benefits, it will be difficult to improve the quality and cultural level of their works, and this road will become narrower and narrower.
The prosperity of the literary and artistic circles is an extremely happy thing for the masses, on the contrary, if you always use some shoddy or vulgar works to fool the audience, it is not only the contempt of the audience, but also a kind of "chronic suicide" for the literary and artistic circles.