2 blockbusters in a row? Hong Kong films will continue to be "rotten" like this, and they will soon lose to the mainland network

Text | Ling Hu Boguang

The film and television market in 2023 is really recovering, the Spring Festival is over, a large number of new projects have been officially announced during this period, and film and television dramas are finalized, which is naturally an important part of Chinese films: Hong Kong films.

There will be no Hong Kong movies released in the 2023 Spring Festival, only Hong Kong actors Andy Lau and Tony Leung participated in "Nameless" and "The Wandering Earth 2", which was released immediately after Kwok Fucheng, Tony Leung's "When the Wind Rises Again" word-of-mouth box office failed, Hong Kong local box office record-breaker "Poisonous Tongue Lawyer" has not exceeded 100 million in 9 days of release.

In the past few days, first the police and bandit film "Broken Network" starring Kwok Fucheng was officially released, and then "Dragon Horse Spirit" starring Jackie Chan was scheduled for April 7, and then the police and bandit blockbuster "Drug Sweep 3" starring Guo Tianle, Kwok Fucheng and Liu Qingyun was scheduled for July 28.

This wave of Hong Kong movies seems to be menacing, but I believe that anyone who pays a little attention will find a phenomenon. That is, the fixed mainland is basically a police and bandit blockbuster or a film with hype feelings, and there is already some aesthetic fatigue. And the movies that break Hong Kong's local records, you don't seem to be interested anymore.

This is also the biggest dilemma of Hong Kong films at present and in the next few years, and there is no way to break the situation at present.

Another Kwok Fucheng Gu Tianle, another police and bandit film? The biggest crisis in Hong Kong cinema is here

Kwok Fucheng's "Broken Network" was officially released on March 3, there will be no spoilers here, now the reputation and box office performance are very bad, the current platform predicts that the final box office of more than 60 million has not broken 100 million, and the previous "When the Wind Rises" is simply difficult to brother.

If the starring actor is changed to a mainland star, he probably has to give Kwok Fucheng the name of "box office poison".

Before the release of this movie, I was personally not too optimistic about its quality and reputation, and the reason is very simple. The movie product is still very much looking at the schedule, now March 3 is a weekend, the recent relatively large schedule is May Day, even if March 8 is a good schedule.

Film companies and distributors are not stupid, if the quality of the movie is good, it will still be put in a good schedule to give it a shot, you see "Drug Sweep 3" is the summer file. Now it will be released at the most deserted time after the Spring Festival, which proves that the film party has no hope for the box office of the movie, and it can be released.

It turns out that this is indeed the case, although "Disconnection" has not been scored, but the reputation is very bad. Without spoilers here, I will teach you a simple way to judge the quality of such Hong Kong movies.

Although the film stars Hong Kong superstars such as Kwok Fucheng, Lam Ka Tong and Yam Tat Wah, the film director is Wong Hing Hun. You have definitely not heard of it, because this is a director of a special job turned regular, so what does this combination represent?

Now Hong Kong actors are very serious, this combination of well-known actors + new directors, the purpose is naturally to support new directors, but because the Hong Kong film industry is in decline, Hong Kong capital does not dare to give such new directors major resources, unlike mainland capital dares to give large resources to young directors to try.

I think the strangest thing is that the ability shown by these new Hong Kong directors is also very limited.

If it is a well-known big director like Qiu Litao, Zheng Baorui, Li Rengang, Yip Wilson and so on. Their ability and experience are much better, even if it is a medium-invested film, the result is that even if it is the same, the quality is still presentable, like Yau Litao's "Drug Sweep 2" is of poor quality but still a Hong Kong blockbuster with good entertainment effect, you can watch it.

This kind of new director (especially the behind-the-scenes worker) is not good except for my observations.

In recent years, Gu Tianle has supported many such new directors, "Crime Scene", "Poison Commandment" and "Anti-Corruption Storm" are all the same, and the biggest battle "Tomorrow's War" is the same, director Wu Xuanhui is engaged in special effects, and the result is that the plot is like a rectum all the way to the end.

Those young directors who make excellent films in Hong Kong are slightly better, but because they have no previous experience in successfully driving commercial blockbusters, with the rush of "When the Wind Rises Again", Weng Ziguang does not know whether it will be wasted.

The actors are old, and the themes are all police and bandit films? Hong Kong movies are only left with "three axes"

These Hong Kong films only have three axes left in the production mode, which is similar to the current Hollywood blockbusters. Hong Kong actor Qinghuang does not pick up is the first axe, so I will not talk about it here for the time being.

The second axe is that the theme is basically police and bandit films, it is to change a variety of current hot concepts, what anti-drugs, anti-gang and anti-corruption, bomb defusal and anti-terrorism, this movie is the turn of network security.

Formerly a police gangster, the Major Crime Unit and the killer fell in love and killed each other. Like the square from CIB to O, from the Independent Commission Against Corruption to the Major Crime Unit, to the Security Bureau and the Flying Tigers. In recent years, he has become a bomb disposal expert, a coroner, and this "Broken Network" is engaged in network security.

Nicholas Tse's new film "Customs Front" is the turn of customs to save Hong Kong, anyway, all kinds of operable professions will come.

The third point is that the plot of the movie is to show all kinds of bells and whistles in the early stage, and then the villain has two fifty eighty thousand means to the sky, and then set a big goal that can destroy Hong Kong, the villain does not engage others to engage in your protagonist, and then a group of unprofessional police officers like a group of idiots bite the protagonist all day long.

The protagonist is surrounded by the police (often and goes to the villain to save his family), and finally comes to one or two reversals when the villain is about to succeed, and finally saves Hong Kong.

In recent years, Hong Kong police and bandit blockbusters have come and gone all these routines, the difference above is that Hong Kong directors are better because of their ability and experience, the texture, narrative rhythm and entertainment effect of the film. Logic and reversal are "Anti-Poison 2", and logic and reversal are "Bomb Disposal Expert 2" if it is better.

A tribute to Hong Kong movie feelings is "Matchless", and a tribute to Hong Kong movie feelings is almost "Chasing the Dragon 2".

These new directors are also these three axes, but they are limited to resources, experience, and ability. As long as you understand a little about movies, you will find that the concepts and pictures of these films are very bluffing, just like the special effects, which are a little better than the five-Mao special effects, but if you look closely, biubiubiubiu has no texture.

It's like watching the space elevator in The Wandering Earth 2 and the XCMG Group's sponsorship of the real heavy industry wonder, and then going to see Marvel superheroes dressed like erotic armor fighting in the village. The plot and character development of this story have already been mentioned above.

The reason why this "Broken Network" has such a bad reputation, believe me, is all the routines and effects mentioned above.

2 movies in a row pounced? If Hong Kong films continue like this, they will soon lose to the mainland's "Internet University"

It's really not that I mean to belittle here, I found that these Hong Kong films have a higher texture in addition to past experience, and there are also veteran Hong Kong actors who support better performances. In recent years, many young mainland directors have filmed "Internet University", showing a sense of talent, bursting aura, high aesthetic level, and even more pursuit of the film and television industry.

For example, the martial arts film "No One in Sight" that will be popular in 2022, the action film "Northeast Police Story" of the same team (every time I write about these two films, I will mention that the director is only 31 years old in 92), and then "Special Hero Huang Jiguang", "Snow Mountain Flying Fox: Treasure of Sebei", as well as "Yellow Skin Tomb" and "Mountain Village Fox Wife" and other Internet horror films.

I even think that several well-known directors of the Internet, like Huo Suiqiang of "The King of Snipers" and "Blind War"; Then to Xiang Qiuliang / Xiang Hesheng of "Water Monster" and "Qi Men Dunjia". Although the story plot and character creation are still very bad, some of the expressiveness is stronger and more desirable than these Hong Kong movies.

I even have a feeling that they have inherited the original Hong Kong film fast films, maintaining a certain professionalism to make money. If they are given higher resources to make a blockbuster, they may be able to make a good commercial blockbuster.

Of course, I didn't try to draw conclusions easily, the main thing is that the opportunity is really not good, it's a waste of theater places. Therefore, I think it is better to support these obviously more talented young mainland directors.

Jackie Chan's "Dragon Horse Spirit" is similar to "Band of Seven", and it is difficult to attract the audience with the name of Jackie Chan, not to mention the controversial star Liu Haocun. What's more, leading blockbusters such as Jackie Chan's "Pioneer" and "Detective Pu Songling" are also too bad in word of mouth, and the box office is very bad.

Finally, the summer file of "Drug Sweep 3", that is, the above mentioned three-board axe again, the box office quality depends on which stage the quality is, whether it is like "Drug Sweep 2" or like "Bomb Disposal Expert 2", but now the box office of Hong Kong movies can not exceed 1.5 billion.

For some reason, I feel that after experiencing the baptism of "The Wandering Earth 2" and the domestic drama that broke out at the beginning of the year, plus two consecutive Hong Kong police and bandit films, I vaguely feel that even if "Drug Sweep 3" has a good reputation, the box office may go downhill.

As for the local film "Poisonous Tongue" with a good reputation, it is already rare for the mainland box office to exceed 100 million. The reason behind this is also very simple, when Hong Kong and Taiwan were at their peak of economy + the past elite of the Republic of China, this cultural work was expressed as expansion + the Greater Chinese Cultural Circle = the entire Chinese-speaking audience could resonate.

Traditional martial arts films, kung fu films and various costume film and television dramas are all like this, while urban works have a yearning for modernization.

Now the mainland is becoming more and more modern, shooting various heavy industry blockbusters such as science fiction, and the vision is getting higher and higher, and the taste is getting worse and worse. The cultural expression of the economic decline of Hong Kong and Taiwan is shrunk internally, and the works are limited to the problem of one city and one pool, localized, niche and typed, and naturally not welcomed by audiences in the Greater Chinese-speaking region.

By the way, Huang Zihua is 62 years old, I really think that the rise of local films in Hong Kong is the rise of young actors.