Lin Yibin's return of "Fast and Furious 9" was released in North America more than a month ahead of schedule in our mainland.
IMDb score 5.6, Rotten Tomatoes freshness of only 33%, Douban more than 60,000 people scored 5.6 points, online self-media almost one side of the bad reviews, in the case of such unfavorable word of mouth, still cut 900 million + box office.
Recently, the Internet suddenly exposed the starring John Senna (alias Zhao Xina) in Taiwan Province to promote "Fast 9" when the insult to China, he once used a very non-standard Chinese, said: "Taiwan is the first country to see "Fast and Furious 9" such words, causing network controversy.
After that, John Senna immediately apologized on Weibo with Chinese and video:
"Hello China, I'm Zhao Xina, I must say now, in Fast & Furious 9, I do many, many interviews... I have a mistake, for my mistake, I am very sorry, I must say now, very very very important, I love to respect China and Chinese. ”
Whether this matter will have an impact on the box office trend remains to be seen.
Some people say that the Universal film side will release in South Korea and China in advance because of this film's lack of strength, and come to Asia to make a profit before it is released in China.
However, as far as the current box office trend is concerned, it can be clearly seen that the box office of "Rapid 9" has not been greatly affected by word of mouth, "the ship rots and there are three thousand nails", even if the word of mouth is rotten, the money that should be earned will still be earned back.
Is "Quick Shock 9" a bad movie? And what is the problem with the group ridicule of "Quick Shock 9"?
Brother Eggplant will analyze it today without prejudice.
One
First of all, we need to make it clear that the film is bad, and "Rapid 9" does have countless slots:
Cars are driven to the sky; Donald 1 hit 20, can still be unscathed; cars on the street can be sucked away by absorbing iron stones; driving through minefields can be like walking on the ground; the protagonists no matter how they fall and crash, or are not dead, unharmed, unharmed, not damaged.
Some people say that these slot points have also been in several previous works, why didn't they say it before, and now they have to take it out to say, isn't this a double standard?
Brother Jia believes that everything must have a degree, and there were these exaggerated plots in the past, but everyone did not say it because it was not yet to the point of intolerability, and now it is said that it is precisely because this tolerance has exceeded the limit.
So, "Rapid Shock 9" is because these slots have affected the audience's evaluation of the movie, and the reputation will be so bad?
Not exactly.
The poor reputation of "Quick Shock 9", these slot points are only one aspect of the problem; and the biggest problem of "Rapid Shock 9" is in the story itself.
As we all know, a new character appeared in this film, the younger brother of Donald, Played by John Senna, Jacob Toledo.
There is also the return of the old faces: the "resurrection" Han Luo (played by Kang Sung-ho) and Donald Boss's sister Mia (played by Jordana Brewster), the appearance of these three characters is the reason for the decline in the rhythm of the movie and the decline in word-of-mouth.
With Dawn Johnson and Jason Statham "suspected" of dropping out of the series due to irreconcilable conflicts with Van Diesel, Universal decided to bring in a new blockbuster star, John Senna, to play Donald's younger brother Jacob.
Since the introduction of such a character 20 years after the series is somewhat abrupt, the film devotes a lot of space to the ins and outs between Donald and his brother. And these memories are actually two new actors to play the young Donald and Jacob, and the film gives enough clips to present.
This arrangement shows that Jacob's introduction is not temporary, but will become a permanent role in this series, which will take a lot of effort to explain.
But there are too many flashback shots, and there are not many highlights in the fragments of memories, which drag down the rhythm of the movie and also lose sight of one or the other.
Looking at Han played by Kang Sung-ho, he first appeared in "Rapid 3" and hung up directly in that movie.
The three films "Rapid Shock 4", "Rapid Shock 5" and "Rapid Shock 6" are set as the prequels to "Rapid Shock 3", he runs through these three films, and at the end of "Rapid Shock 6" is killed by Deckard Shaw played by Jason Statham, which is connected to the plot of "Rapid Shock 3".
In order to make Han return, "Rapid 9" uses a lot of return shots to explain why he miraculously survived the crash.
These pit-filling plots are more acceptable for old fans who have watched the entire series of movies, but for non-fans, some are not friendly, and I believe that many people will feel confused and do not know the cause and effect.
Donald's sister Mia also returned.
She left the series with the withdrawal of Paul Walker's character Brian O'Connor in "Rapid 7", which did not appear in "Rapid 8", and this return is unforeseen, which will feel strange to some old fans, let alone viewers who do not understand the series.
Therefore, Brother Eggplant believes that the groove of "Rapid Shock 9" is not only in the exaggerated action setting, not logical and other old terriers that are often complained about by the audience, but the story itself is not well told.
On the one hand, in order to introduce the role of Jacob, too many memories were added to the plot; on the other hand, the return of the two characters of Han and Mia was slightly abrupt, which affected the film's consistent fast pace.
Two
However, the box office of "Rapid 9" is still growing rapidly, with a rapid growth of 900 million+ in 5 days and 70% of the films, which proves that the audience likes to watch, and the cinema also has absolute confidence in it.
Obviously, the Internet continues to complain about it, but its box office trend is still as stable as Taishan, not like its reputation.
The reason for this is not difficult to understand when you think about it.
First of all, the "Fast and Furious" series is after all the biggest hollywood action movie IP after 2000, and it also has a large number of fans in our mainland, many fitness fans are in love with fitness sports because of the "Fast" movie, and a strong fan circle is a big guarantee for the movie box office.
Secondly, although the film story itself has shortcomings, the soul of the "Rapid" series has not been lost, and the flying car scene, explosion scene, gunfight scene, and hand-to-hand combat scene still maintain the top level of Hollywood industrial movies.
Especially in the climactic part of the street car scene, the crash scene filmed in real scenes makes the adrenaline soar to the peak in an instant, and this scene may already be worth the ticket price.
Finally, the objective factor is that in the second half of May, there is basically no opponent who can compete with "Rapid 9". Even the Hollywood horror film "A Quiet Place 2", which will be released on May 28, is only a small fight, and there is no box office advantage in June.
Therefore, "Rapid Shock 9" has at least an ideal gold absorption period of nearly 1 month.
According to the forecast of the mainland website, it is conservatively estimated that the final box office of "Rapid Shock 9" will be around 1.5 billion yuan, and the actual situation may be more ideal, it is likely to be close to 2 billion.
If the film could attract more than $250 million in Asia before it was released in North America, the prospects for the series would undoubtedly be very promising, and the shooting of the "Rapid 10" project would be faster.
Three
In addition, viewers who have watched "Rapid Shock 9" will find that the film has spent a lot of thought on the preparation of the plot and the advancement of the story.
And these plots are not only in the service of "Rapid 9", but also in preparation for the development of future series of films. Lin Yibin's return to the series of movies this time is precisely to draw a perfect end to the movie.
Born in 2001, Fast and Furious, directed by Rob Cohen, is Van Diesel's second B-movie after Interstellar Legends.
At that time, no one thought that this IP could last long, and Van Diesel himself pushed back the contract for the next two-year episode.
In 2003, the director of "Fast and Furious 2" was replaced by John Singerton, and only Paul Walker was left, plus Teres Gibson and Ludacrys, and the box office performance was also average.
In "Rapid Shock 3", the background is set in Japan, the protagonists are Lucas Black played by Shane and Han, without Paul Walker, Van Diesel is just out to show his face.
And Lin Yibin was still a rookie at that time, but his efforts proved that as long as he created with his heart, he could turn decay into magic.
A film like this that almost did not go to the theater line and directly released a disc, it was forced to kill a bloody road, with an investment of 85 million US dollars, in exchange for nearly 160 million US dollars at the box office, which made Universal look at Lin Yibin with astonishment.
Van Diesel also decided to return and run the series, and had Lin direct the next 4, 5, and 6 episodes.
After that, the "Rapid Shock" series experienced many storms, Lin Yibin left, Wen Ziren took over, Paul Walker unfortunately passed away, F. Gary Gray directed the fruitless "Rapid Shock 8", and finally Universal recalled Lin Yibin and launched "Rapid Shock 9".
In this film, Lin Yibin obviously made a lot of preparations for the follow-up "Rapid Shock 10", first of all, Han and Mia in the protagonist team have returned, and Jacob, played by Zhao Xina, will also join the team.
Add to that the two Easter eggs at the end of the film: the appearance of Brian O'Connor and the return of Jason Statham, and these are unexpected surprises.
Four
There is reason to believe that under the operation of Lin Yibin, "Rapid 10" will have an unprecedented gathering of characters.
Although Paul Walker is dead, it is also possible to "resurrect" him with CG technology and join the team; the appearance of Jason Statham also indicates that Dawn Johnson and Luke Evans will most likely return.
Although it is rumored that Dawn Johnson and Van Diesel have contradictions, these are not things in the face of capital, and perhaps the "contradictions" between the two have been a means of marketing from the beginning.
Finally, it's gayle Gadot, who is extremely popular and vocal, and it's not impossible to find her back and make a cameo.
In short, the word-of-mouth collapse of "Rapid 9" is a transitional movie, and its biggest role is to pave the way for the future "Rapid 10" - there is reason to believe that 2022's "Fast and Furious 10" is the end of this series, and it will also be an unprecedented luxury star feast.
Therefore, "Rapid Shock 9" is not a bad film, and "Rapid Shock 10" has the final say.
(Rotten Tomatoes Movie Editorial Department: Blood Dan Heart)