Jackie Chan's new film "Dragon Horse Spirit" is mediocre, and he has been tickling his boots for the past 20 years

Once again, Jackie Chan dedicated a mediocre play.

Jackie Chan's new film "Dragon Horse Spirit", released on April 7, is very much like himself, unattractive, mixed with specious nostalgia for past glory.

In the film, his status as a "big brother dragon" is revealed everywhere, but there are wails for the current audience to "abandon it".

However, this cry is both powerless and self-inflicted to the point of pedantic.

This movie, decent and almost remarkable, mediocre although not evil, but wasting the audience's time is a sin.

Everyone knows that the era of Jackie Chan has long passed.

He knows that, too.

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In 1997, Michelle Yeoh had an extremely classic evaluation of Jackie Chan in an interview with talk show host David Letterman.

The 26-year-later Oscar winner for Best Actress denounced Chan as a "masculine chauvinistic pig" and said he was afraid to show "big man" traits in front of himself because, "I'll kick his ass." ”

This interview became popular on the Internet last year, and netizens lamented that Michelle Yeoh's understanding of Jackie Chan was so accurate that two years after making this statement, Jackie Chan was discredited for "mistakes that men all over the world make".

Recently, there is another widely circulated but unconfirmed rumor in the Hong Kong media:

After Michelle Yeoh won the Oscar for Best Actress, Jackie Chan sent a message congratulating her, and also postscripted, "Do you know that the director originally asked me to act"?

If you are not embarrassed, you are embarrassed by the other party.

Seeing this news, I'm afraid Michelle Yeoh will be stunned, fortunately, the emotional intelligence of the newly promoted film queen is high enough. Here's how she replied: Yes, I know! Brother, you have gone treasure this time.

"Walking treasure" is Cantonese, which means - to look away.

Jackie Chan looked away, why not the movie "Instantaneous Universe"?

After the millennium, in the past 20 years, Jackie Chan starred in more than 30 movies, which can be regarded as diligent, but opening his resume, more than eighty percent of his works are mediocre.

Only 2004's "Shinjuku Story" and 2009's "Shinjuku Incident" are worth mentioning.

"New Police Story" is his classic IP that began in the 80s, but the most outstanding movie in this reboot after 2000 is actually Wu Yanzu. The young Azu shined by starring as the villain of this film, suppressing Jackie Chan's aura in all directions.

It is worth mentioning that it is precisely because of the third part of the "Police Story" series of the older generation in the 90s that Michelle Yeoh, as the heroine, was able to break into Hollywood.

"Shinjuku Incident" is an atypical Jackie Chan movie, with less kung fu as the core and more collision of human nature. But this dark style is by no means something that Jackie Chan will continue.

The rest of the movies are almost all swirling in a stale trap.

Starting from 2010's "Soldier", it can be said that in the new era, Jackie Chan has not won any movie. Although there is such a thing as "British Showdown", compared to the peak of the eighties and nineties, it is not even the end of the strong crossbow.

"Police Story" also had a version in 2013, which was miserable. It is said that this year there will be a reboot of a new version of "Police Story", which will return to star in the original cast of the 2004 version - except for Wu Yanzu. This new police story will also be directed by Nicholas Tse, but can it stand without Wu Yanzu's super villain?

One feeling is that Jackie Chan doesn't seem to care much about the "quality of the movie", but whether he can get money, even if he spoils the classic IP he directed.

Jackie Chan in the eighties and nineties is definitely a benchmark. When the kung fu film was improved by him, it exuded the charm of Jackie Chan, of course, this is an indelible achievement.

However, this is not an excuse for Jackie Chan to "should be mediocre" now.

To be honest, after the beginning of the new century - an era that really did not pay much attention to flower fist embroidery legs, Jackie Chan's shortcomings also appeared.

That is, most likely, he does not understand the art of film - not that he does not understand shooting skills, but he may not understand what artistic expression is. In fact, many people in the film and television industry are working mechanically, rather than having the so-called artistic touch.

With excellent capital investment, but producing failing works, one cannot help but suspect that Jackie Chan does not understand and study the film itself as deeply as "kung fu".

Kung fu alone is not enough to pry the enthusiasm of watching movies, as mentioned above, audiences now "do not pay much attention to flower fist embroidery legs". But this does not mean that "kung fu movies" or "action movies" have no market, or that the genre has no foothold in the field of film art.

A further afield example is Quentin's 2003 "Kill Bill," a former videotape clerk known as a "fan of Hong Kong kung fu movies" who shot Jackie Chan 20 years ago at heights that he had not matched in 20 years.

A recent example is the "Fast Pursuit" series starring Keanu Reeves - if you extend kung fu movies to "action movies". "Fast Pursuit" filmed the fourth part this year, the Vietnam War became more and more courageous, and the word-of-mouth box office was both popular, even overshadowing the first three.

So, how can no one want to appreciate kung fu or action movies? It's just that if the shooting is lackluster, there really is no audience.

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Although Jackie Chan also broke into Hollywood and won the 89th Academy Awards for Lifetime Achievement in 2017, he recently gave Hollywood "bad reviews" several times when promoting "Dragon Horse Spirit".

What did he say?

Jackie Chan said that Hollywood does not respect his "ideas", and his moves are not liked by the other party, so he can only break up unhappy. Recently, there was also a sentence - "It's not that I'm going to Hollywood, but Hollywood needs me." ”

Yes, we have no doubt about Jackie Chan's contribution to Hollywood action films, as he said, "Hollywood action is now Jackie Chan". But it cannot be denied that his understanding of movies may be too "low" compared to the Hollywood film industry.

For example, "Fast Chase" is also based on "action", but it takes into account both good looks and art. Keanu Reeves, 10 years his junior, has been changing himself.

Among the Chinese who have broken into Hollywood, most of them can "survive" so far, and they have to constantly pursue in order to have a place.

In the field of directing, there is Ang Lee, who started his career in literary films in his early years, but in the past two decades, he has been obsessed with the transformation of film technology, exploring different technical forms, from "The Fantasy Drifting of Youth Pi" to "Gemini Killer", although it may not be optimal, but it also has a foundation that can be established.

And Michelle Yeoh, as an actress, is no different – trying to make a difference.

Although it is difficult to prove this when Jackie Chan says that "Hollywood needs him", it is easy to infer that with his works in the past 20 years, let alone the global market, even the Chinese market is difficult to recognize. "Dragon Horse Spirit" only had a box office of 80 million in the first weekend of its release, and the clues can be seen (you know, a few weeks ago, the box office of "Keep You Safe" directed by Dapeng exceeded 100 million in the first weekend).

This is the real problem with Jackie Chan.

And his disdain for Hollywood is actually related to nationalist sentiment. Implicitly catering to local sentiments, in the hope of stimulating the audience's national identity and achieving a favorable situation of maximizing the box office.

However, he thought too much.

Of course, nationalist sentiment is on the rise today, but it is by no means something that can be incited in just a few words. Revolution is not about inviting guests to dinner, but only by showing a real unique skill can there be food.

In the face of real money, national sentiment is equal to zero. Unless, the movie you make is good-looking, shocking, or even moving.

But it's a pity that most of Jackie Chan's movies for so many years are tickling the boots, and there is almost no emotional value to output. The only attraction is the word "Jackie Chan".

However, when Jackie Chan consumed too much of the golden signboard, this signboard was already worn out as if it had lost a layer of paint.

As a new generation of action superstars, Wu Jing has a cameo appearance in "Dragon Horse Spirit", and it is limited to cameos, however, when the film was promoted, he was once used as a selling point and put it together with Jackie Chan.

That's embarrassing.

When Jackie Chan began to rub Wu Jing, it proved that the words "Jackie Chan" had "limited value".

Of course, in front of Wu Jing, Jackie Chan is still that "big brother". Especially in the matter of patriotism.

Jackie Chan was the first Hong Kong superstar to express patriotic sentiments. His patriotic rhetoric goes back more than two decades – and rightly so, political correctness gives him more room to maneuver.

After his son Fang Zuming was arrested for drug use in 2014, Jackie Chan faced an extremely embarrassing situation, especially to show his "patriotic heart".

However, in the field of film, he did not eat patriotic dividends, but was won by Wu Jing, the former "kung fu boy", with "Wolf Warrior".

This is likely to be closely related to Jackie Chan's impurity. He does not want to lose the golden signboard of "Jackie Chan Kung Fu", but also wants to start from a patriotic perspective, naturally, it is difficult to achieve such a direct "output" as "Wolf Warrior", shouting the loud slogan of "Although far away, it must be cursed".

This is also the reason why it is difficult for Jackie Chan to have a place in the main theme market in the past 10 years. His films during this period, although they wanted to express China's visibility in the world, ignored the most important part of film art - the ability to empathize with the audience.

This is similar to his development in Hollywood.

In the final analysis, the core is that he always "walks" when choosing films, especially - lack of professional vision of film art.

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20 years, 30 films.

Jackie Chan's filming speed is considered fast, and even a little flooded. Correspondingly, there are only a handful of movies he starred in with a score of more than 7.0 (on a Douban 10-point system).

Among his superstar-level filmmakers of the same period or later, Stephen Chow has only 6 films in 20 years. This is also a pain for Xingye's fans. But at least, he didn't consume much of his "value", and each one was a win-win at the box office (except for "The New King of Comedy", which is controversial).

In the ranks of Hollywood superstars of the same age as Jackie Chan, Tom Hanks has also made many films, and there have been more than 30 (including supporting roles) in 20 years, but people have one to count. In the past 5 years, "Born Loveless Otto", "Fincher", "Washington Post", 10 years ago, "Cloud Atlas", "Bridge of Spies", "Happy Terminal" and so on. Those with a score below 7 are the few.

It's not that you can't take on more dramas, if you can get by in quality, the more the merrier.

Especially like Jackie Chan's 2019 "Detective Pu Songling", which has a super low score of 3.8 on Douban, Jackie Chan was nailed to the pillar of shame in the film industry in the late 2010s.

I can't help but wonder if he has read the script.

More fans are puzzled - is he so short of money?

It seems that he has no intention of stopping, and by 2027, in just 4 years, there are more than 20 movies "to be released".

Recently, when promoting "Dragon Horse Spirit", Jackie Chan lamented that "there are fewer and fewer action actors", and even bitterly said that no one wants to watch "kung fu movies".

This is a marketing ploy, not a fact. Because, the truth is --

Big brother, your photo is really not good-looking, so no one wants to watch it.

In fact, in the field of film, there is hardly any genre or genre that can be defined as "outdated". Whether it's an action movie, a science fiction movie, or a literary film, it can move people, just fine.

Or take the newly released "Fast Pursuit 4" as an example, which can show that action movies are not unwanted. The same is true for other types.

From Jackie Chan's works and his remarks, we can see that he actually has a kind of solidified thinking of "holding on to the inadequate". Finally, there is a "Detective Pu Songling" that breaks out of his traditional strengths, and it is very strange.

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"The Spirit of Dragon Horse" shows the strong father-daughter relationship between the character played by Jackie Chan and the daughter played by Liu Haocun. However, netizens made the movie's emotions "broken" with a sentence -

Why has Jackie Chan never treated the "little dragon girl" well in reality?

Xiaolongnu refers to Wu Zhuolin, the illegitimate daughter of Jackie Chan and Wu Qili.

I don't want to get caught up in gossip, but this is the perspective interpreted from the work, which can be said.

In fact, this reflects Jackie Chan's character - before and after, words and deeds are inconsistent.

For many years, Jackie Chan has always wanted to create an image of a hardworking, humble gentleman and patriot, such as doing good deeds, such as being of one heart and one mind with the people of the mainland.

Not to mention how it is in private, on the surface, he is not willing to have anything to do with Wu Zhuolin. Of course, the matter of cheating is a stain that Jackie Chan can never shake off, so many years, he does not want to mention it, but he can understand. However, he was never willing to face it squarely, and tried to erase this matter from the old news, until it became an unsubstantiated rural history a hundred years later.

However, Wu Zhuolin's face, which was extremely similar to Fang Zuming, ruthlessly pierced the illusion that Jackie Chan turned a blind eye.

Wu Zhuolin jumped out of negative rumors from time to time - serious discord with his mother, broken relationship with his same-sex wife, and even receiving relief food abroad... It can be seen that even if there is a superstar father, even if there is the title of Xiaolongnu, the situation is really miserable.

Every time these news appear, it is a "delay" to Jackie Chan (maybe he doesn't care).

So, why can he still show father-daughter love in movies casually?

This is also the evidence of the lack of "empathy ability" in Jackie Chan's works.

"Common feelings" is to go straight to human nature and present true feelings, but how can the content of the tiger skin make the audience empathize?

In other words, it's too fake, which is reflected in the work, and the so-called emotions packaged are especially cheap.

When he reconciled with reality, truly regarded Wu Zhuolin as his own and accepted it in his father's name, he could get out of the "fake glory" and gain the power of humanity. Of course, this is just a metaphor to shatter Jackie Chan's "mask".

His works are the same, when they really have moving power, it is possible to return to the glory and appeal of the past. This moving power can only be revealed by a genuine infusion of feelings. Otherwise, it will still spin in place and sink deeper and deeper.

Therefore, compared to his machismo, abandoning his daughter should be where Michelle Yeoh wants to kick his ass.

However, Michelle Yeoh may really be too lazy to kick again.

They are already people of two worlds.

Written by | KILLER LEON

Curated | Editorial Department of Entertainment Spring and Autumn