Text | Ling Hu Boguang
The May 1st file in 2023 is known as the most lively May 1st file in history, and there are indeed too many movies that are set. Some movies also opened the point screening, Bo Guangjun also went to see a movie point screening, after watching it, he found that this movie is really difficult to say, that is, the fire theme of "a certain rescue".
I paid attention to the title in advance and found that not only the director of this film is a Hong Kong person, but the entire main creator is a Hong Kong director.
It is obviously a group of Hong Kong directors and the main creator, and the result is actually able to make a slogan-shouting, formulaic, and routine main theme fire movie that is more blunt than mainland directors, which is really impressive. This movie is a bit like "Heroes of Fire 2", but how to say, it feels like this is not as good as "Heroes of Fire"?
Since the movie has not yet been officially released, there will be no naming or spoilers here.
Anyway, this movie, like most Hong Kong directors' main theme films, has very serious problems. My advice is, really don't let Hong Kong directors make the main theme, just as don't let the fifth and sixth generation directors make the main theme movie.
In the past two years, many audiences have been tired of how the main theme movie is, in fact, it has nothing to do with the main theme, but the movie is too badly made. This has made the reputation of the domestic main theme movie bad, and it is really worth the loss.
Why can't Hong Kong directors shoot the "main theme"? We look at Tsui Hark, Lin Chaoxian knows
It is a historical topic for Hong Kong directors to go north to make films, but it is very new for Hong Kong directors to start making films with the main theme. After all, the main theme movie has only risen over the years. Speaking of which, Tsui Hark's "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain" in 2014 is still a model for new theme movies, followed by Lin Chaoxian's "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea".
In terms of quality and reputation, it can be said that Wu Jing's "Wolf Warrior" series was a priority, and it only lost at the box office.
Why Tsui Hark and Lin Chaoxian shot the main theme well, so why did other Hong Kong directors make bad main theme movies?
The answer is very simple, Hong Kong directors themselves grow up in different environments, they often come to the mainland market to invest in their favor, the speculative psychology is too heavy, and there is no concept of community with the mainland in their hearts, but the market wants to make money here. Spending the money of mainland investors to coax mainland audiences is ultimately just to make money.
Hong Kong directors shoot films with the main theme, including commercial blockbusters, and their attitude towards filmmaking is becoming more and more perfunctory.
For example, mainland macro narrative theme films, like war films, how many Hong Kong directors have the experience of coordinating thousands of people? But they don't care about these, don't care about the consequences of inexperience, resulting in the grand scenes of current film and television works can't be watched, and now they are often ridiculed by netizens that anything can be filmed for you as a "gangster fight".
This is not the case with the wronged Hong Kong director, Liu Weiqiang's "The Great Cause of Building an Army", Peng Shun's "My War" is like this.
This only requires you to show macro war scenes, and does not require any strategic layout, weapon details, tactical performance, etc. The different cultures behind different characters in different provinces and cities, even if the shot performance of the war scenes is more reasonable, the Hong Kong director really can't shoot it. So this is just a war theme movie that can't be made well, so what about other themes?
The reason is simpler, even the main theme war film that is a little on the side of the police and bandit shootout is not good, how can it be possible to make other main theme movies, some themes require the expression of the character spirit and core of the character, and some themes need to be made into qualified genre films.
The former tend to be more niche, such as movies such as "Island Guardian" and "Furuta Bugle".
Hong Kong directors definitely can't make this kind of film, choosing mostly the latter's kind of commercial genre films, such as "Captain China" and "Chinese Doctor" belong to disaster films, "Climber" belongs to sports movies, and "Heroes of Fire" and "Shocking Rescue" belong to fire films.
This must first be a good commercial blockbuster, and then an excellent main theme movie; However, after Hong Kong directors came to the mainland to develop, they seem to have lost the ability to make good genre blockbusters, which of the films listed above are excellent genre blockbusters?
In the words of current netizens, it is: the Hong Kong director pattern is getting smaller and smaller, the aesthetics are getting worse and worse, and the level of the film and television industry is very backward; The commercial blockbusters they shoot often = big scenes = big sensationalism = big production = big special effects, and the result is a strong smell of plastic falsehood.
Can these Hong Kong directors shoot the main theme well? Tsui Hark, why Lin Chaoxian is an exception
Tsui Hark's "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain" is based on contemporary martial arts films, Lin Chaoxian's "Operation Mekong" and "Operation Red Sea" are special team operations, Lin Chaoxian replaced the Hong Kong police with mainland special forces, and then played his "gun battle industry" to the top, showing a top effect.
"Operation Red Sea" Lin Chaoxian promotes his strengths and avoids his weaknesses in this movie, and the whole film is basically playing, and focuses on the psychological changes of the team members, downplaying the international political background, so it effectively avoids the problems of pattern size, spiritual expression and character shaping.
If you look at the essence of the film, "Operation Red Sea" is still reduced to an "action" after all, and it has not been seen as a small one.
Many netizens do not understand that "Operation Red Sea" is better, but why "Wolf Warrior 2" can exceed more than 2 billion at the box office. Because "Wolf Warrior 2" is more suitable for ordinary audiences in addition to the better rhythm of the movie. At the beginning of the movie, the soldier faces the helplessness of forced demolition, and then the two-faced and three-knifed character of Yu Qianna, and the Chinese of the factory in the face of the slaughter of Western mercenaries.
That strong anger of oppressed nationalism, so to speak, everything is just right.
This sentiment can still be filmed by Hong Kong directors before 2000, that is, Tsui Hark's generation. Therefore, Tsui Hark's "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain" still has a lot of local plot + martial arts style processing, and martial arts culture is also local culture. In fact, Lin Chaoxian's "Action Series" can also be regarded as a general in the short.
I like watching both movies, but it's not at all inconsistent for you to change the protagonist team to the special forces of any country.
Chen Kexin's "Winning the Championship" is counted as half, and if it is the full version, it should be counted as one. But more is that the film and television industry has not made much breakthrough, the cultural details are not in place, and the core expression is all bad films.
The love of the peak of Li Rengang's "The Climber" made me disgusted. Liu Weiqiang's "Captain China" is barely able to watch half of the excellent disaster film, and "Chinese Doctor" is a bad film. "Extraordinary Mission" and "Riot Eradication" want to oppose the grafting of mainland police and bandits to the Hong Kong police and bandit war, but the result is not very good.
"Heroes of Fire" and "Ordinary Heroes" are the same as the latest fire film, and there is no need to mention the bad war films of those "gangsters fighting".
Hong Kong directors are trapped in the main theme, and the main theme is ruined by the old Chinese-speaking directors
At this time, the question arises, since Hong Kong directors can't shoot the main theme, why do they always let Hong Kong directors shoot?
Hong Kong films have always been the pinnacle of Chinese-language commercial films, Hong Kong directors have good project control, can produce films in an assembly line, for this kind of product that relies on quantity to win, Hong Kong directors have a great advantage.
And the Hong Kong film industry has been going north for more than 20 years, and the official is very popular with the Hong Kong film industry. Like the big film and television companies with deep roots in the mainland, there are Bona, and early Wanda, Huayi and Guangguang have a large number of Hong Kong and Taiwan directors.
Although the main theme of the Hong Kong director is crotch-pulling, he can shoot such official and market-recognized explosive models as "Outsmart Tiger Mountain" and "Action Series". Like "Chinese Doctor" with a box office of 2.6 billion and "Heroes of Fire" with a box office of 1.7 billion, these are all blockbusters.
Netizens because of a celebrity gossip, overnight someone collapsed, and then overwhelming scolding, this kind of thing can happen ten thousand times in 1 year. However, the production cycle of cultural projects, including animation, games, and film and television dramas, is not moving for three or four years, or even five or six years, and the market response is very slow.
This is also the same reason that the official and market like to use Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and other veteran mainland directors. Capital superstitions big names, movies always need to be invested, and investors only look at interests, regardless of whether your ass is right or not, and whether the quality of the film is good or not.
The "Wolf Warrior" and "The Wandering Earth" series are counterexamples. At the beginning, 99% of domestic investors were not optimistic, and as a result, the former relied on Wu Jing to sell houses, and the latter relied on Wu Jing to pay for his life.
However, "The Wandering Earth" is the work that the audience is most willing to see, and the Chinese science fiction that the capital is optimistic about at the same time is "Shanghai Fortress" next door, and the investor invests when he sees that he can pull down Luhan and feels stable, and what kind of stuff was filmed?
In the early days, mainland film and television still had its own set, but it was mainly the literary film era of the fifth generation and the sixth generation of directors. Later, commercial films were learning from Hong Kong and Taiwan directors, and the stinky problems of the Hong Kong and Taiwan film circles were not left behind. Now the mainstream directors are basically still the relics of that era.
Again, Hong Kong and Taiwan directors can't shoot the main theme well, because the different environments can be understood. The fifth and sixth generation of great directors in the mainland can be darker to the point because of their understanding, and they will also cover up their true intentions, so that people who do not understand the situation feel that they have done a good job.
Because of the matter of "The Wandering Earth 2", many netizens scolded Zhang Yimou for retiring quickly, in fact, Hong Kong directors are the same.
Hong Kong directors, please stop making "main theme" movies
I have always been very tolerant of works that have made breakthroughs in the development of China's cultural industry, directors, and stars. On the contrary, those who seriously delay the development of China's cultural industry, or even openly reverse the road, and clearly circle money, are often criticized.
I believe that as long as you have read my articles, you will find that I often write articles criticizing the Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circles and blindly praising the Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circles. The reason is that in recent years, the mainland's "speculation on Hong Kong and Taiwan feelings" has been too serious, and there has been no progress in the development of the cultural industry, on the contrary, it is seriously delaying its legs.
Some of the mainland's veteran directors, like the traffic economy, seriously affect the development of China's pop culture industry.
However, mainland netizens love to package the mainland entertainment industry together badly, and then compare it with the peak Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circle, and because of the emotional path, everything in the Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment industry is god-making, and the internal entertainment is not good. Anyway, most people don't understand the problems in the circle, so they have unrealistic expectations of them.
On the contrary, such protracted entertainment works have survived in the mainland market through feelings, without any help.
The most important thing is to the official, the film and television capital in the middle and the entire market, and even a large number of netizens also blow Hong Kong directors, how is the Hong Kong entertainment industry, there is no mention of the anti-Japanese dramas they brought up, and then to the special effects of Abao color five-haired special effects, the costume drama problem of serving the Taoist to the Wadaihua and so on.
Hong Kong and Taiwan directors can't make mainland main theme film and television works, and really hope that Hong Kong directors will not be allowed to make main theme film and television dramas.
The fifth and sixth generation of mainland directors are the same, please give mainland young directors more opportunities!