May 1st gear, finally lively.
This year's May 1st file, seven films compete on the same stage, all kinds of genres, a hundred flowers, you can choose.
If you're like us and don't want to join the Everybody My Peak Outing, going to the cinema might be a good choice.
At present, which is the most popular and recognized as a "must-see"?
That's right, that's it.
Although it is a domestic military-themed work, "King of the Long Sky" may not be the same as you think.
If you want to set the tone for this film, it is a fast-paced, industrial-level commercial blockbuster.
Even if it were simpler and crude, the key words of this movie are:
Burn.
Refreshing.
Explode.
The first impression is "fried".
Ten minutes into the theater, you will be "bombed" and speechless.
Very head-banging, very shocking air combat scene.
A dizzying, even cardiac arrest functional experience.
It must be admitted that aviation themes have always been relatively rare in domestic genre films.
First, the type itself is very difficult, and second, the requirements for the entire industrial production level are relatively high. If you shoot badly, it is easy to show timidity.
Someone has to rise to the challenge and open up a new field in this domestic genre.
The good news is that in this regard, although director Liu Xiaoshi is directing for the first time, he has rich experience in the aviation industry. For nearly 20 years, he "has been wondering how to make an airplane look good."
In "King of the Long Sky", when the stealth fighter roars past and goes straight through the clouds, you will feel this most intuitive "good-looking".
The air combat scenes in the film are filmed crisply and neatly, and it makes people bloody.
The movement line and action logic of aviation are very clear, and the various dangers during the test flight and the extreme experience of the test pilot in the high altitude are presented one by one in the entire 120-minute viewing experience.
After solving the technical difficulties, another thing that "King of the Long Sky" does well is that it chooses the right entry point for the protagonist and narrative:
Test pilots.
Before entering the cinema, probably most of us knew very little about the group of "test pilots".
"King of the Long Sky" allowed more audiences to know the test pilots.
In peacetime, they are people who dance on the tip of a knife.
Because test flights are "trial and error".
What test pilots have to do is drive a new aircraft that no one has ever flown and test fly all kinds of limit data at high altitude. Their duty is to touch and even push the limits.
This particularity also makes the thrill of the film completely full.
In the film, you will see extreme flight from a variety of first-person perspectives.
Stall tail turn.
Parking in the sky.
The sense of substitution is very strong.
In front of the screen, we all have to see a cold sweat from time to time.
In front of such a shocking, industrial-level scene, the text is always very pale. You have to go to the theater to experience that ultimate audition.
Only on the big screen can you best and most immerse yourself in flying with the protagonists and experience the thrilling and adrenaline rush feeling of extreme operation.
"King of the Long Sky" is also very "burning".
Burning is reflected in the flesh-and-blood, affectionate, and adversity growth of youth.
The film not only pursues the laying out of big scenes, but also focuses the narrative on specific "people".
The male protagonist Lei Yu is a young and excellent pilot.
The audience actually entered the field of "test pilots" from his perspective:
At the beginning of the story, Lei Yu, like everyone else, wanted to go to the front line more than to be a test pilot in the rear.
But because of the temptation of "being the first to fly a stealth fighter", he was moved.
He soon discovered that wanting to become a test pilot is not so simple, but has to go through many selections, and has extremely high requirements for the quality of pilots in all aspects.
Even a pilot with excellent ability like Lei Yu has to sleep in the chase shop and start over like a recruit egg.
This actually aroused Lei Yu's fighting spirit.
The selection part in the early stage of the film is also the most entertaining and funny plot in the whole film. When I watched, the audience burst into laughter from time to time.
After becoming a test pilot, the story does not actually end, but really begins.
In the first test flight, Lei Yu still did not get what he wanted, and successfully drove the stealth fighter.
But he also gradually understood that choosing this profession was not just for the aura of "being the first to fly a stealth fighter".
In the process of test flights again and again, in the process of constantly experiencing and coping with dangerous situations, he learned how to face setbacks and get back on his feet.
From an excellent pilot to an excellent test pilot, Lei Yu's entire transformation process, the arc of characters on his body, allows the audience to understand the responsibility, mission and blood of the test pilot.
He also let the audience see what the profession of test pilot really needs to face, why they are called dancers on the tip of the knife, minesweepers in the blue sky.
On the road to growth, Lei Yu is not alone.
He has a group of equally young and enthusiastic comrades.
At first, the children seem to be competing with each other, and even occasionally seem a little gunpowder.
However, I later understood that these benign competitions can help them grow and change rapidly under extreme conditions.
And at the most critical moment, they will always be comrades-in-arms who can trust each other's backs, and they are a generation that goes hand in hand and moves forward together.
Lei Yu also has a master.
Captain Zhang Ting is a mature, seasoned senior test pilot.
As a test pilot, he has near-perfect flying skills, excellent psychological quality and rich combat experience, all of which are worth learning from future generations.
As a captain, he leads by example and has a strong aura, and only he can calm this group of unruly young pilots.
The relationship between Zhang Ting and Lei Yu is like a father and son, but also like a friend.
In the relationship between these two people, we see what a good master-apprentice relationship should look like:
Understand, nurture, trust.
The captain saw the shining points in Lei Yu and used various ways to exercise him and improve him.
When Lei Yu made mistakes, he also taught him how to face mistakes and help him sharpen his mind.
The most important thing is trust: when everyone thinks that Lei Yu may not be good, only Zhang Ting insists on having confidence in him. At critical moments, dare to let him go.
How do I get a character to stand? The script of "King of the Long Sky" is always very delicately written, and the screenwriter will use many details and various small, life-like lines to shape the characters.
Lei Yu is usually silent, but his love for aviation can be seen in the flight models full of tables.
Zhang Ting seems to be grinning, and he never leaves an old pocket watch in his hand, but he has all his nostalgia for his comrades.
Every time he got off the plane, Zhang Ting would send a WeChat message to his wife to report that he was safe.
And his son, who is in elementary school, always looks at the plane with a serious face on his stomach on the school window.
He does not worry when the plane is "still ringing", but if the plane "goes silent", he will be very worried - this is also determined by the special nature of the test pilot's work.
These seemingly warm idle pen gives the story an emotion.
It allows us to see that test pilots are not only heroes, but also ordinary people and have a side of life.
Back on the ground, they have families and relatives who are worried. But for the sake of the mission, they chose to fly into the blue sky.
Another very interesting point is that when the aircraft designer Chief Engineer Wei appeared for the first time and taught the pilots, he obviously had a serious expression, but he had a pigtail on his head, just like an old urchin.
He did this because he made a bet with Captain Zhang Ting about the design of the aircraft, and he lost the bet.
This seemingly witty joke not only vividly writes the comradeship between test pilots and designers, but also illustrates one point to the audience:
Test pilots must not only know how to fly, but also understand aircraft and design. Sometimes even designers have to bow down.
Test pilots are "engineers and designers of flight."
Not only do they have to take new aircraft into the sky, but they also develop, evaluate and test their performance. This requires them to have a solid theoretical foundation and be able to participate in the development and design of aircraft.
And the screenwriter also cleverly laid out these points, the work and life of test pilots, from the details.
From the point of view of the play, these points are small, but by no means optional. It is they who shape the skeletons of the characters and make them flesh and blood. And these details also need to be truly rooted in the creator and understand the work and mission of the test pilot in order to write.
"King of the Long Sky" is not about a test pilot, nor just a generation of test pilots.
Unfolded by a group portrait drama, "King of the Long Sky" is not only about the growth of young test pilots, but also about the inheritance between generations of test pilots. It is about youth, growth and progress, and it also has a strong appeal for future generations.
Finally, I have to mention the "coolness" of "King of the Long Sky".
The "coolness" of "King of the Long Sky" lies first of all in the "difficulty" of the task and in the struggle between the individual and the limit.
The test pilots are tasked with testing limit data, the latest fighter that no one has yet flown before. This makes them have to do the most dangerous things again and again to get the most extreme data.
Every time they get on a fighter, they are conquering the sky, conquering themselves, conquering the impossible.
But that's what makes the film cool.
Turn the impossible into a possibility, so this group of talents is the "king of the long sky".
Behind the growth of individual test pilots, this story also tells the collective progress, the struggle and development of Continental Airlines from weak to strong.
A major premise in the film is that before the development of new fighters, our army fell into the downwind.
Once the test flight fails, the test pilot will not only drop a fighter, it is likely to waste the design and hard work of countless people, and even lead to the termination of the development of a new generation of fighters.
And when test pilots embark on the journey, they are not only for themselves, for their families, but also to protect thousands of families like themselves, and to protect the blue sky of the motherland.
In the sky, the heart is connected to the territory.
Success is hard, but it is also a must.
This is also why, in the end, when we see the stealth fighter independently developed by the mainland soaring in the long sky, we will feel so cool.
It's beautiful, it's powerful, it's the real "King of the Long Sky".
During the movie, a real sense of pride will arise.
It's the work of generations, and it's one of the most worthy songs. Our planes, our nation, are getting stronger.
I remember that after watching "King of the Long Sky" in the theater, the audience next to me said excitedly, I must bring my parents to brush it again.
Indeed, if this movie is watched with parents, it may be more emotional. They lived through that era of "starting from nothing", and they know better than we how hard aviation has been to this day.
Of course, this movie is actually very suitable for children to watch. The enthusiasm, hope and faith of young test pilots are also particularly inspiring for future generations, and it will be a good growth education for them.
Don't miss this all-ages burning fried blockbuster.
It will be a must-see for your May Day.