Wuxia dramas have always been the most special existence in Chinese film and television dramas.
At its strongest, it was not only domestic, but also swept the Southeast Asian TV market. It can be said that martial arts dramas are the only ones in the national drama genre.
The reason why martial arts dramas are good is inseparable from these three obvious advantages.
One is a strong dramatic conflict and tight rhythm.
The storyline develops rapidly, rarely injects water, the drama is full of charm, grudges and grudges, children of rivers and lakes, and people who watch it are hearty.
The second is the vivid and plump character portrayal.
Huang Rihua's version of "Dragon Babu", Gu Tianle's version of "The Condor Heroes", Lu Songxian's version of "Smiling Rivers and Lakes", and many mainland martial arts dramas created by Zhang Jizhong are still full of pictures in recollection.
But these classic martial arts stories are often brought out by plump and three-dimensional characters, and the characters are the core of the story, and these classic martial arts also make classic martial arts characters.
The third is the unique chivalry of domestic martial arts.
Watching martial arts dramas, you can always experience the special temperament of martial arts dramas, and when the audience watches the drama, it is easy to feel the unique martial arts culture through the scene lines and action design.
Martial arts dramas seem unrestrained, but the emotions are very delicate, the real warrior, not to fight and kill, but the small is the road is uneven, the big is for the country and the people, chivalrous, but also let the martial arts drama itself have its own halo and charm.
It is a pity that over the years, martial arts dramas have fallen into a continuous downturn.
Not only is the action design full of dazzling slow motion, but the casting is also increasingly messy, and classic martial arts bad dramas such as Yang Youning's version of "Dragon Babu" are gradually ruining the reputation of martial arts dramas.
Even if there are occasional works with more than 7 points such as "Shadow of Mountains and Rivers", the decline is still difficult to stop.
Are martial arts dramas doomed to loneliness?
Last night, we probably waited for the "bottoming out" of domestic martial arts dramas.
It is iQiyi and Tencent's newly launched "Yunxiang Biography".
Three hours after its launch, he rushed to the first place in Tencent's costume list and the first place on iQiyi's soaring list.
Looking at the word of mouth again, the hot comments of netizens explain everything -
"The aesthetic and texture are great", "Domestic martial arts have hope", "The action is high-energy", "It is really the ceiling of beautiful men in ancient costumes", these are the signboards of previous martial arts dramas.
In terms of lineup, it is also quite powerful. In addition to Chen Xiaomao Xiaotong, there is also the acting school Wang Jinsong, the first generation of Hong Kong martial arts beating women, the queen Hui Yinghong, and the domestic martial arts male god Huang Haibing.
So, is it possible for this drama to help martial arts dramas "come back to life"?
After brushing 6 episodes in one breath, the first impression is that Qi Feng is rising.
Compared with traditional martial arts, "The Legend of Yunxiang" focuses on "wisdom" rivers and lakes, and the opening scene presents a sense of atmosphere of "a thousand doors and conspiracies", which makes people look more and more up. The male protagonist Yun Xiang, played by Chen Xiao, who does not know the slightest martial arts, is like a healthy version of Mei Changsu, playing chess games with the wisdom of a scholar.
Qi is personality, but also domestic martial arts, new hope.
I dare not say that the drama can directly raise the level of domestic martial arts dramas to a new height. But as soon as Yunxiang Gongzi comes out, he will definitely be able to find a new way of life for the martial arts rivers and lakes.
01. The sense of wisdom spread layer by layer, and the first three "chess games" firmly caught my eye
Most martial arts dramas start with grievances and grievances, especially if the male protagonist shows his skills.
But in the opening scene of "The Legend of Yunxiang", there is no top master showdown, no hero to save the beauty, but the male protagonist was hit by a knife by the salt bandit at the beginning.
Snowy nights, mooring boats, salt teams, bandits.
Outdoors, the salt guards were surrounded by dozens of bandits.
Indoors, the bandit forced the male protagonist to let his subordinates put down their weapons, "Only seek wealth, not life." ”
The situation was already a hundred thousand anxious, but the scholar did not panic at all, but slowly and methodically analyzed them——
This group of people claims to be salt bandits, but in fact, officers and soldiers are guarding and stealing themselves.
What about the evidence? Official knives and official boots almost came out directly in official uniforms to grab them.
If you have seen it, then send you back to the west, anyway, the overall situation has been decided.
But at this moment, there was a sound of fighting outside - not the salt protection team resisted, but the praying mantis catcher yellow finches behind.
The salt team is a cicada, the salt bandit is a praying mantis, and the yellow sparrow is the various people contacted by this weak scholar.
The salt protection team has been affected by the salt bandits for a long time, if the forces are united, it is not a problem to defeat the salt bandits, but there is no one to thread the needle, and this weak scholar is the one who gathers the forces of all parties.
Looking at the room again, the scholar was pointed at the neck by a knife, but calmly said: Those who know my identity must not live, but I haven't thought about it yet, let you die.
In the next second, the poisonous incense he had already arranged attacked, the scholar left the antidote, walked out of the ship indifferently, and gently breathed, at this time the wind and snow were thick, but a layout had quietly landed.
After this battle, the main force of the salt bandits was lost.
The sky is full of wind and snow, the white clothes of the prince are fluttering, the picture under the panoramic lens is like an ancient painting, people are swimming in the painting, at this time the soundtrack sounds, and suddenly the atmosphere is full.
This is exactly the first step that "The Legend of Yunxiang" drops: the salt bandits.
The first feeling that gave me was exquisite and high-class——
Inferior delicacy is a disguise, confusing with dazzling superposition.
The high-grade refinement is calm and relaxed, and it is directly shocked by a series of mirrors, layouts, and actions.
From art to lines, from lines to photography.
Isn't this the charm of martial arts dramas?
Well-designed layout, smooth and direct play, courage to fight with all out, and the chivalry behind unparalleled wisdom.
This opening is definitely the best martial arts drama in recent years.
The second game begins immediately - the Redeemer.
"The Legend of Yunxiang" is adapted from Fang Baiyu's martial arts novel "A Thousand Doors".
Yun Xiang is a disciple of Yuntai, he experienced the massacre of the extinction gate as a child, was saved by Yuntai, went up the mountain to practice hard for ten years, this time he went down the mountain to break into the rivers and lakes, first, to find out the truth of the extermination case, and second, to rescue the benefactor who sent him up the mountain from the prison that was tightly held.
But his ability to settle down is not the martial arts of the crown martial arts, but the bottomless strategy.
To save someone, he is not enough on his own, he needs to have a strong helper. He befriended the extraordinary heroine Shu Yanan, and hired Jin Biao, a master of the rivers and lakes, for 10 taels of gold.
Next, you can implement your own plan - first, take the initiative to go to jail.
How do you go to jail to get into nature?
Then go and gamble with the arrogant local boss who is in charge of the prison.
A dice battle, betting on points, Yun Xiang won the boss's gold with the Hong Kong piece gambling god-style technique.
But as Yunxiang expected, this bully turned his face and did not admit it. Then another round.
This time, Yun Xiang designed to debunk the bully's trick - mercury in the dice.
Then, as he expected, the bully turned his face on the spot and ordered someone to put him in prison, because - he is the truth.
A good play of wisdom fighting drama, the male protagonist has calculated his every step of operation from the beginning of planning to go to prison, and then, angering the prison bully, breaking his arm, holding him alone, finding a benefactor, a series of operations in one go.
The person found it, and next, it was the turn of the "fooled" friends to open the copy mode in a group in place - jailbreak.
It's a pity that although the male protagonist calculated accurately step by step, after all, it was not the will of God, and the benefactor died in the process of escaping, but he opened the third game of the male protagonist's chess -
Groove gang.
The local boss is just a trough minions.
The benefactor was also imprisoned because he offended the increasingly powerful trough gang.
At this point, "The Legend of Yunxiang" has become a story system of its own.
The core of this system is the "thousand doors".
Thousands of Gates plotted the world with their wisdom, but things were extremely opposite, and they were finally surrounded and suppressed because of the jealousy of the imperial court.
Years later, the Thousand Gates split into two sects. One Ling Yuan, Shang Wu, one Yuntai, Shang Zhi.
The two doors have been fighting each other for a hundred years.
And Yunxiang comes from the gimbal of "outwitting and winning". The heroine Shu Ya is from Ling Yuan.
Although the benefactor died, the family revenge was not rewarded. The male protagonist's plan has just begun.
"The Legend of Yunxiang" is not a traditional martial arts drama, it is a martial arts power drama.
Every step of Yun Xiang's calculation is amazing!
The drama can break through the story routine of martial arts dramas, but also in the design of suspense ideas, in the contrast between "strategy" and "martial arts", it constitutes a very wonderful sense of contrast, which achieves another refreshing feeling of pleasure.
And the next chess game is the most difficult and exciting. Because the story begins from martial arts to business war.
The salt bandits were destroyed, and the prison situation not only formed the Jianghu detachment of Yunxiang, Shu Yanan, and Jin Shiliang who helped each other, but also brought out Su Huairou (played by Qin Lan), the head of the Su family; The leader of the Cao Gang, Qi Tianfeng (played by Wang Jinsong), and Tang Xiao (played by Liu Wei), the leader of the Southern Capital Qianye Dynasty, opened a turbulent business war in the rivers and lakes.
The male protagonist's plan to destroy the trough gang does not lie in Wu, but in Shang.
He first set fire to the Su family's silk warehouse, making the Su family the target of everyone, causing all parties to take advantage of the fire and rob, including Qi Tianfeng, the leader of the trough gang who smelled the blood type.
The protagonist group seems to be passive, but in fact, every step is in Yunxiang's plan. Take one step, see a hundred steps!
This kind of wisdom fighting idea is different from the previous saber rattling, but the offstage fighting method.
After making a circle, no one knew that Yunxiang was muddying the waters. This is called high-level power scheme.
This battle of wits also involves an intricate relationship -
Yuntai internal fighting method, gimbal and slot gang, slot gang and Nandu Qianye.
The next way to break the enemy lies in the use of the strength of all parties.
The chess is not lost, and the victory is decided.
In this opening scene, it can be said that various forces gather, various clues are intertwined, the characters are difficult to distinguish between good and evil, and in the fast-paced advance, the martial arts atmosphere is like smoke, like mountains and rivers.
What meets the eyes of the audience are chasing and killing on a rainy night, a casino showdown, a cold case of annihilation, and the revenge of the male protagonist, almost gathering the factors of the rivers and lakes in the minds of martial arts fans, but the story is attributed to the conspiracy of the rivers and lakes.
The fresh style precipitates the old-fashioned and simple martial arts artistic conception, bringing out the pleasure of watching the drama that cannot guess the story and touch the clues.
The opening three moves also opened the curtain of quarrels in the rivers and lakes.
Next, the show begins.
02, martial arts drama does not see air waves, slow motion, this play is considered the ceiling of martial arts drama
Wuxia martial arts, martial arts first, Xia later, martial arts for muscles and bones, Xia for flesh and skin.
Fighting is the underlying logic of ancient costume martial arts, without martial arts, it doesn't matter about the warriors and the rivers and lakes.
The biggest attraction of martial arts dramas in those years, and the most criticized point of martial arts dramas in recent years, is the fighting.
All kinds of slow motion and air waves have become the audience's most concentrated spit on this martial arts drama.
And the best thing about "The Legend of Yunxiang", in addition to the plot, is that the martial arts action design is smart and sharp, and it is unique.
The action style of "The Legend of Yunxiang" is by no means a slow-motion collection, but it is also not a traditional retro fighting style. Instead, it reminds me of director You Dazhi's last word-of-mouth martial arts, "Weird Man Yizhimei"'s smooth and dashing action style.
Hu Jinquan and Zhang Che began, and Chinese martial arts film and television dramas were divided into two paths: one was poetic and ethereal, more like a dance performance, focusing on the beauty of overcoming rigidity with softness;
The first is the realistic martial arts of fist to flesh, which pays more attention to strength and explosiveness.
And "The Legend of Yunxiang" is somewhere in between.
It is not only beautiful and wonderful, but also does not go straight to the special effects of fairy tale dramas. A balance was found between realism and freehand.
Don't believe it, the last three scenes:
First, the heroine plays on a rainy night.
This scene played a poetic national style aesthetic.
Shu Yanan went to the bully's casino to try to save his righteous father, the other party played tricks, and the female protagonist turned the table.
Prick people's palms with hairpins and kill a bloody path.
Next, there is the opening scene of the rainy night.
First of all, the eye-catching mirror movement and scheduling, the rainy night chase, murderous.
If you can't escape, then fight. The heroine is an enemy of the crowd, not using air waves, but force.
In shallow water, the heroine is sassy and sassy, the water splashes, she is eager to get out, and she pays attention to fast and accurate ruthlessness, all to the joints and acupuncture paths, wrong bones and tendons, and fierce moves.
Fighting in the rain and night is not only to mobilize the audience's hormones, but also to create a fighting mood.
The scene is decent, and the scene scheduling is more like it, not all cool slow motion, or showy long shots.
But in the action, there is a hidden psychology; Psychologically, it echoes offense and defense.
Attentive.
Second, the protagonist group was ambushed by a bamboo forest.
In this scene, the slots gang killers collectively dispatched to eliminate the protagonist group in one fell swoop.
The action scenes combine dance and fighting, which is in line with the character setting, and uses the bamboo forest environment to shoot the beauty of martial arts.
The skilled Jin Shitael, who dodged the dark weapon in the toss, and the male protagonist Yun Xiang, who had no martial arts, was thrown on the roof of the car, climbed up a big tree to avoid pursuit, and dealt with the killer on the roof of the car and the tree.
Whether it is the scene, action design, or lens language, it is very delicate, smooth, and fluid. It seems to be a fight, but in fact, it resonates between the characters.
The sound of weapons colliding in the night echoed in the forest.
The fight is over, and the aftermath is faint.
The third is the encounter between the heroine and the wheat field of the Yuntai master.
This play is about "sense of speed" and "sense of space".
The heroine listened to the intelligence, was discovered by the cloud gate master, chased and fled, and fought in the wheat field for a round.
The action paragraphs are extremely short, but the well-designed play scenes show that the crew's super high "fighting business".
Images with Chinese colors, such as dark tools and wheat fields, dissolve the blood and preserve or even amplify the visibility of the battle with ingenuity.
Just looking at this back-and-forth move, the rapidly changing battle situation, the fight is worth the ticket price.
The most admirable thing is that the fight scenes of all the characters in "The Legend of Yunxiang" will make subtle and reasonable adjustments according to different opponents and different scenes, without endless slow motion, and still shoot the beauty of Chinese martial arts, which is right.
03, Wang Jinsong is steady, Chen Xiao breaks through, Liu Guanlin is surprised, this martial arts acting feast is not low
"The Legend of Yunxiang" starring Chen Xiao , Mao Xiaotong, the main supporting roles are Tang Xiaotian , Wang Jinsong , Hui Yinghong , Qin Lan , Huang Haibing , Liu Guanlin , Li Hongtao , etc.
And their performances are also wonderful, one by one.
The first one is Chen Xiao.
More than 4 months after the beginning of the year, Chen Xiao alone has already launched 3 big dramas. The performance of each drama is remarkable, and this time returning to the genre costume he is best at, the performance is certainly unlikely to disappoint.
The key to Yun Xiang's role is the sense of contrast in which the "weak scholar" single-handedly strategizes and controls the situation.
Chen Xiao's ancient costume is handsome and dashing, and his appearance restores the image of the original clothes fluttering and the boy Tao slightly full of belly.
In addition to being reliable in appearance, Chen Xiao's acting skills are also good.
The power of the unrestrained chicken, the strategizing, sometimes cute and sometimes ingenious look, is vividly displayed.
In the first 6 episodes, Chen Xiao's best is eye play. In the eyes, there are hidden changes in characters.
Initially, Yun Xiang was just for Luo Jiazhuang's blood and sea deep vendetta, but as he saw through the entire chess game, he no longer moved for just one person and one thing. Because "one house is the world, one person is life" is Yunxiang's true belief.
But people with a heart can also be funny, Chen Xiao performed Yun Xiang's "wise man" characteristics, and also relied on his eyes and movements to naturally perform the cuteness of the characters.
This is not a good martial arts drama performance, how can it be counted.
The second place is Mao Xiaotong.
Mao Xiaotong's performance exceeded my expectations. In the past, Mao Xiaotong played mostly the role of a well-behaved little girl in urban dramas, but this time she played a sassy woman.
Mao Xiaotong not only looks decent in action scenes, but also performs the eccentric side of the character very well,
The rivalry with the male protagonist is fresh and funny, and Mao Xiaotong should be able to receive more costume heroine roles after this play.
The third place is Wang Jinsong.
Wang Jinsong plays the villain of the play, and the gang leader Qi Tianfeng.
In the play, Tang Xiao, the leader of the southern capital Qianye, complained that his words were all to the point: for the sake of profit, the seller seeks glory.
The trough gang originally became bigger under the support of the feminist father, but after becoming bigger, he immediately got rid of this benefactor, this kind of pure bad guy is not good to play, but Wang Jinsong gave me the impression that I can't praise too much.
The first scene in which Wang Jinsong appeared has improved the performance quality of the entire drama by one level. In the face of Tang Xiao's sarcasm, Qi Tianfeng first clenched his fist in his hand and was furious,
But in an instant, he converged his anger, seemingly sincerely smiling at Tang, and in just over ten seconds, Wang Jinsong's emotions switched continuously, like clouds and flowing water.
Another scene where he ordered the elimination of local bullies, he was not too late, while making puffer fish as a metaphor, cruel, and people couldn't figure it out.
Wonderful.
The fourth place is Liu Guanlin.
When Liu Guanlin is mentioned, everyone naturally thinks of King Jiji.
But Liu Guanlin is more than just a comedy.
The role of Jin Shiliang played by him in this play is the biggest laugh point of the whole play, and it is also the opening force responsibility.
As a swordsman in the rivers and lakes, kill a person to take ten taels of gold, excellent martial arts, see the eyes of money,
It was so funny to be fooled by Yun Xiang again and again.
But Shitael is not a ruthless character who only looks at money, he pays attention to the morality of the rivers and lakes, and will not sell Yunxiang in order to bid higher prices for his family, and you can see from his coarse cloth clothes that his purpose of making money is not for himself, but to relieve suffering children.
This funny and playful and sentimental character is likely to become the most likable supporting role in the whole show.
In addition, Qin Lan's appearance is still beautiful,
Huang Haibing's performance makes people feel like the heroes in "The Book of Swords and Revenge" and "The History of Martial Arts" after retiring to the rivers and lakes.
The interpretations of these powerful people are all powerful, and they also perform a sword and shadow and treacherous rivers and lakes. But that's not all, another villain played by Hui Yinghong is about to make a knife.
04. Jumping out of the framework of traditional martial arts dramas, "The Legend of Yunxiang" has embarked on another big road of domestic martial arts dramas
The biggest feeling in the first six episodes is that it looks good.
The excellent art and costume road, as well as the interesting action design, the theme of "heavy strategy and light martial arts" and the character of "wisdom and martial complementarity" are full of refreshing and joy, atmosphere and rivers and lakes, which is refreshing.
But the biggest surprise is the break.
If you want to use one word to describe the domestic martial arts dramas in recent years, I think it is a lack of prosperity.
Dramas such as the new "Smiling Rivers and Lakes" and the new "Dragon Babu" constantly refresh the lower limit of martial arts dramas.
Word-of-mouth works such as "Youth Travel", "Shadow of Mountains and Rivers" are not out of the circle.
So for a long time, it seems that everyone has been discussing one thing: are martial arts dramas outdated?
But the emergence of "The Legend of Yunxiang" undoubtedly proves one thing: the martial arts drama itself is not outdated, and what is outdated is the rigid thinking of the creators.
From the opening six episodes alone, I saw the new hope of domestic martial arts -
Out with the old, in with the new.
First, the "wise man" came out of the mountain. The most refreshing thing about "The Legend of Yunxiang" is the new style of rivers and lakes brought out by the layout of weak scholars.
The biggest feature of the plot is that it is based on ingenuity, integrating multiple elements such as business war, suspense, home country, and strange cases, presenting a new martial arts world that not only fights and kills, swords and shadows, but also the treacherous IQ wrestling of the clouds.
The second is the beauty of rivers and lakes.
In the past, martial arts dramas often highlighted the dangers of rivers and lakes.
"The Legend of Yunxiang" has created a landscape map of rivers and lakes. The opening snowy night, rain battle, buildings, and bamboo forest add a touch to the "strange" temperament of the series, and constitute an aesthetic feast of wits and martial arts.
The rivers and lakes built by "The Legend of Yunxiang" are a rivers and lakes built on real culture and where heroes also have to make money to eat, which is not fantastic, but reaches the audience's imagination of the "reasonable" martial arts world in details.
The third is to laugh at martial arts.
Traditional martial arts dramas are often dangerous stories and weird and bleak atmospheres, but "The Legend of Yunxiang" is completely different.
The director created a life martial arts drama with a brighter painting style and a more humorous plot.
Whether it's the bickering of the protagonist squad -
Yun Xiang and Shu Yanan, the hilarious love story of a pair of weak scholars and cool women——
The setting of force value female strength and male weakness -
It's so funny, who wouldn't love Xianggongzi who raised his hands to hug, and the woman who "looked at my weak husband who couldn't even jump up the beam" rolled up to the sky?
Sure enough, "I use wisdom, you use force, learn from each other's strengths, and they are very matched."
This brightly colored comedy style also reconciles the sense of suspense and tension in the play, refreshing the conventional look and feel of the martial arts theme.
At this juncture of the decline of martial arts dramas, the appearance of "The Legend of Yunxiang" is undoubtedly a shot in the arm.
On the one hand, it is the culmination of martial arts dramas, has various elements, gathers the immortal lineup, and has many breakthroughs, at least for the audience, it is attractive.
On the other hand, the series inherits the consistent taste and essence of "Xia", which is the most valuable.
The river is foggy, the mountains are continuous, and the male protagonist is a hidden master who came out of the sky on the front line of the dangerous peak. But an oil-paper umbrella calms the rivers and lakes, and after all, it must be integrated into the turbid and lively city life.
There is no problem of outdated martial arts, because it has long been imprinted in the cultural genes of Chinese, and what "The Legend of Yunxiang" does is actually to inject this chivalrous spirit into a little new blood, bringing more delicate foreplay, a more rigorous layout, and a more stretched pleasure.
But in the end, the innovation restored a long-lost river and lake for the audience.
Zhixia's exit from the mountain may be the beginning of martial arts breaking the circle again.
In Yunxianggongzi's mantra: yes or no?
Read on, and you'll see.