Six years of sharpening a sword, "In the Octagon" creates an "atypical fighting film"

If "I Am Not the God of Medicine" five years ago showed the huge market potential and box office appeal of domestic reality movies, then "In the Octagon" gives us reason to believe that when adrenaline-pumping combat sports are intertwined with dull and barren reality, such "atypical fighting films" may be able to break the embarrassing status quo of domestic sports movies.

This judgment is not groundless, after nearly half a month of frequent screenings, "In the Octagon Cage" with a figure of more than 400 million yuan, in one fell swoop to break the box office record in Chinese film history.

"Fighting is my way out", this is the theme that runs through the entire film of "In the Octagon Cage", and it is also the heartening confession of the character Su Mu in the film. Different from Wang Baoqiang's first film "Big Trouble" in 2017, this time, Wang Baoqiang chose to return to the original point and tell a story that best fits the background of the first half of his life, telling how the little people redeem themselves and complete the indomitable journey of life like weeds.

Self-directing and acting, exchanging sincerity for sincerity

According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, as of 13 o'clock on July 9, 2023, the total box office of the film "In the Octagon Cage" has reached 760 million, with more than 18 million moviegoers, and the predicted box office has gone all the way up from the initial 1 billion to 1.718 billion, and with the fermentation of word-of-mouth, the predicted number is showing an upward trend.

"Breaking out of the cage" and "sincere and simple", "In the Octagonal Cage" is a work with a distinct Wang Baoqiang background. As a comment on Douban said: "No matter how many years of fame, the innocence in Baoqiang's heart has always been there and has not changed." Or maybe it was his innocence and unyielding energy in his bones that made him make this movie. ”

In the dark, Wang Baoqiang and "In the Octagon Cage" seem to have a fateful fate. "In the Octagon Cage" is adapted from the "Sichuan Liangshan Fighting Orphans" incident that caused a sensation in the country a few years ago, and the children who practice martial arts and come from poor families in the film have a very similar growth background to Wang Baoqiang, who has learned martial arts since childhood, in fashionable words, this is Wang Baoqiang's version of "Instantaneous Universe".

In 2018, when Wang Baoqiang attended the Golden Broom Awards Ceremony, he once said that "this time is owed to the audience once", and after experiencing countless twists and turns, he fought a beautiful turnaround battle with this sincere work.

Fighting themes, making up for the gap in domestic film and television

Fighting is a sport related to human instinct, and from ancient times to the present, people have invented many fighting techniques, which is the animal side of human savage and aggressiveness, and it is also the cry of human beings when facing the barren reality. Looking at the film and television works on this theme at home and abroad, whether it is "Never Back Down", "Blood and Bones", or Tony Jia's masterpiece "Boxer", Wu Jing's "Life and Death Fist", and Lin Chaoxian's "Guild War" with Peng Yuyan and Zhang Jiahui, all of them have adopted a choice of weakening the plot and paying attention to action scenes, and although they have achieved good box office results, they have failed to become popular movies.

"In the Octagon Cage" has opened up a different way, through a relatively complex and tortuous plot and heavy practical significance, it has made a new breakthrough in the theme of fighting, opened up a new track, used non-traditional fighting themes, made up for the gap in domestic film and television, and under a strong reputation, broke through the box office bottleneck all the way, and is expected to become the highest peak of the box office in this genre film. And these are all thanks to Wang Baoqiang's constantly improving directing ability and full dedication to this film.

Wang Baoqiang revealed in an interview that there is a scene that he directs the favorite - Xiang Tenghui sitting in the car has a faint sadness on his face, and someone is performing a face change outside the car window at this time, in the picture, the change of face and Xiang Tenghui's expression correspond to each other, full of surreal freehand effects. This contrast effect is called the "mirror" theory in professional terms, and the effect of changing faces is used to show the inner changes of characters, which is a visual presentation with a certain aesthetic level.

As an actor, Wang Baoqiang's acting skills are recognized by the public, and he will play such a complex role as Xiang Tenhui very vividly through a traceless performance, adding an incomparably real texture to the film, not so much that "In the Octagon Cage" is about the poor child who has no hope of emerging in the mountains "salted fish turning over", but it is also about the innocence that Wang Baoqiang himself still retains after experiencing ups and downs.

Human nature is complex, which makes the film more personal

Wang Baoqiang once said that when he first acted, he would despair every day, but he would take the initiative to find hope every day, because he knew that this was his only way out, looking back on Wang Baoqiang's nearly twenty years of struggle, he always insisted on his life background to the end.

Born in the grassroots, he has been poor since childhood, learning martial arts in the Shaolin Temple to temper his body, and running tricks on various sets to temper his will. The combination of the two, coupled with his belief that "the opportunities are all won by himself", made him a hit in the movie "No Thief in the World", "Soldier Assault", "Hello! Mr. Tree" and other works make people marvel at his genius performance. But for a long time afterwards, Wang Baoqiang experienced many changes that he never imagined, and he did not choose to continue to be active in the audience's vision, but dormant behind the scenes.

Southern Weekend used an article "Wang Baoqiang: Six Years After Being "Knocked Out" by Life to describe his changes and growth from life to career: "In the past, when I played "No Thief in the World", I was absolutely stupid, absolutely believing that there is no thief in the world, everyone is a good person, and everyone is my nobleman. By now, I know that human nature is complex. ”

As a result, there is the movie "In the Octagon" full of humanity and struggle.

Six years and one sword, turn over and break through with strength

The octagon cage is a closed ring in the fighting arena, there are two trapped beasts in the cage, desperate to fight, you have nowhere to escape inside, you can only use your body to fight and defeat your opponent, and the people outside the cage, their only purpose is to watch the excitement. And this "lively" continued from the preparation of the entire film to its release.

At the beginning of the preparation of the film, it encountered episodes such as the lack of funds and the withdrawal of funds, and for six years, Wang Baoqiang did not give up, just like the protagonist in the movie, Xiang Tenghui, tossing and turning, vowing to change the final fate of the film.

In the movie, the children shout "born like weeds, indomitable", which is their glimmer of life and the only hope for life. For Wang Baoqiang, this movie is also the story of his search for a new life in adversity.

The fighting in the movie is not just "fighting", life is more difficult than the octagon, and everyone needs to fight with all their might to survive. These portrayals and descriptions of reality make the audience unable to help but empathize with it, and the audience will also think of themselves running for life when they look at the teenagers in the cage in the theater. The success of "In the Octagon Cage" proves that Wang Baoqiang can break through many obstacles and gain the recognition of the audience and the market with his story and performance.

In and out of the play, they achieve each other

Up to now, Chen Sicheng's screenwriter and producer of the film "Disappearing Her" and Wang Baoqiang's "In the Octagon Cage" have received huge attention, "Disappearing Her" has exceeded three billion box office, and "In the Octagon Cage" has also achieved a reverse decline at the box office for two consecutive days. During Wang Baoqiang's six-year dormancy, Chen Sicheng played a very important role.

Chen Sicheng and Wang Baoqiang first met in "Judge's Mother", when Wang Baoqiang was still a group performer. The real acquaintance was in the TV series "Children of Hongqiqu", at that time, Chen Sicheng was the starring role, and Wang Baoqiang went to make a cameo. After that, "Soldier Assault" not only made Xu Sanduo popular all over the country, but also impressed people with the success played by Chen Sicheng in the play. The subsequent three "Detective Chinatown" also made Chen Sicheng and Wang Baoqiang both become tens of billions of directors and tens of billions of box office actors.

Wang Baoqiang later revealed that there was no money in the post-production stage of "In the Octagon Cage", and he had no choice but to ask Chen Sicheng for help, and Chen Sicheng quickly agreed and invested part of the cost. At the premiere afterwards, Chen Sicheng even promoted the platform of "In the Octagon Cage", and the deep relationship between the two is self-evident.

epilogue

Objectively speaking, "In the Octagon Cage" still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of plot and scenes, but sincerity is the biggest killer tool of filmmakers, after all, the audience can endure childish but emotional "mediocre works", but can not accept the exquisite but empty "industry work".

Wang Baoqiang, more is that bit of sincerity. "In the Octagon Cage", the spelling is that little unadorned touch.