"Fengshen Part 1": It is difficult to speak of a monarch, difficult to be a courtier

Due to the lack of time last week, I missed the opportunity to screen for several days in a row, which led me to watch "Fengshen Part 1: Song of the Dynasty" (hereinafter referred to as "Fengshen 1"), many people had already seen the film, which for me can be regarded as "lagging behind".

Because of this, I also came into contact with many evaluations about this film in advance, and interestingly, unlike the feedback from everyone in the past, there will be a roughly certain range, and the reviews of "Fengshen 1" this time span a lot, which is more polarizing than expected... After watching it, I somewhat understood a little: this is a magical epic blockbuster with real material, but it should not be particularly popular.

The theme of the story of "Fengshen 1" is highly condensed, that is, it talks about the father-son relationship under various conditions such as monarchs and bloodlines, there is no off-topic or dispersion, and the spiritual core is also very rich and full, based on this alone, the film is definitely not bad, and other controversies in lines, special effects, casting, perspective selection and other aspects are not a problem.

But the problem is that this set of things is so miserable and bloody that it is certainly not a pleasure to arrange for all diners to eat near the kitchen... At the same time, as the first part of the "Fengshen Trilogy", it has some necessary foreshadowing and side lines to be separated, which makes some problems that could have been ignored surface, which somewhat reduces the viewing of the film.

[Friendly reminder: There will be spoilers below.] 】

I am not familiar with "Romance of Fengshen ", and there is no baggage on the "adaptation complex", and there is a very simple criterion for evaluating Fengshen themed works: whether it is good or not.

"Fengshen 1" is the existence of the top gear from various angles, its high production level is indeed not bragging, the service road can be called the naked eye can be called exquisite, the image of the actor is eye-catching, the basic skills are solid, take the special effects scene, the military array attacking Jizhou City in the ice and snow, the dynastic song meteorology of Fang regular and tens of thousands of people coming to greet, the construction of the towering deer platform of the sky and the accumulation of labor, the gluttonous form chasing the brute spirit, etc., are all domestic first-class technical achievements (personally I think the near view is better than the long view, Dynamic is stronger than static).

But there is one point I can't help but mumble a few words - "Fengshen 1" has several action scenes that are really too similar to "Game of Thrones" and "The Lord of the Rings", such as the chaos of facing the battlefield after Ji Fa fell off the horse, and it is very powerful to play the meaning of the sixth season of "The Battle of the Bastard Sons", the storyboards, scenes, mirrors, etc. of the war scenes also have some sense of déjà vu of the battle between the siege of the city and the Holy Helmet Valley, and the scene where Ji Fa falls off the cliff and falls into the river and then gets on the horse later, and the set of shots in "The Two Towers" cannot be said to be exactly the same, at least it is similar.

Let's not say we can't pay tribute, but we should still use more subjective creativity... However, considering that the main creative team of the film has many big people in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and other places, it seems that it is not surprising that this kind of "foreign gas" borrowing, all counted, or more beneficial than limited.

I didn't watch the publicity materials of "Feng Shen 1" before, firstly, there were too many, and secondly, I always felt that I didn't find the direction, so I wanted to watch the effect directly when I watched the movie, and now that I have watched it, it should be said that its production scale and film effect are worthy of its title of "domestic fantasy blockbuster".

But the above hardware aspects are relatively minor, the audience often pays more attention to the comprehensive perception of the film, and whether the movie story is told well or not is the key.

Although "Fengshen 1" shoulders the responsibility of laying the foundation and paving the way for the trilogy film, it is no problem to separate it into a separate chapter, because the story theme of the film is very clear and unified, that is, various typical father-son relationships.

The most prominent set of comparisons is the father-son kinship based on the relationship between kings and courtiers and based on blood relations.

"Fengshen 1" puts the setting of "proton" in a very conspicuous position: the eight hundred princes of the Shang Dynasty's four territories, each of whom has to send a son to Chaoge as a proton, and they have the name of father and son with their biological father when they left home at a young age, and have a father and son with Yin Shou, who has the grace of nurturing and teaching, that is, a hostage and a courtier, this natural contradiction constitutes the main dramatic conflict in the film.

In this conflict, "Fengshen 1" superimposes the "father-killing complex" that human beings are born with under the patriarchal system, and concretely visualizes this emotion into a real father-killer killing relatives, pulling the dramatic tension to the maximum.

The best illustrated scene in the film is when Yin Shouqiang accuses the four uncles of rebellion and asks the four protons to kill their fathers with their own hands and replace them:

Chongying Biao, the son of Chonghou Hu of Northern Bohou, had the greatest ambition, and had long been domesticated by Yin Shou, and took the initiative to kill him after bidding farewell to his biological father;

Eshun, the son of Southern Bohou Echongyu, was as straightforward as his biological father, and he drew a knife and was killed in disobedience, which was both virtuous and filial;

Jiang Wenhuan, the son of Jiang Huanchu, the Eastern Bohou, was in a dilemma and overwhelmed, and relied on his biological father to take the initiative to send him to death to get by;

Only Ji Fa, the son of Ji Chang, the Marquis of Xibo, came up with a two-pronged strategy to delay it, temporarily preserving the loyalty of his courtiers and the ethics of his sons.

The protons in "Fengshen 1" are destined to kill their fathers, because they are at the center of the power struggle vortex, they have been shackled by "kings and subjects, fathers and sons" since birth, and only by fighting with "fathers" and getting rid of the dominated and dominated position can they fight for the right to independence and freedom, and then seize all the initiative.

Yin Shou, who killed his father and brother, Yin Jiao, who was disheartened, and Ji Fa, who was determined of himself, all embarked on a similar but different path of murdering his father.

In addition, "Fengshen 1" also provides several other sets of typical templates for "being the son of man", such as Bo Yikao, who puts his father and younger brother first, who has not planned to return alive since he went to Chaoge, who died for his father symbolizes filial piety that blood is thicker than water, and Lei Zhenzi, who was rescued by Ji Chang and sent to Kunlun to learn the law, saved Ji Chang's life when he was young, and he symbolized the bond of love and righteousness first.

Although the treatment of these images and the relationship between father and son is somewhat facetious, which weakens the thickness of several main characters, it is a great richness in the interpretation of the theme of the story.

But just as the so-called blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, the fullness of "Fengshen 1" in the father-killing complex and the type of father-son relationship also means that the temperament of the film is impure and impure.

Let's take two "Nezha" movies that were born out of self-proclaimed god IPs as an example.

In the 1979 version of "Nezha Troubles the Sea", Nezha drew his sword and killed himself, sharpened his bones to return his father, cut his flesh to return his mother, and rebelled against his father's power with the most decisive rebellion, leaving a bright red dazzling loneliness and jade fragments, which will never fade; 40 years later, "Nezha: The Devil Child Descends" opens up a different way, Li Jing voluntarily bears the heavenly calamity for his child, and the loving father image of cold outside and hot inside and more modern family affection to tolerate and dissolve the frost and cold, can also move the world.

The father-son relationship in these two Nezha movies is (perhaps) not the core of the narrative, but they are certainly brilliant finishing touches, and the key is to look at a little bit to attack fiercely, which always produces good results.

In contrast, "Feng Shen 1" seems to be a little unclear in priority, in theory, it should be based on Ji Fa's struggle and growth first, but often add drama to the wholehearted Yin Jiao, and at the end it will make Yin Shouxiu a big disobedience...

However, if we start from the original text of the Three Principles-"The king is a subject, the king is not right, and the subject is in another country." The country is the principle of the people, the country is not right, and the people attack it. The father is the son, the father is unkind, and the son goes to another country. The Son is the Father's hope, the Son is unrighteous, and righteousness destroys relatives. "—The chaotic killings and betrayals in the movie are all traceable.

From the audience's point of view, "Fengshen 1" is talking about "the most ruthless imperial family" for a while, and it is suspected of playing the Oedipus effect for a while, regardless of Chinese and Western styles, this drama full of monarchs and fathers and sons, fathers and sons is too quaint and bloody and cruel in the end.

"Gentleman Distant Kitchen" makes sense, it means that distance produces beauty and out of sight is clean... It's as if people who really like to drink black coffee will always be in the minority.

In fact, according to the story of "Fengshen 1", it may be better to concentrate on shooting in the direction of tragedy, make an ancient script or half of Shakespeare, just the whole bitter drama, maybe it is complete... Unfortunately, it is easier said than done, in the end, it is still a commercial blockbuster that wants to go the mainstream road, and the sad tone and uplifting melody are somewhat contrary (if the three films come out together, it may improve a lot).

Therefore, the side lines and supporting roles in "Fengshen 1" that have nothing to do with the "father-son drama" have surfaced some problems that could have been ignored in the film, such as the lack of depiction of characters such as Jiang Ziya, the dispersion of perspectives, the passage of the two religions, the lack of big scenes (because they were all stuffed into the last two) and so on.

To sum up, I have said everything I want to say most about "Feng Shen 1", from the production, story, theme and other aspects, it can be called a good blockbuster, but the difference in perception will be relatively large——

Therefore, I guess that there will be a wave of small climax after the official release of the film, but it will not be too sold, at least its expected small goal of one or two billion is difficult to achieve... I don't know if I'll be punched in the face.