The scale has reached the "B-level film", and the glory of the domestic "gangster film" is back?

Among the Hong Kong stars, Zhang Jiahui is a very special existence.

It's hard for you to define him in a few simple words -

debuted in the late 80s, and his acting career has undergone two major transformations so far.

At the beginning, Zhang Jiahui signed a contract with ATV, and when he was young, he traveled to ATV and TVB, participated in various dramas, and also starred in Li Xiuxian's police and gangster films (such as "Friends").

Later, Wang Jing felt that he was working hard, so he pulled him and arranged several gambling films for him one after another, intending to praise him as "Stephen Chow's successor".

From "The Gambler 1999", "The King of a Thousand Kings 2000", "The Gambler vs. Las Vegas" to "The Gambler's Man Wins the Day", it's a pity that Zhang Jiahui is not that material after all, and he launched 7 "gambling" films in 6 years, almost didn't play him to death.

Fortunately, at this time, Zhang Jiahui met To Qifeng again, in 2005, he participated in "Underworld", playing the gang killer plane in the movie, Zhang Jiahui's ruthlessness from his bones made the audience's eyes shine.

This was Cheung's first successful transformation, and then he changed his path to gangster cop films.

starred in several movies such as "Black and White Road", "Exile", and "Witness", all of which received praise, and "Witness" also made him win the Academy Award and the Golden Horse Award.

Zhang Jiahui did not stop there, and in 2013 he surprised everyone again.

In order to star in the MMA-themed action movie "Guild Wars", he was 49 years old and soaked in the gym and spent more than half a year training his muscles.

Countless fans rushed to Zhang Jiahui, Peng Yuyan, and An Zhijie, making "Guild Wars" gain a box office of 117 million, with a Douban score of 7.9 points, and Zhang Jiahui also won the Academy Award again with this film.

These two successful transformations have greatly expanded Zhang Jiahui's acting path, making him a unique "Zhang Jiahui", rather than the "Stephen Chow 2.0" that Wang Jing hoped for in the past.

Cheung Ka-fai works hard, but he is not as talented as Stephen Chow, and the movies he has directed "Yulan Miracle", "The Exorcist of Tuodi", and "Low Pressure Groove: Sex and the City" are also above and below the passing line.

In recent years, Hong Kong films have become more routine and homogeneous, and police and bandit action movies have been proliferated, which has made mainland audiences less and less interested.

When Brother Pi first saw the trailer of the movie "Raging Tide", all he thought was:

Gunfight action + Zhang Jiahui? Don't think about it, it's another bad Hong Kong movie!

However, after watching "Angry Tide", Brother Pi was really surprised, and the smiling face of the real fragrant boy vaguely appeared in his mind.

Although each flower has its own eyes, Brother Pi thinks that a good film may not meet everyone's taste, but "Angry Tide" does have unique and outstanding features, Brother Rong Pi will talk about it in detail below.

One

Domestic "gangster films" have found a way out

Let's start with the background of the story.

In a certain country in Southeast Asia, the gangster Hongtai Group started by smuggling and trafficking drugs, human trafficking, and organ trading.

President Hong Tai (played by Qin Pei) colludes with Prosecutor General Hussein and Police Chief Ao En (played by Lou Xuexian) to cover the sky with one hand and do all kinds of evil.

Hong Tai has five major cadres under him: the second-in-command Wang Ruopu (played by Lian Kai) is in charge of drug trafficking and pornography;

Yizi Ugo (played by Ma Yuke) and smuggler Carlos cooperate in human trafficking and organ trafficking;

General Ma Wenkang (played by Wang Dalu) is responsible for charging into battle;

The military advisor Ovalon (played by Wu Qihua) runs the white road business;

There is also a bodyguard George (played by Chen Guokun) who is in charge of security.

Such a well-structured and unbreakable gangster group is in chaos due to the appearance of a mysterious killer.

As long as men have money in one hand, they want to hold power with the other.

It was an election year, and Hong Tai, who was already rich and rivaled the country, also tried to participate in politics in vain, and he wanted to let the military advisor Ovalon take over as the president, so that the Hongtai Group would go to the right path, and he would completely wash his name and enter the political circles.

To this end, Hong Tai did not hesitate to use his powerful financial resources to bribe Director Aoun, and let his police officer Mai Lang Van (played by Nguyen Jing Tian) act as a thug to suppress the people who petitioned the city government. He also frequently showed his face in the news media, set up a character for himself, and created an image of a patriotic and pro-people politician.

But at the juncture of the "transfer of power", the future president Ovalon was tragically killed by a mysterious killer (played by Zhang Jiahui) at home.

Hong Tae himself was seriously injured and hospitalized after being hit by a bomb attack, and the Hong Tae group, which had lost its backbone, immediately fell into infighting.

Yizi Ugo has always been treacherous and cunning, after analysis, he believes that although he is as close to Hong Tai as father and son, and has made great contributions to the group, but Hong Tai is bent on transformation, he must "break the wrist of a strong man" and attack him first.

Ovalon's murder is likely due to Hongtai's attempt to blame the bureau set up for him, so that he will become the target of the entire group.

And Hong Tai was injured and admitted to the hospital, just to cover up people's eyes.

Therefore, Ugo decided to strike first, first with 30% of the group's shares, bribe the Carlos brothers to get rid of Ma Wenkang for him, and then personally lead the team to the hospital to kill the old thief Hongtai.

At this point in the film, an intricate gang infighting scene is presented in front of the audience.

Although they are both gangster films, smuggling, human trafficking, and organ trafficking are unconscionable, and I have the impression that only Korean gangster films dare to make them, such as "The Conspirators", "Restriction", and "Chinatown".

Hong Kong-style gangster films are generally about fighting for territory, watching the scene, pimping, making and selling drugs, selling guns, or pulling a few people to rob banks.

And those underworld and black police collude, mysterious killers commit crimes, gang infighting, all villains, all in suits and leather shoes, hateful faces, pomp, ruthless words, show muscles, and have the distinctive characteristics of Japanese gangster suspense films such as "Extremely Evil" and "Lone Wolf's Blood".

Not only that, this movie also learns "Sonata", giving you a whole bit of literary temperament, and the killer dark line buried in front of you will slowly explain to you with memory fragments in the second half of the movie.

To say that this mysterious killer is really a ruthless character, he first beat Ovalon with a hammer, and then blew up Hong Tai with a bomb, and when he committed the crime, he was blatant, and he was not afraid to be photographed in the face by roadside surveillance.

Just as the black and white duo was searching for him all over the city with his big avatar, he suddenly appeared at the door of Wang Ruopu's drug-making den, and punched and kicked Wang Ruopu's gang together.

Every time he shoots, he is fast, accurate, and ruthless, hitting the key point, killing with a knife, and it is like hanging up, obviously he has made full preparations.

The purpose of the killer is obviously to target the Hongtai Group.

So, who is the killer, and what is the deep hatred with Hongtai Group?

Brother Pi will leave a bottom for you first......

However, this style of integration of Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong has also found a new way out for domestic "gangster films".

Two

Four fight scenes are enough to be written into a textbook

When the film was established, the title of the film was "New Order", and when it was finalized in January this year, it was renamed "True Colors", and when it was finally released, the title was changed to "Angry Tide".

The reason why the main creator has repeatedly changed the name is that he hopes to use the most accurate title to define the violent atmosphere and hearty coolness of the film.

Traditional action movies originated in Hong Kong, from Shaw Brothers to Golden Harvest, and then to today's Yongsheng and Emperor, paying attention to feeding tricks and tricks.

The audience is happy to see the process of switching offense and defense, and they must explain the decision or defeat.

Like Tsui Hark's "Knife" back then, he deliberately sped up, and the camera shook the audience dizzy, and as a result, he suffered a box office failure, and he didn't dare to be willful anymore.

However, the action movies that audiences like today pay attention to the addition of violence and the stylization of the plot.

As we saw in the four important fight scenes in "Raging Tide", the director deliberately reduced the use of firearms and let all the gangsters fight, highlighting the flesh and blood beauty of hand-to-hand combat and cold weapon combat.

Chen An exterminated the Wangruopu Group, Wangruopu's drug-making factory was originally heavily defended, Chen An took a hammer, and went to the meeting with a single knife to kill the Quartet and be invincible.

This depends on the sudden power outage at the critical moment (it was explained later that Ma Wenkang pulled the electric switch), in the narrow corridor, under the cover of darkness, Wang Ruopu's men were beaten and Chen An fled in embarrassment and collapsed.

Is there a template for this street fight?

is an obvious tribute to the classic street battles in Park Chan-wook's "Old Boy", which are all faced enemies in a small space, and the best evidence is that Chen An also uses an iron hammer like Oh Daxiu (played by Choi Min-sik) in the film.

Interestingly, what the movie presented to the audience at the beginning was that Chen An single-handedly defeated the Wangruopu gang.

But later the truth was revealed, and it turned out that he was secretly assisted by Ma Wenkang and Mai Langwen.

Therefore, the scene of this fight is presented twice in the film, and the action shots can also create a sense of suspense, which is both novel and confident.

In the battle of Raincoat Pier, the Carlos brothers ambushed Ma Wenkang and tried to unload him in eight pieces.

Ma Wenkang drove a sedan into the enemy formation, and when he rampaged, corpses were scattered all over the field and screamed in the sky.

Ma Wenkang's weapon is a claw knife, a short weapon that originated in Indonesia and was carried forward by the action movie "Raid 2", and is now the standard for gangsters.

Faced with the disadvantage of one enemy, Ma Wenkang naturally needs a murder weapon that can defeat the enemy with one blow and kill him, and the claw knife meets the demand.

The most oppressive fight in the whole film is this scene.

In the darkness, the faces of all the thugs were bruised, and the blood and rain were mixed together, making the audience feel as if they were in the Shura field where ghosts and wolves were howling.

In the battle of "broken wrist" in the hospital, Ugo decided that his father-in-law Hong Tai wanted to get rid of him, and in line with the concept of the rivers and lakes that strike first, Ugo quietly led the team into the hospital to kill Hong Tai.

The scheming Hong Tai had already anticipated the enemy's opportunity, and ordered his relatives to follow George to lay a heavy ambush, waiting for Ugo and his gang to come forward and throw themselves into the net.

Ugo was raised by Hongtai since he was a child, and the relationship between father and son is not deep, so this battle is somewhat sad about breaking his wrist and cutting his flesh.

In the dim white light of the hospital corridor, Ugo and his gang are caught in a trapped.

Ugo's death was indeed very tragic, and after fighting to the point of being a soldier, he was stabbed into the heart with a steel knife, and swallowed his last breath with injustice and unwillingness.

Finally, there was a group battle in the dock warehouse, where Chen An, Ma Wenkang, and Mai Langwen gave up their lives to rescue the captured hostages and decided to stay and fight to the death with the Hongtai gang.

At this time, there was only one cadre left in the Hongtai Group, but his subordinates were also the most elite team in the gang, so the three had to do their best.

Unlike the previous three battles, the background of this final battle is brighter yellow, and the fight is also in slow motion to make the use of moves more visible.

Action scenes are the soul of gangster films, and these four perspective feasts are indeed worth the ticket price.

Three

The four supporting roles, all of which are powerful, firmly caught my eye as soon as they appeared

Some netizens jokingly called this movie Zhang Ziwei's battle against Duan Kun in Sha Tsui.

In "Sweeping Drugs" 10 years ago, Zhang Ziwei (played by Zhang Jiahui) said:

"Duan Kun, I'm determined, Jesus can't keep what I said!" still remains in the hearts of fans.

Ma Yuke was born in 1979 and made his debut as a child star in the movie "Illegal Gun Owner" at the age of 10, but it was not until 2003 that he came out of the circle with the role of You Tan in the drama "Dragon Babu".

Because the image of "Jin Yong's first licking dog in the universe" is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Ma Yuke, who has a mediocre appearance, has mostly played the role of a villain since then.

In 2013, Ma Yuke participated in "Sweeping Drugs" and had a happy cooperation with Zhang Jiahui, and the two were like-minded, laying the foundation for this cooperation.

Later, Ma Yuke participated in films such as "Bomb Disposal Expert 2", "Escape", "Mystery City", and cooperated with directors Chen Musheng, Qiu Litao, and Lin Lingdong, and learned rich experience in genre film shooting from them.

"Angry Tide" is Ma Yuke's debut film, although he is a rookie director, we can still see his proficiency in the use of shooting techniques.

And Ma Yuke will not stick to the rules, learn from Korean and Japanese gangster action movies, and shoot works with different temperaments, which is really rare.

In addition to the three leading actors of Zhang Jiahui, Ruan Jingtian, and Wang Dalu in the film, we also saw the figures of those movie stars in Hong Kong's golden age.

Wu Qihua and Lian Kai can still shape the character traits of the characters in their limited scenes;

And Jiang Haowen's cameo appearance as Mak Lang Wen's master Han Duya also made the audience's eyes shine.

What was more surprising was to see Qin Pei, Qin Pei, who was born in the year of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, was 76 years old at the time of the filming, with silver hair on his head, and his spirit and temperament were still very good.

The villain Hong Tai he plays has a murderous side, but also shows the tenderness of a loving father in the face of his daughter, and his grasp of the character's emotional changes is still very accurate.

If you want to say that the most outstanding role in the film, it is Chen Guokun, who does not have many scenes, but amazes the audience every time he appears.

As the most similar movie star in the world to Bruce Lee, Chen Guokun's development in the entertainment industry in recent years has not been smooth, even if he participates in action blockbusters, he only gets a supporting role with few scenes, and the planned "Ip Man Gaiden: Bruce Lee" seems to be far away.

This film gives Chen Guokun enough room to play, in the scene of the group battle in the hospital, he took off his watch, took off his coat, and showed two flower arms, domineering and exposed, not angry but mighty, it seems that the victory and defeat have been decided without fighting.

During the fight, Chen Guokun was expressionless throughout the whole process, looking confident, and the image of a master was fully displayed.

If this movie can be popular, then Chen Guokun will definitely be able to reach a higher level in the entertainment industry with this image.

Four

As Ma Yuke's first directorial work, "Angry Tide" is not without its shortcomings.

The presentation of the shots is too skillful, the grasp of the rhythm is also immature, and the level of storytelling needs to be improved;

The film is 106 minutes long, and it does not use enough clips to shape the characters, so that many of the characters present personality traits are too facial.

But "Raging Tide" is a violent and cool film with bursting hormones that male audiences will prefer, and the more you watch it, the more it looks like a B-grade movie.

Its dark painting style and dense fighting scenes are very wild, which is rare in this type of movie.

Therefore, even if there are shortcomings, Brother Pi still recommends this movie, because there are too few good films full of sincerity.

Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Bloody Danxin

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