It's been a long time since I've seen such an exciting movie.
From entering the cinema.
Sit down and come back to your senses.
It's been 2 hours.
It's not that I'm asleep, it's that I'm fascinated.
can make Sir return to the passion for watching movies like this:
It has to be.
The siege of the Kowloon Walled City
It seems to be the configuration of a traditional Hong Kong action movie - Louis Koo, Lin Feng, Sammo Hung, Ren Xianqi, plus the "zhi" in the title, it is hard not to make people wonder.
Is it a permutation and combination of these Hong Kong stars again?
But.
Under the lens of Zheng Baorui.
This time.
Sir can say loudly that Hong Kong action movies are okay again!
Hong Kong action movie lovers, rush!
Hong Kong culture obsessive, rush!!
Note that those who are over 18 years old and have been secondary two teenagers at heart, rush !!
So what did Zheng Baorui do this time?
Hold your horses.
Let's start with the "return to the soul" of Hong Kong action movies.
01
Conversion
The story of "Kowloon Walled City" is not complicated, as the title suggests, this time the focus is on a "battlefield":
Kowloon Walled City.
Why do you want to point out the location?
In fact, it is because Hong Kong action movies are never a contest between two bodies, but often a three-way wrestling: people, environment, people, how two people fight is very important, and in what kind of environment they fight, it is also very important.
environment, sometimes also becomes the protagonist.
At the beginning of the movie, a song in Nanyin sets the tone for the story of the movie:
Brothers are killed, siblings are separated, and everything is as it is destined.
The story is based on Hong Kong writer Yu Er's novel "Kowloon Walled City" (this novel has also been changed into a comic of the same name), changing the protagonist Chen Luojun from an underworld to a refugee (played by Lin Feng) who smuggled from Vietnam to settle in Hong Kong.
In a panic, he took advantage of the darkness and ran into the castle-like Kowloon Walled City.
At a time when the audience (such as Sir) was expressing their amazement at such a 1:1 restoration of the Kowloon Walled City.
The movie starts at a fast pace, allowing Chen Luojun to encounter his own destiny while fleeing......
It can be said that this is really a classic Hong Kong film routine, the fate and grievances of the previous generation are not over, and this generation of young people cannot escape being manipulated by fate.
What happened in the story, Sir won't spoil it.
Go and see for yourselves, and see if there is no squeak.
Because.
Audiences who are familiar with Hong Kong-made action movies will definitely be able to see the "soul" of action movies in this movie.
What do you mean?
What it inherits is actually the Hong Kong kung fu film system that has long disappeared.
It's not like Hollywood or Korean-Japanese action movies.
The source of Hong Kong kung fu movies is actually traditional Chinese martial arts, with factions divided into north and south, and the moves are ever-changing, according to David Bordwell's summary, between "fighting-stopping-fighting", showing the striking effect of kung fu.
For example, in the film, we can see a lot of traditional moves.
Tiger Brother (played by Huang Debin)'s tiger fist.
Pay attention to the fluttering and grasping movements of the kung fu in the hands.
Di Qiu (played by Ren Xianqi) Hong Fist.
Focus on the stability of the lower plate, hard bridge and hard horse, and the attack is mainly in the double fist.
There is also Big Brother (Sammo Hung ) Shaolin stick method.
A flying and leaping return pistol stabbed the enemy without the power to parry.
And, the appearance of Tornado (played by Louis Koo), an "oolong strand" broke gravity and entered Big Brother's room, as if he was in a no-man's land, which shows that his leg kung fu is really good.
That's right, these "old moves", although they look old.
It is estimated that many people are not interested.
Sir also understands.
After all, many years ago, many people tried to reproduce the action of Hong Kong kung fu films, but with little success.
Just like Liu Jialiang.
In 2003, he made a movie called "Drunken Monkey".
In the film, he also strictly followed the shooting ideas of traditional kung fu films, and presented the genre of "Monkey Boxing" in great detail, which is quite exciting.
But the result?
Douban 6.4, so many people think that Liu Jialiang can't keep up with the times.
Traditional movements are no longer working.
But.
As mentioned earlier, Zheng Baorui not only followed the system of kung fu movies this time, but more importantly, placed it in an environment like the Kowloon Walled City.
This had an unexpected effect.
What is the Kowloon Walled City?
Sir said it last time.
But what I didn't elaborate on is that such a complex environment is naturally a place of constant accidents.
It's messy.
But at the same time, we can see that its use of "chaos" has reached a certain extreme, not only those tables and stools can be used as weapons to defeat the enemy at any time (similar to Jackie Chan movies), but they can also create unexpected obstacles at any time.
For example, a scene in which Chen Luojun was chased.
One side is unfamiliar with the environment.
The other side is well aware of these twists and turns.
So it looks like it's just a normal fight.
But the effect presented reminds people of the spectacle in Tsui Hark's "Downstream and Against the Current".
Yes.
Another reason why Sir said that this is the revival of Hong Kong-made action movies is that you can see a lot of tributes in the film.
For example, Chen Luojun had a bus fight scene with Wang Jiu, who chased him, on the bus.
It definitely makes people "soul-piercing" Jackie Chan's "Police Story" that fights to the death in the bus.
Or, the chase scene of flying eaves and walking on the wall in the alleyway.
It also reminds people of the real kung fu of Donnie Yen and Wu Jing in the back alley of "Slaying the Wolf".
What about the others?
Wang Jiu (played by Wu Yunlong) 's sentence "Divine Skill Protects the Body" directly makes people feel through Hong Kong martial arts films in the eighties and nineties, such as "Wong Fei Hung".
And the volley side kick in the film reminds people of not only Bruce Lee, but also the manga movie "Dragon Tiger Gate" a few years ago.
How to say it.
If you are familiar with Hong Kong-made action movies, watching "Kowloon Walled City" is definitely a satisfying book.
But here's the thing.
Is this just a feast for Hong Kong movie fans?
No.
Sir's biggest surprise to the movie is not that it "returns to the soul", but that Zheng Baorui this time, so that this bottle of "old wine" is finally new.
02
New Sake
Hong Kong action movies have always had two systems.
The first is spectacle.
For example, Bruce Lee's movies, Tsui Hark's movies, and many costume action movies, even if they are presenting martial arts moves, they give people a feeling that they are not "pain", but "beauty".
This is the spectator of the "other".
It's like "Huo Yuanjia".
Even if it is "fist to the flesh", visually, it is also showing beauty.
The other is painful.
For example, in many of Jackie Chan's movies, the protagonist is beaten, and a painful reaction shot is needed, which is more empathetic, but at the same time, it will also make many people "uncomfortable".
It brings the audience into it.
It's like "King of Force".
Even if it is exaggerated enough to become a one-punch superman, it will make people close their eyes.
And this time.
Zheng Baorui combined the two into one and made a very bold attempt:
He called it a "comic-sense" fight.
For example:
There are many spectacle fights in the film.
For example, the "Four Youths" in the Kowloon Walled City in the film are not only eighteen kinds of martial arts, but everyone here is equipped with their own unique skills and weapons according to their own personalities.
Among them, Sizai, the nurse in the team, has Max strength and strong healing power, but in terms of defense and output, it is still relatively weak.
Sizai's tragic experience made him wear a hood all the time, and he was very inferior in his heart, and he was still relatively low-key in the four-man team.
Twelve less, oily and powdery, like to play handsome, the usual weapon is a horizontal knife.
Playing out of the clouds, a volley at the Obon Festival, is particularly beautiful.
Xinyi, who treats people gently on weekdays, but when he fights, the ruthlessness in his eyes is like a knife, which makes people feel cold.
Therefore, the weapon he likes is a knife, and there is a secret hidden in it.
Chen Luojun, who fled from the country, is a big old man.
The first time he fought with Xinyi, he used an iron sheet to make a small knife, which he used for temporary self-defense; the second time he fought with Di Qiu, for the sake of his predecessors, he didn't dare to kill him, and he used a folding stool that he picked up casually; and the third time, when he was ready to fight hard, he welded a pair of elongated hammers by himself, and threw them out with his own whirling effect, although it was rough, but the effect of weapon use was doubled.
After that, he also used cement piers and wires and ropes in his hands...... It's really not exquisite.
At the same time, under this spectacle action, what we can feel at the same time is the real pain.
Like last time.
The motorcycle took off into the air and smashed directly into the two gunmen, directly slapping people flat.
Sturdy.
During the fight, an over-the-shoulder fall directly caused a person's head to smash through the wall.
You can feel the pain through the screen.
It can use the body as a weapon, and it can also create infinite pain on the body, and such scenes abound in movies.
A scene that isn't even representative.
Four young people join forces to educate a "Taoist friend" (drug addict) who does all kinds of evil.
They are not as upright as the previous generation of fights - they face each other at every turn, but instead lie in ambush in small alleys, like gods descending from the sky, taking advantage of the other party's hiding in the corner of the wall to pee and carry out sneak attacks.
Before he could react, this fight was already over, extremely fast, and it was very in line with the presentation of "spectacle".
But you see.
It's such a scene where when this unlucky guy is hit, it's not how far the usual person is sent flying.
Instead, he slammed his head into the glass.
Glass splashes.
On the big screen, you can feel the pain right away.
So for Sir, watching "Kowloon Walled City" is actually a very wonderful feeling.
On the one hand, it will accept its exaggeration because of the setting of the manga.
And on the other hand.
And because of its realistic setting, I will empathize.
Such a strange feeling is mixed together, but in fact, the effect created is only one word:
Refreshing.
That's right, we often say that this is a cool movie and that is a cool drama, but I can really feel the cool feeling in an action movie from the physiological aspect, in fact, I haven't experienced it for a long time.
Last time?
It seems that the last time was "The Fuse" more than ten years ago.
03
confront
Yes, it is undeniable that Hong Kong-made action movies have been bleak for a long time.
The most direct manifestation is:
No one is there.
Martial arts stars can beat all the enemies that appear in life, but they can't move time, and they are quite cheap and old-fashioned, and they can still eat.
Jackie Chan, who has also aged more and more in the past ten years, shows his gray hair and wrinkles in front of us without care.
Jet Li, there has been no movie related to kung fu martial arts for a long time.
Only the rumors of his "death" on the Internet from time to time remind us of his youthful appearance when he was a "kung fu boy".
Now, Donnie Yen, who is still playing in the same batch of stars, is 61 years old.
After ending "Ip Man", he relied on "Rage: A Serious Case" to bring action movies back to the audience's field of vision.
Now that he is standing at this age and achievement, he can ask: Who else, who else can fight?
There is a shortage of martial arts talents, and the existing genres of action movies are becoming more and more similar.
This is also why there are fewer and fewer martial arts movies, and action movies are getting worse and worse.
This status quo is that it is so hard to earn much money, and it can't attract too many audiences.
Therefore, there are fewer people who take pictures, and even fewer people watch them.
Not to mention whether it hurts or not, it's difficult to even fight whether it's interesting or not.
But.
In the past two years, some people have not believed in this evil, and have tried to revitalize the banner of composition.
Take Semyon, for example.
Whether it is the "Northeast Police Story" series or the "No One in Sight" series, you can see that he has stuck to the position of martial arts films, played beautifully, and achieved some results.
is really a rare talent in mainland martial arts films today.
And now.
In this list, Zheng Baorui's name was added.
Therefore, Sir is very happy to see that "Kowloon Walled City" can show its current appearance.
It didn't eat the old Ben:
Originally, this big group of stars could take the route of feelings like many Hong Kong films last year, and become the exclusive domain of Hong Kong film fans.
It also does not evade:
Ou Jian'er, who originally wrote "Big Guy" and "Detective", can completely reduce the action scenes and write a movie with the plot as a supplement.
It's a solid challenge to a lot of people who can't create new ideas anymore.
With some simple plots.
creates a sense of freshness at the action level and regains the soul of action movies.
So did it work?
Sir still doesn't dare to make up his mind.
But it can be seen with the naked eye that after the screening, the popularity has risen.
Not only has the number of sessions increased.
Now the total ticket office of the screening venue and the pre-sale has exceeded 30 million, and the number of people who want to see it has reached 130,000 (data from Maoyan), and today it won the box office championship just by relying on the screening.
Everything is going for the better.
A movie like this really needs more self-confidence and to come out.
Let more people see Zheng Baorui and the production team that has brought fresh blood to Hong Kong films, their perseverance and pursuit.
Remember, in the trailer of the movie there is such a scene:
Under a montage shot, a kite flying in the sky becomes an airplane speeding by.
For Cheng Po-sui, this represents his temperature, and he wants to change people's perception of the Kowloon Walled City.
The Kowloon Walled City represents the former Hong Kong.
And for Sir.
We hope that "Kowloon Walled City" may change people's perception of Hong Kong action movies.
Talking about Hong Kong action movies.
We shouldn't stop at the impression of recreating those old moves.
It shouldn't just be a thing of the past.
Action.
It should be hot-blooded and vibrant.
This should be what action movies really look like.
The picture in this article comes from the Internet
Editorial Assistant: Oda won't let you cut
#头条创作挑战赛#