Hong Kong films have begun to pick up this year, not only "Under the White Sun" and "Young Diary", two 8+ word-of-mouth movies, but also in the upcoming May 1, there is also a teddy bear "Best Film" at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival "From Now On" will be released in Hong Kong.
In addition to these films that have received high ratings, the crime Hong Kong film "The Siege of the Kowloon Walled City", which was released on May Day in the mainland, also changed the decline of Hong Kong films in the pre-sale war, and the pre-sale and popularity are quite high, and there is a trend of fighting Hong Kong films in the counterattack.
However, under this short-term prosperity, with the promotion of the other two classic Hong Kong IP projects, people feel that the current Hong Kong films want to regain their past glory, and there are many hidden dangers.
1. The first part is the "Cold War" series, which has been frequently mentioned by fans recently.
This mainstream Hong Kong crime movie, released in 2012, has delighted audiences with its huge cast and wonderful story.
What is commendable is that 2016's "Cold War 2" did not collapse, and still maintained the reputation of Hong Kong classic movies, just when everyone waited for 8 years and did not wait for "Cold War 3", this year suddenly established two "Cold War" movies in one go.
The story in the project is set in Hong Kong in 1994 and 1995, and according to the time setting, it is obviously a prequel story of the "Cold War" series.
Judging from the fact that the director and screenwriter of "Cold War 1994" is still Liang Lemin, the atmosphere and storytelling of the movie should not be too bad, after all, he is familiar with the way, and crime movies are his forte.
But the cast of "Cold War 1994" has changed too much, and the reason why the "Cold War" movie is wonderful is that in addition to the excellent storytelling, the most eye-catching thing is the cast.
In addition to Leung Ka-fai and Aaron Kwok, the two pure acting actors, the movie also added Yang Caini, Andy Lau, Lin Jiadong, Li Zhiting, Peng Yuyan, Chow Yun-fat and other three generations of Hong Kong stars at that time.
As far as the eye can see, it is half of the Hong Kong film industry, and the film's character adaptability and character hierarchy are handled very well, so "Cold War 2" won a box office score of 700 million in that competitive era, which is really remarkable.
And what about "Cold War 1994"?
The first wave of the film's cast is: Wu Yanzu, Wu Kangren, Liu Junqian???
Yes, Wu Yanzu is very popular, and Wu Kangren also won a Golden Horse actor, but can they compare with the two bigwigs of Leung Jiahui and Aaron Kwok back then?
Although the filmmaker said when it was announced: Heavy actors will be announced one after another, please rest assured that it is still the top Hong Kong lineup.
But everyone knows it in their hearts, this is purely a scene, in 2012, Liu Tianwang was still Liu Tianwang, Chow Yun-fat and Peng Yuyan were still the heads of their various tracks, but now?
The older generation has been declining since Jackie Chan, and the new generation has always been unstable, this pseudo-prequel that is not even a true sequel, it feels like it is here to play the repechage, and it is just a hot stir.
2. Another classic "Slaying the Wolf 3" passed the project at the end of March.
The directors of the first two seasons are very good, and the director of the first season is Ye Weixin, who has filmed "Mong Kok Fengyun", "Ip Man", "Fuse" and "Dragon Tiger Gate".
He cooperated with Donnie Yen very early, at that time, in the era of Hong Kong film recession, Hong Kong stars who went abroad almost returned home, and none of them were left behind.
Donnie Yen is not surprised, but Ye Weixin saw Donnie Yen's energy, and cooperated with him in movies such as "Slaying the Wolf", "Dragon Tiger Gate", "Fuse", "Ip Man", etc., and sent Donnie Yen to the peak of martial arts stars at the rate of 1 film in 1 year.
Needless to say, Zheng Baorui of "Slaying the Wolf 2" is a cutting-edge director with great personal charm, and he has been constantly outputting good films, such as "Wheat Passerby", "Wisdom Teeth", "Murder" and so on.
Therefore, there is no problem with "Kill the Wolf 3" no matter which of these two directors produces it, and the director who announced the project is Zheng Baorui, so I don't have to worry about the content of the movie.
However, it's another but! "Kill the Wolf 3" is a classic movie of a series type, and there are no actors announcing it when the project is officially announced, which is very wrong.
The first two "Slaying the Wolf" starred Donnie Yen and Wu Jing in the golden period, both of whom are hard bridges and hard horses, which gives this action movie the greatest guarantee.
But now Donnie Yen is 60 years old, Wu Jing is 50 years old, and they have all passed the best time period for action stars, don't say that age is not important, Jackie Chan was so horizontal back then, how dangerous it was to shoot action scenes, but in the large-scale galas a few years ago, even a carp rolled and couldn't stand up at one time, this is the reality.
What's more terrible is that "Slaying the Wolf" is a co-production, and each season is completed by Chinese mainland and Hong Kong stars, but now the Hong Kong film, including Nicholas Tse, who is a cook, is also counted, and the youngest action actor who can be called the name is already 40+, and there is no weight at all to take over.
Not to mention mainland actors, it should be difficult for Wu Jing to make a sequel, all you can think of is Xie Miao and Wu Yue, who are also 40+, difficult, too difficult!
Seeing that no one is available for the two Hong Kong films, the older generation can't carry them, and the new generation can't afford to carry them, I feel that if Hong Kong films don't cultivate follow-up pillar actors, they will really "not be able to open the pot".