Text: Overnight flowers
In 1991, "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo of 500 Million" produced by Yongsheng Film Company and starring Andy Lau, like "Lame Hao" in the same year, was a representative work under the trend of "Gangster Films" in the Hong Kong film industry in the early 1990s.
It is worth noting that "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo" is divided into two releases, not similar to the "Hero's True Colors" and "Prison Storm" series, due to the good market response after the advent of the work, and then the creation of a sequel, but the nearly 4 hours of material cut into two films for release (128 + 111 = 239 minutes).
Carefully admiring the blockbuster Hong Kong films in those years, it is not difficult to find that most of the film lengths are controlled within two hours (Jackie Chan's "Flying Eagle Project" in the same year, Stephen Chow's "Truant Weilong"), and the 143 minutes (nearly two and a half hours) of "Lame Hao" are rare "large lengths".
And "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo" leaves suspense and trailers at the end of the first part, attracting the target audience to continue to watch the sequel, which is a witty strategy.
The first film released in September, "The Legend of Inspector Leiluo 1: Thunder Tiger", was 128 minutes long and grossed 30.69 million Hong Kong dollars;
In October, the sequel "The Legend of Inspector Leiluo 2: Father and Son" was released in 111 minutes and grossed 23.14 million Hong Kong dollars.
01
The prototype of the protagonist of "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo" is Lu Le, the former chief inspector of Hong Kong from Haifeng County, Guangdong Province (one of the four general inspectors, the other three are Lan Gang, Han Sen and Yan Xiong), in "Lame Hao", "O Chronicles triad archives", "Money Empire" and other films, all have different perspectives on this Hong Kong corruption "big tiger".
Compared with Leung Ka-fai's later reproduction of Lu Le in "Empire of Money", Andy Lau's portrayal is based on the compatibility of personal charm and character characteristics, with this performance, Andy Lau was also nominated for the best actor at the 11th Academy Awards (and finally lost to Zeng Zhiwei in "A Tale of Two Cities" directed by Chen Kexin).
Compared with "Crippled Hao" (written by Ma Dangxiong) focusing on portraying characters and having a certain documentary epic color, the overall style of "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo" is not as rough and fierce as the opening "Yongsheng production is full of entertainment", and the ornamentality is placed in the first place. It is precisely because of this that the "dramatic life" shown in the film is "popular and good-looking" in the eyes of the audience, and it is not a complete restoration of reality.
Specifically, one of the main characters, Yan Tong (prototyped as Yan Xiong, Played by Qin Pei), is facialized and set as a cunning and vicious "protagonist's nemesis". Although Qin Pei's performance is old and spicy, it is no different from the usual image of the adulterous corner, which is slightly thin compared to the meticulous, sincere and delicate in masterpieces such as "New Love".
02
"Why be a cop? What is the purpose of being so hard? It's for eating. -------------------------------------------------
Flawed, the film is divided into two films, and the sequel box office is still considerable, which shows that in terms of ornamentation, enough effort has been made. Whether it is the fledgling at the beginning of the film or the retire of Leiluo in Canada at the end, when it comes to life and work, he has made the same answer - "for eating".
The focus of the first "Thunder Tiger" is Leiluo's growth: the hot-blooded youth with a righteous heart becomes a powerful and corrupt "big tiger". Relo, a newcomer to the police circles, scorns all worldly bad habits, holds an absolute purity and lofty mentality toward justice and ideals, and is often even cynical.
Living in the earthly world, the big dyeing vat in the world will eventually alienate one enthusiastic and sincere youth after another into a vulgar and slippery middle-aged man. The meager salary not only could not make his favorite woman Ah Xia (Qiu Shuzhen) worry-free, but also had a just and upright personality, and often made Leiluo suffer from the white eyes and dislike of his colleagues.
In an era where ideals are trampled on and innocence is despised, he can only gain achievements, places, and space in the "rules of the game" if he becomes worse, more evil, more ruthless, and more vicious. Gradually, he became less unworldly and began to drift with the flow, but while he was able to eat, he inevitably lived to become the kind of person he hated most in his youth.
Fortunately, he did not completely abandon his consistent friendship, and has always been grateful to chen tong (Guan Haishan), the "Bole" mentor who is also a teacher and friend, and has risked his life at all costs to rescue him; he maintains a close friendship with Lard Boy (Wu Mengda), who is generous and helpful at the low point of life and when he falls.
03
Although the second part of "Father-Son Love And Hatred" is an emotional contradiction related to the love-hate entanglement between father and son from the title, in fact, the core lies in the confrontation and conflict between two generations and two thinking concepts.
Leiluo, who has ascended to the peak of power and only covers the sky with his hands, has scientifically integrated corruption and the sharing of booty into a strict system, and people of all classes, cultural backgrounds, and social status are deeply trapped in it and unable to extricate themselves.
Those who run counter to justice will not survive long. It is not only the mirror of the Independent Commission Against Corruption hanging high, but also the formation of a contract of a civilized society in the depths of modern people's thinking, and this psychology is a deep hatred of gray areas and traditional bad habits.
For contemporary young people, the so-called "glorious deeds" of "tyrants" and "adulterous heroes" have gradually faded out of the talk, and have been replaced by respect for "professional ability" and spiritual character.
It is the inevitability of this civilization development that has led to an irreparable conflict between father and son. Leiluo is living in an era when the inferiority of the jungle has not yet receded, and Leiluo, who is well versed in the operation rules of the bottom and understands human nature, has become a generation of tyrants, which is really a hero of the times; Lei Yongxian (Aaron Kwok), who has received a modern education, naturally has a hateful mentality towards his father Leiluo's corruption.
At this time, Lei Yongxian seems to be incompatible with Leiluo, but looking back, Lei Yongxian, who has just walked out of the ivory tower, is not the reappearance of Leiluo in that year. Fortunately, times are different, and a just trial will come.
04
The female characters in the film are also bright. In "Lame Hao", Ye Tong and Ye Zi Frieze create two typical women, the former is independent and assertive, and the latter is attached to men and survives. In "The Biography of Inspector Leiluo", the characters created by Zhang Min and Qiu Shuzhen have completely different personality traits.
Bai Yue'e (Zhang Min), as the daughter of the "fishing family" giant, has a kind of arrogance and willfulness of a rich family. Qiu Shuzhen's Ah Xia is more breakthrough than the usual spicy, charming, and personality-filled screen image, and the shyness, stoicism and implication of traditional women are interpreted without any traces of carving. And Qiu Shuzhen also won this role and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 11th Academy Awards.
The same thing is that they are all bright enough to be tolerant and considerate of others.
In the second part, Ah Xia's illness and death (the two endings of "Red and White Rose"), father and son in the moment of life and death, together against Yan's reconciliation, these plot arrangements, become a kind of "reunion" ending, although not necessarily the most reasonable, but it is the most common commercial film ending model.
Compared with "Lame Hao", the film is usually considered to be more than entertaining, and what is lacking is the recklessness of the former. This is beyond reproach, but the film's exquisite costumes do an excellent job of restoring the atmosphere of the 1950s and 1960s, and the use of vivid and authentic Cantonese slang in the lines makes the film more detailed and interesting.
The film is undoubtedly lamentable. In the real world, it is difficult for individuals to escape the fate of being assimilated, to go with the flow of life, to lose the original blood and innocence; what is more terrible than the inability to achieve the ideal is to live into their most hated appearance, the feeling of helplessness and inability to break free. In addition to the emotion of the story itself, the unique charm of Hong Kong movies in the golden age is also difficult to replicate.