The opening scene is a fight in the bathroom of several big men, followed by a tenor Xu Hanlin (Wang Minde) is brutally killed, followed by the suspect Wang Yuanyang (Zhang Jiahui) and the police in a series of direct clashes, all the spearheads are pointing at Wang Yuanyang, but is the real culprit behind the scenes? But the direction of the film is not in the direction familiar to the audience, the simple and rough ending that was previously expected gradually became clear in the step by step stripping cocoon, the original identification of the murderer is not because of the heart of the crime, the past nearly twenty years of the past, is not as direct as people expect, the new murder is not because of the same simple reason, the secret behind it is what everyone does not want to talk about, in front of the police, all this gradually becomes clear, Instead, let the police themselves not know how to be good. After the return, Hong Kong films have been stumbling, and it is difficult to reproduce the volume of Hong Kong films in the 1990s at the end of the last century. Quality is also vaguely limited by the diversification of investors.
The so-called "Hong Kong film" is that the guarantee of good film quality has gone forever, but the spirit of the Hong Kong people is still there, although the number of films shot every year is small, but it still ensures the various distinctions of genre films, but it is still inevitable that police films can no longer follow the previous genre because of the censorship of the mainland, the structure and ending can no longer follow the previous genre, which has caused a huge and embarrassing impact on one of the most skilled genre films in Hong Kong films, police films. As we all know, the affairs in Hong Kong under British rule, the police and the underworld are mixed, leaving behind a lot of marginal identities, like a dark fog that cannot be cleared in the hearts of every Hong Kong person. Inevitably, the screen began to show the police corruption, underworld forces, gu confused boy and other themes of the film, and the end of the film is more and more thorough, this is the way Hong Kong people use to vent the pressure of life, but also their search for psychological balance of comfort performance.
And this new type of ending has also spawned a series of police films, the genre of gangster films, in which human warmth and fraternity disappear, leaving only endless darkness and the cycle of fate. As mentioned above, the dark ending of Hong Kong films is no longer there, and the audience urgently needs a new way to set the tone, so this warm and slightly sad ending is a new way for the director and even the screenwriting team to grasp the overall grasp of the story, of course, it is also responsible for the audience. Then a seemingly tragic and dark ending can be reversed. This kind of film that inherits the spirit and craftsmanship of Hong Kong films, while at the same time creating a new model. However, this kind of film that is in line with the traditional values of Hong Kong films and caters to mainland audiences still seems to have some concerns about the initiative, so some details are debatable, but fortunately, the director's overall control ability is excellent, and the flaws are not hidden. The ups and downs of the story did not make the audience feel unreal, but it was difficult to create the first, so the film as a whole is quite praised.
Straight to the point, I personally feel that "The Great Hunt" is a bit unworthy of its name, the so-called hunt is actually a game completely controlled and controlled by the pursuer. As for "big", I don't know where the big is? It is often seen that a large group of policemen are chasing after Zhang Jiahui, which is a criticism of the lack of strength in the action scenes. In addition, do not expect too much from the scene of the duel between the two males, the director is hindered by the need to show camus's "Outsider"-style loneliness, the film emperor drama has (there are two impressive scenes), and the "fighting wits and courage" is not. This is due to disappointment with the plot and suspense setting of the film. Director Zhou Xianyang said to himself that police films do not necessarily have gun battles, which I completely agree with. But for a breakout of a type it should be based on the type itself. "The Great Hunt", as a genre film with a slight suspense of police and gangster themes, gives people a sense of blandness that does not rely on two ends. The action is basically no highlights, and the suspense setting is not very novel. The only point of interest is Zhang Jiahui's interpretation of the role. However, the ultimate purpose of the performance is to serve the story. The overall plot of this film is like Wen Yongshan's small and fresh performance style in the film, although there is no big mistake, but it is slightly superficial. In addition, in terms of theme, "The Great Hunt" is actually a soulful story with a light taste under the packaging of heavy taste publicity.
It is not that only heavy taste can express a profound theme, but since the protagonist is placed in a desperate situation, it is necessary to deal with the problem of credibility. What the audience expects is the reality of extreme human nature under reasonable logic. Below I will try to compare "The Murderer" with this film, briefly talking about their similarities and differences, gains and losses. The two films are both directed by Zhou Xianyang and written by Du Zhilang, which have a certain degree of comparability. First, it is also a revenge story, because of the different viewpoints, "Murderer" is much more thrilling and dangerous than "The Great Hunt". The former is basically a subjective perspective of revenge and abuse, while the latter perspective is mostly a third-person objective perspective. This directly led to the audience's empathic role in zhang Jiahui's role being weakened. In fact, even if the audience starts from Zhang's point of view, there is no fear of being hunted down at all. Because the police are really too stupid, what Detective Ren Dahua did was just bite down like a Tibetan mastiff and keep up with Zhang's footsteps. On the other hand, Zhang Jiahui's daughter who visited Ren at night, attacked Ren's colleagues, and fought with Ren on the cable car, I was completely nervous, because the blind people could see that Zhang Mingming was a "good person", a person who took revenge on evil, and had no ability to hurt goodness.
The most terrifying factor in "The Great Hunt" is gone after the perverted father Over played by Wang Minde. The whole hunt lacks a gripping sense of crisis, let alone a thrilling one. Second, in the handling of suspense, "The Great Hunt" belongs to the onion peeling style, and "Murderer" is a sudden reversal. Personally, I think there are pros and cons to both. The advantage of peeling the onion is that it is more logically handled, and the disadvantage is that if the audience guesses the ending too early, it will affect the tearful process. The benefit of a sudden reversal without him is surprise. Let the audience not be distracted by their own "I lean on!" "The disadvantage is that it is easy to be criticized for the rationality of the plot. It is worth mentioning that both films also emphasize that the causes of the past bear the fruits of the present. "Murderer" belongs to the small mistakes of the past caused by the great horror of the present, but "The Great Hunt" is the nightmare of the past and now the redemption of violence and warmth. Third, in the performance of the actors. Aaron Kwok, Zhang Jiahui, everyone is a movie emperor, there is nothing to say. But as far as the appeal of the role is concerned, I personally think that Aaron Kwok is still stronger. As mentioned earlier, "The Murderer" basically revolves around Aaron Kwok's psychological and emotional state all the time. The audience is frightened and frightened along with him, but like the people in the play, they no longer doubt him all the time. Until he suffocated his friend, which is a node, and after learning the truth, he killed the perpetrator in anger and became a chainsaw killer, which is another node. The psychological change process of the characters is clearly visible. And Zhang Jiahui's role in "The Great Hunt" is too introverted, so that it is somewhat ambiguous, and the details are not captured enough. This unsatisfactory characterization is to blame on the director and screenwriter. The success of the character is not only in self-shaping, but also in the tension with other characters. The director gave up the perspective of fully focusing on Zhang Jiahui, but did not handle his relationship with other characters. Looking back at the role played by Zhang Jiahui in "Witness", there are not many scenes, but the performance is exceptionally brilliant.
This is in large part due to Lin Chaoxian's handling of the relationship between the characters. If the ending of "Murderer" is too cruel for many people to accept, the ending of "The Great Hunt" seems to be a bit of a snake. Zhang Jiahui once asked Ren Dahua: Is the truth really so important? Yeah, does the audience have to know the truth? In fact, there really is not, because first, most people should have guessed the ending, and second, the focus of the film is not to reveal the truth, but to the emotional background shown in the process. In the end, the film still persistently presents the whole process of the crime scene, which is inevitably a bit redundant. Murderous methods, perverted protagonists, complex psychology, down-and-out cops, self-inflicted dead; each can find the same profound provenance in the history of Hong Kong film.
Director Zhou Xianyang and screenwriter Du Zhilang previously collaborated on "Murderer", which is also about a bizarre murder case, and the murderer must be someone unexpected. Zhou Xianyang and Du Zhilang's choreographer combination of perverted, heavy taste, murder, unjust case, escape and other means are shown one by one in the movie, the destruction of corpses is commonplace, these more impactful scenes are also to increase the commercial point of the film, of course, it is also based on the current audience can bear the range, will not say that let the audience watch nightmares, that has become a horror film. The core problem of "The Great Hunt" is: grievances and truth. Is Wang Yuanyang unjustly imprisoned? What is the truth of Xu Hanlin's death? The layers of suspense and the plot of the peak loop make the film always shrouded in layers of fog, and it is difficult to know the truth of the matter until the last moment. But the screenwriter Du Zhilang is actually throwing out a question, that is, is the truth necessary? As a policeman, Lin Zhengzhong (Ren Dahua) has the same persistence as a detective Conan, believing that there is only one truth, but the law is nothing more than human feelings, and if things are investigated so thoroughly, can the deceased really rest in peace and make the living feel better? Sometimes things don't have to follow the rules, which is also a proposition given in the film, whether the audience also sees it this way, it will not be known until after the film is released.
In the film, Zhang Jiahui has very few lines, all relying on actions and expressions to support this performance, very much like a silent film, his acting skills are getting better and better, and there can be more room to play, looking forward to his future encounter more challenging roles. Constantly throwing out questions, allowing the audience to follow the plot step by step, the plot conflict of the film gradually escalated from the initial contradiction between Wang Yuanyang and the Xu family to the conflict between the police and bandits, and it was Wang Yuanyang and the police officer Lin Zhengzhong who needed to face it head-on. The character of Lin Zhengzhong is also very interesting, his wife died two years ago, was judged by the police to be a suicide, but Lin Zhengzhong did not believe it, but this clue did not give the ultimate answer in the end, perhaps it was suicide, but Lin Zhengzhong refused to accept the reality.
After investigating wang Yuanyang and Xu's family feud, Lin Zhengzhong judged that Wang Yuanyang had a major suspicion, but with the investigation of peeling off the cocoon, it seems that the murderer is still hidden behind a deeper back, and the fighting wisdom between the police and bandits is also unfolded, which is actually a cat and mouse game, but the position of the cat and mouse is often changed, Wang Yuanyang is born and dies outside the degree, so he can always restrain the police, who is a cat, who is a mouse, it is really difficult to judge. As described in the film, Lin Zhengzhong does not care about solving the case, only the truth. His attachment to the truth makes him track down the facts of the crime step by step, but sometimes knowing the truth is not necessarily better than not knowing, because the truth has always been less understandable than ignorance.