In 2005, the Hong Kong film "Touji D", adapted from the Japanese manga of the same name, successfully grasped the core spirit of the original work, and won unanimous recognition from film critics and audiences from all walks of life for its thrilling mountain races and the growth of characters in the process of racing, not only achieving the eye-catching box office results of the annual Chinese film championship, but also shining at the Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards, allowing Jay Chou, who played the protagonist Fujiwara Takumi, to win the best new actor of the year, and now after 16 years, he still holds the dream of racing cars and launched "The Storm" This racing movie with the theme of "racing cars" gives fans a special experience that is very different from the past.
"Lingzha Fengyun" is the first racing-themed movie in China and even In Asia, produced by Jay Chou, produced by Liu Qihong and Peng Xiaodao, in order to shoot the scene of the racing car extremely realistically, the film spent up to NT$300 million in the budget, smashed dozens of racing supercars, the wheel belt also broke thousands, in addition, Jay Chou also has all the contacts and resources, find friends in the music circle and showbiz circle to draw the knife to help, his wife Kunling also plays the heroine of the movie, and he also has three racing tracks in the film , cameo a driver who won the racing championship in the underground society, reminiscent of the 2005 movie "Head Text D", the male protagonist Hara Takumi, with superb racing skills to dominate the underground racing track!
However, it is a pity that since the release of "The Wind and the Clouds", the cumulative results of the box office have not been ideal, the cumulative release of 9 days, the box office is only 4.75 million, the estimated box office is not more than 6 million, relative to the cost of 300 million, which for Jay Chou, it can be described as a loss.
The plot of "The Storm" is very simple, telling the story of the racing team "Lions" after the death of the leader Lao Shen (Lin Qingtai), seeing the sponsors are leaving, the league's first female driver Lily (Kunling) to find her high school classmate Du Jack (Cao Youning) - an otaku who can only play simulator racing, becoming "Lions" hope to turn things around.
However, the team gold medal "car king" Li Yifei (Fan Yichen) has a reckless personality, and it is difficult to cooperate with Du Jack, a rookie who "plays games", and at this time, "Lions" has to rectify the team's dispute problems in the face of the growing enemy team "Wolves". Race against enemies on the track. Will they be able to break through the barriers in their hearts and work together to win for Lions and return to glory?
Although the box office is on the street, and the plot story of the movie is not prominent, the courage of executive producer Jay Chou, choreographer Chen Yixian, the producer Liu Qihong and Peng Xiaodao, and the actors Kun Ling, Cao Youning, Fan Yichen, Ke Youlun and Gao Yingxuan, who have the courage to challenge the racing movie, is still worthy of recognition. There are many elements of this racing movie, there are love, there are dreams, but the biggest attraction still falls on the racing chase on the racing track, and many scenes are as exciting as watching the broadcast of racing competitions.
Some people think that "The Speed" is the Chinese version of "Fast and Furious", but I think that instead of calling "The Wind and Cloud" the Chinese version of "Fast and Furious", I think there is more of the shadow of "Speed King" and "Racing Story", and it can even be called the live-action version of "Racing Story". There are episodes like competition between teams, an otherwise arrogant protagonist, or the loss of a sponsor in the face of a passing.
Of course, "The Wind and clouds" has its own independent characteristics and styles, and the thrill of racing blood is of course the biggest highlight of "The Wind and clouds". The tightness of the racing rhythm of "The Wind and the Clouds" makes people feel as if they are watching a real battle, and the process makes people hold their breath. Of course, "team spirit" is the core of every racing movie, and "The Storm" also presents many disputes and conflicts in interests and friendships in a three-dimensional way, rather than "Fast and Furious" (the next few films) with explosive skills and martial arts, packaging a flashy "family".
Jay Chou is one of the few Chinese actors who can play the main role in Hollywood, but in the film industry has not been treated fairly, under the long-term unreasonable insults of the network keyboard player, he should be one of the most serious filmmakers who have been bullied by the Internet, originally thought that after the setback of the self-directed "Rooftop", he would turn the focus of the development of the film to overseas, did not expect that he did not give up the film, the "Ling" produced by him spent 300 million Taiwan dollars, challenging the rare racing movie genre, And by his wife Kunling to continue this movie dream, and Kunling after all, he has also co-starred in movies with Dwayne Johnson, and after experiencing the baptism of Hollywood, he has become more and more professional actors, and his performance exceeds expectations.
Kun Ling plays a female racing driver with a cold appearance, in fact, a gentle side in the heart, Cao Youning with a newborn calf to challenge the racing world, the chemistry of the two looks full of drama, and Fan Yichen, who plays a veteran racing driver, and Ke Youlun, who plays an agent, although more partial to the original performance, but the two brothers in distress, the conflict is not bad, the plot of the whole movie is nothing more than the enmity and hatred on the racing track, but also the inspirational story of striving upwards, but the actor's performance is within the standard, which is a match of quite neat quality.
Of course, there are shortcomings in "The Storm", according to the director's interview, because of the need for plot tension, the pain of cutting the plot of more than two hours into 109 minutes is actually very obvious in the film. In addition, except for Cao Youning and Kunling, who have a little bit of performance characteristics, the other actors are almost authentic performances. Fan Yichen is still the impulsive Fan Yichen, and Ke Youlun is still that Ke Youlun. And the most unfortunate is Lin Qingtai, who plays Ke Youlun's father, the elder of the team, and Fan Yichen's Bole, originally had a very obvious role story, but in the end because of the length of the film, most of the plot lines were deleted.
Although several plot twists of "The Wind and the Clouds" also come too suddenly, the dialogue design and actor acting skills also have room for improvement and progress, which is a pity, but in addition to the whole movie grasping the preference orientation of the general audience, the conceptual direction of the script arrangement is worth affirming, the whole film of "The Wind and the Clouds" is locked on the racing car, combining many elements such as street racing, go-karts, racing simulations, etc., under the cameo tribute of Jay Chou and the tofu number "AE86" of "Head Text D", It also fully grasps the core of being a sports competition movie.
But "The Wind and clouds" is still a sincere film, you can feel the ambition and desire of the crew and the director for this film, want to leave a name in the history of Chinese films, draw an exclamation point that makes the world pay attention, although in the solidity of the story and the dialogue of the character lines, are slightly thin and embarrassing, but the overall performance is still very satisfactory, especially every time the process of racing, can successfully arouse the audience's enthusiasm, but also can produce a strong emotional projection, cheer with the characters, tears together, Let's experience that exciting and tense moment on the track!
When watching "The Storm", it is recommended to try to imagine yourself as a professional racing driver, want to participate in the challenges of the race, integrate into the situation of the racing driver, feel the roar of the engine, or just watch a racing broadcast, I believe it should be able to ignite your interest in this movie, describe the interest and enthusiasm of racing!
Do you think "The Wind and the Clouds" is the Chinese version of "Fast and Furious"? Or is it like Cars?