The ancient costume martial arts finally met with cold, and Jet Li was forced to change
After several years of bombardment of costume martial arts dramas, audiences began to tire of such films, and although there were still many martial arts films released in 1994, most of them ended in dismal results. Veteran Liu Jialiang pulled Zheng Shaoqiu, Liu Jiahui two generations of disciples and Andy Lau, Ren Dahua and other traffic stars and personally on the "Drunken Fist 3", originally intended to fight with Jackie Chan "Drunken Fist 2", but did not think that the audience for his hard bridge hard horse old-school kung fu film has long been out of interest, the result of the box office only more than 7 million ranked 42nd in the year, traditional kung fu films can be described as a complete loss. And the new martial arts led by the "Oriental Undefeated" at that time does not seem to work, the best spokesperson Lin Qingxia starred in the "New Tianlong Eight Parts of the Tianshan Tongmao", "Sword Laugh", "Legend of the Fire Cloud", "Six-Fingered Piano Demon" have fallen into a thunderous rain and a small end, failure can not arouse a little splash, and Lin Qingxia is married to Hong Kong businessman Xing Liyuan in June of that year, thus quit the film industry, only 40 years old, the last screen work left by a generation of superstars to the majority of film fans is "Chongqing Forest" with Wong Kar-wai. To be fair, these films are considered to be representative works of the new martial arts style, but the storyline is perfunctory, the problem of excessive dependence on the action style of "Weiya" is also very prominent, to be honest, the highest peak of such style films is Xu Ke, Cheng Xiaodong's "Oriental undefeated", to 1994, the so-called new martial arts style has basically departed from the traditional martial arts films and directly reached the category of the god monster fairy film, the martial arts film has become a "dance hero film", and it is time to change. After all, Xu Ke personally directed his own big IP Huang Feihong's theme of "Huang Feihong's Five Dragon City Fighters" and only won a pitiful box office of 4.9 million. In 1994, in the face of the strong rebound of "Double Monday Cheng", and the situation of the ancient costume martial arts blockbuster was cold, Jet Li and his Zhengdong company were not idle, but began to take the initiative to change, "Master Huang" wanted to shoot fashion films!
Genre film smorgasbord - Zhongnanhai bodyguard
This transformation work is "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard", the film's conception was originally from Jet Li, according to his own introduction, this is based on real people and real events, the political color is quite strong, only some sensitive materials have been deleted and modified, but even so, the film was once banned in the mainland. Chen Jiashang and "Fang Shiyu" screenwriter Chen Jianzhong are responsible for the script, they put "Flower Protection", "Fire Line Sniper", "Skynet Pursuit" and "Tiger Guts" 4 popular and popular Hollywood action movies of the box element into one, plus authentic Hong Kong-style gags, can be described as entertainment elements. This film is also Jet Li's first return to Hong Kong to shoot a drama since his agent Cai Ziming was killed and returned to Beijing for refuge, so the Hong Kong government sent a lot of bodyguards to protect the "Zhongnanhai bodyguards" in this scene during the filming of the film, in addition to safety issues, this "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard" produced by the original team of "Fang Shiyu" also needs to face an important issue that Jet Li needs to face when filming fashion films. In order to win the audience's recognition and accept Jet Li's fashion action films, the pre-production work such as story structure and sub-shots alone took a full 3 months. As for changing Jet Li's consistent image of ancient costume martial arts, the costume director Chen Gufang also had to spend more thoughts, and his hairstyle alone changed no less than ten different styles.
Cool Zhongnanhai bodyguard
After solving the script problem, director Yuan Kui wants to solve the difficult problem of action design. In the past, when shooting martial arts films, fight scenes or heroes appeared, etc., a mode was always used to shoot, and it was easier to create and master the atmosphere. The difficulty of "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard" is how to shoot a sense of modernity and the sense of the times, due to the relationship between the ages, the gunfight is an inevitable fact, but if you dilute the fists and feet, it is equivalent to directly abandoning the biggest selling point of Jet Li. However, in the end, Yuan Kui's solution is still relatively satisfactory, of course, gun battles cannot be avoided, but the director still created conditions (such as the hard setting that the room gas leak cannot use firearms) so that Jet Li and Zou Zhaolong staged a series of hand-to-hand combat, and the sharp and tricky design was definitely not lost to the previous work "Fang Shiyu". Of course, the modern emotional drama of Jet Li and newcomer Zhong Liti in the film is also a rare point of view in the works of the Kung Fu Emperor, in the past Jet Li's film and the emotional scene with the heroine is almost negligible, even with Guan Zhilin's thirteen aunts are also full of affection and stop at the ceremony, dragonflies dotted like water, but the emotional line of Xiao Lizi and the Hong Kong girl Yang Qian'er, played by Zhong Liti in this film, is from the two sides because of cultural differences and gradually develop a good feeling for each other until the love affair is secretly born finally due to Xu Zhengyang's sword swinging force to cut the love thread, The director rarely let the audience see Jet Li dressed in military uniform, heroic Jet Li seriously talked about a love on the screen, we know that the shy Jet Li acted in emotional dramas and was not inferior to Andy Lau These small fresh meats of the year, which has been verified again in Years Chen Kexin's "Letter of Submission", not jet Li will not be emotional drama, but the market only wants to see him play, for this point Director Yuan Kui said in an interview with the media in that year, "This time let the costume director do more for Jie Zai, I said that I should not buy less money for clothes and shirts, but I always felt that if I wore beautiful shirts, Jet Li must be better than Leung Ka Fai, Aaron Kwok, and Andy Lau. I quite agree with this, jet Li's martial arts practitioner's spirit is indeed very eye-catching, and his acting skills have been ignored all along. Overall, "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard" is a very entertaining modern action film, after the release of more than 11 million box office results is not a failure, relative to the "Fang Shiyu" series of innovation, it can be said to be a collection of the major popular modern action films at that time, although it is not a masterpiece with any pioneering significance, but as a kung fu emperor's transformation work, it should be above the pass.
The neglected god work - the hero of jingwu
Throughout 1994, Jet Li released three works, of which "Zhongnanhai Bodyguard" and "Jingwu Hero" were produced by his own Zhengdong company, and the highest box office performance of the three was "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" produced by Taiwan-funded Xinfeng Film Co., Ltd. directed by Wang Jing. Wuzu has a strong entertainment effect, never say much about the cool drag Jet Li plus Wang Jing's various ghost horses, and urine bridge section has no sense of violation, Jet Li, Xie Miao's father and son Wu Zhuangyuan-style plot, Qiu Shuzhen, Ye Dexian nonsense head fake mother and daughter, the undead demon monk Ji Chunhua, the safflower helmsman Liu Songren who appeared less than 1 minute later are memorable, especially the silver gun in Jet Li's hand, which can be called floating clouds, like a frightening dragon, which is amazing, and the action guide Yuan Kui and Jet Li are really a match made in heaven. "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" is definitely an entertainment film, but from the perspective of contribution to kung fu films, "Jingwu Hero" is the real god work.
Those who wear Zhongshan suits are not easy to mess with
"Jingwu Hero" is a remake of tribute to Bruce Lee, but in terms of content presentation, both the national spirit and the martial arts realm have fully surpassed Bruce Lee's version. Film props master director Chen Jiashang is most famous in his previous works are "Truant Weilong" and "Wu Zhuangyuan Su Qi'er" cooperated with Stephen Chow, from these two blockbuster works with inconspicuous characteristics of Zhou Xingchi, we see that he is a director who likes to engage in novelty, this time Zhengdong Company restarted Bruce Lee's famous work "Jingwumen", how to innovate or even surpass is a problem that he and action director Yuan Heping have to face.
The first change is that Chen Zhen is no longer a pure nationalist, Jet Li's version of Chen Zhen not only stays in Japan but also has a Japanese girl who loves Yamada Mitsuko, who has a heart that embraces the world. In the face of the tragic death of the master, it is not to kill people without asking questions, but to invest in scientific attitudes and attitudes on the basis of strong force, and finally find out the real culprit behind the scenes- Fujita Tsuyoshi of the Japanese Military Department, and only then will he put revenge for the division into action. The Japanese are no longer the same negative image in the film, the simple Yamada Mitsuko, the budo tetsuhito Funakoshi Fumio, and even the translator around Fujita Tsuyoshi have a clear sense of anti-militarism, compared with the anti-Japanese dramas that still appear in film and television works today, this 1994 work is quite sober. Of course, the most commendable is the action scenes designed by Yuan Heping and Chen Jiashang for Jet Li, we know that many Western directors have taken this film as a teaching film to shoot action scenes, and the famous Hollywood ghost director even said that he could completely memorize every position and every action storyboard that Chen Zhen went to the Hongkou dojo to kick the hall.
Mitsuko Yamada's image was particularly successful
In the film, Chen Zhen's three action highlights have their own connotations, the first one is faced with Qian Xiaohao's old-fashioned self-preservation of traditional Chinese martial arts, Chen Zhen is not limited to fixed moves, flexible response to the battle situation, and even uses the footwork of boxing, the whole process is easy to write, the absolute advantage of technology and strength allows Chen Zhen to win effortlessly; the second is facing the Black Dragon Society's head coach Kurata Hoshiaki played by Funakoshi Fumio, it is more like a kind of sit-and-talk martial arts competition, I still remember Funakoshi Fumio asking Chen Zhen what is the strongest fist, Chen Zhen replied that the fist that focused on attacking the opponent the fastest to knock down the opponent was the strongest punch, and Funakoshi Fumio replied, "Yo, the fight is quite beautiful, but I have never seen a stone hit a person, you must know that our opponent is a person who can move." "Mr. Funakoshi: Oh, what's the strongest defense?" Chen Zhen: It is an attack, rather than trying to defend, it is better to attack with full strength and knock down the opponent in the shortest time. Mr. Funakoshi: Oh, so your Huo Jia Fist is the same as Tang Hand, it is Zhi Gang's fist technique. Chen Zhen: Do you really understand boxing? Just lack of softness is a waste of energy, soft lack of rigidity is to attack without restraint, indispensable. Teacher, how did you teach your apprentice? Mr. Funakoshi: Fighting is the most taboo and frivolous, and you must be calm and relaxed. Your master should have taught you these basic principles. After the two sides fought, Mr. Funakoshi said: I just used your martial arts, Chinese martial arts emphasize personal cultivation rather than pay attention to actual combat; you have such a performance today, which can be said to be a breakthrough. Chen Zhen: The goal of the competition is to knock down the opponent. Mr. Funaetsu: You are completely wrong, young man, I tell you, the best way to knock down the other side is to use a pistol, the goal of martial arts training is to push people's physical strength to the highest limit, if you want to reach this realm, you must understand the universe. Okay I'm gone. Chen Zhen: Aren't you going to duel? Mr. Funakoshi: No need to compare, we have already dueled, it is a draw, but I do not represent all Japanese people, there are many people in Japan who are higher than my martial arts. Mitsuko Yamada: Mr. Funakoshi, aren't you the number one master in Japan? Chen Zhen: Mr. Funakoshi's martial arts are first of all his martial arts practices, not his murderous tricks. Mr. Funakoshi: Oh, Huo Yuanjia, I lost, I didn't expect you to have such a good apprentice. This dialogue can almost be said to be the final understanding of martial arts by Jet Li, Yuan Heping, and Chen Jiashang, and the same theme is the best discussion of the kung fu movies I have watched. It was also with this understanding that Chen Zhen finally won the size and strength of Fujita Tsuyoshi, who was unable to have the law and the infinite as the limit, which was fully reflected in this film. The kung fu film has a summary at this point, and the next new stage will have to wait until Zhen Zidan integrates modern mixed martial arts into the "Fuse".
The discussion with Funakoshi Fumio has reached the realm of martial arts
But this kung fu film masterpiece was released in Hong Kong and the mainland at the same time, and the box office was actually ideal, which was the reason for the decline of kung fu films, and the overall style was too serious, but time finally proved its value.
In 1994, there were too many classics born in the Hong Kong film industry, in addition to the works of Bi Zhou Cheng and Jet Li, Wong Kar-wai's "East Evil and West Poison", "Chongqing Forest", Xu Ke's "Liang Zhu", the historical theme of the cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong, "West Chu Bawang", Chen Kexin's "Golden Branches and Jade Leaves", etc. are all masterpieces, and the number of good works is rare in the history of Hong Kong cinema, and I miss it!
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In 1994 (Part 1), "50 Years of Talk" was staged for the last time