Preach in words. - Don Tears
Three years after the release of the movie "Cold War II".
A senior member of the Hong Kong Police Force once asked Aaron Kwok's agent, Xiaomei, through public online channels, "When will we see 'Cold War III.'"
At the beginning of the filming of "Infernal Affairs".
The Hong Kong police felt that the subject matter of the film was sensitive, and they were afraid that it would damage the image of the Police Force, so they wrote to the director and asked for slight changes.
In contrast, the treatment of "Cold War" can be described as the only Hong Kong police film, which also shows that the influence of this film is deeply rooted in reality.
This is due to the screenwriting ideas and realistic materials of the two directors.
It is also inseparable from the intention, hard work and sincere cooperation attitude of the entire creative team.
The real meaning of "Cold War" is not the popularization and decryption of the various compilations of the Hong Kong Police Force, nor is it a "game of thrones".
They look at the theme of police movies on a higher level.
And explained the true meaning of the Force.
The duty of protection.
Before reviewing the acting skills of the two leading actors, let's clarify a concept.
On the issue of cinematic temperament.
Many people may think that this is a vague concept and it is difficult to answer, but like individual people, some people are sunny and some are gloomy, and movies are no exception, it can be inspirational, it can be warm, it can also be violent and dark.
In a word, the "main impression" is the temperament of the film.
Take "Infernal Affairs", the plot is complicated, the police send people to go undercover in the underworld, the underworld sends people to the police force to reverse the undercover, and what is the main impression after various plot filters? It is "three years and three years" of suffering, fear and inability to be liberated.
And what is the main impression left by the "Cold War" movie?
The disappearance of the stormtrooper has triggered a struggle for the supreme command of the police force, the robbers demanding ransoms, the overpass gunfight, the conspiracy and counterattack, the intertwining of multiple forces, the conspiracy layout and the conspiracy, is it very complicated?
But if you skip these plot-side things, the movie can be summed up in two words.
This is the "guardianship" mentioned above.
And these two main impressions have corresponding character representatives.
There is no doubt that "Infernal Affairs" is Liang Chaowei, while "Cold War" is Aaron Kwok.
This problem has nothing to do with acting skills, because the character's story line is the main theme of the film, so "Infernal Affairs" is closely related to Chen Yongren's fate, and "Cold War" is inseparable from Liu Jiehui's righteousness.
By extension, what is the temperament of "Peerless", "Dark War" and even "Dark Flower"? You can infer for yourself.
Enter the acting review.
The prelude to the opening of the film, with a typhoon trailer, street pedestrians and explosions, pulls the audience into the reality of the film, followed by drunken drag racing, crashes and stormtroopers to handle official business, and connects the eyes to the police force.
Then interspersed with an internal confrontation between the police personnel, the senior superintendent of the action team, Kwong Chi-li, and Du Wen of the management team, Kwong's approach brought out a trace of roughness and banditry of the action team personnel, and also made an explanation of the characteristics of the personnel of different departments, laying the groundwork for the subsequent conflict, the editing of this plot is very characteristic of Hong Kong films, the pace is fast and not chaotic, and the visual impact is extremely strong.
In the 6th minute and 17 seconds, Deputy Commissioner of Police Liu Jiehui appeared.
Suits, watches, a meticulous back, from getting out of the car, receiving information, walking strides, the look between the eyebrows, and the expectation of entering the conference room to beckoning everyone to take their seats, these are all performances after careful calculations.
Aaron Kwok's performance is calm, atmospheric and deep, as if he is a real high-level police figure, which is completely different from the high-level characters who are either hanging er Lang Dang or not thinking in the past Hong Kong police films.
This nearly one-minute performance set the tone of the film and the tone of the whole film, and also made "Cold War" different from any police gangster genre film in the history of Hong Kong cinema.
In the 7th minute and 13 seconds, Deputy Commissioner of Police Li Wenbin appeared.
Suit, beard, glasses and bald head image, walking tiger tiger wind, the movement is wide open, the eyebrows are not angry and threatening.
Liang Jiahui accurately grasped the character of the character, vigorous and clean.
This is the first game to be evenly divided.
A meeting to link the prelude to the Force.
The explosion, the disappearance and blackmail of the stormtrooper, the storm is coming, the dark tide in the venue is surging, and the contradiction and conflict between the action group and the management group is unveiled through Li Wenbin's accusations, and this drama shows the strength of the action group to the fullest. As the manager of the civilian department, Liu Jiehui has almost no say in front of Li Wenbin on issues related to the police force's dispatch, let alone a subordinate information system leader.
This scene is the "aggression" and "concession" of the two characters, the contrast between "strong" and "weak aura", and the two control and expression are equally accurate and impeccable.
The subsequent listening to technical explanations and performance on the way out of the police, as well as the line "The accident is this action code", fully revealed Liu Jiehui's characteristics of good thinking and capturing details, and laid the groundwork for him to break the situation with the help of higher authorities and the power of the Independent Commission Against Corruption when facing the dilemma later.
In the face of Li Wenbin's obstinate behavior, he still insists on "speaking two sentences", which is the bottom line of the role of principle and position.
This is the second game to be evenly divided.
Then there was a scene between Liu Jiehui and his superior Lu Minghua.
This scene of only one minute and ten seconds is very interesting. On the big screen, it was Aaron Kwok's first meeting with Andy Lau in nineteen years, the last time being in 1993's Super School Bully, in which Aaron Kwok made a cameo appearance.
In contrast, Aaron Kwok's expression and eyes are "stable", while Andy Lau has joined the linkage of hands, head and eyebrows, and even has the action of plucking lips and sipping lips, lively and skipped, and the eyes are slightly free, feeling not in the state.
On the contrary, in the back of a public speech scene by Lu Minghua, Andy Lau played well.
In a scene that co-opts Kwong Chi-li, Aaron Kwok's eyebrows are full of the breath of a superior, and he shows a shrewd side who knows the rules well.
The ransom calculation is a plot designed for the differences in the character's personality, and the next Li Wenbin's speech and Liu Jiehui's office plan can be skipped.
Enter the climactic scene of "Office Brawl".
At the beginning, Liu Jiehui went straight to the theme, Li Wenbin dialed four or two thousand pounds, and even had the mood to ridicule Liu Jiehui and Liang Meiwei for falling in love.
In the first round, Liu Jiehui tightly followed the regulations, and Li Wenbin looked at him left and right, and the momentum was suppressed.
Li Wenbin then tried to forcibly end the conversation with the power of the action group, but found that he was pulled away and the situation became delicate.
And so began a fierce and dizzying round of rhetoric.
If you carefully study the lines, you know that Li Wenbin has actually been at a legal disadvantage, because Liu Jiehui grasps the procedures and regulations to make difficulties, while Li Wenbin responds to disputes between individuals and departments, the design is very wonderful, and the lines are meticulous enough to fully match the characteristics of the characters.
This scene is very difficult and the average person can't control it.
Because of the dedication of the two, the director had already received the goods for the first time, but based on the attitude of pursuing perfection, the two decided to reshoot.
Later, because the speed and rhythm were always difficult to match, it was filmed a total of 21 times.
When the film was promoted, the director said that Aaron Kwok had a toothache at the time, supported by painkillers, and only learned about it from his assistant afterwards.
Some people say that this scene is very similar to the quarrel scene of "Red Tide Storm", or it is too much to say plagiarism.
Where are the similarities? A sword in a confined space.
But to be honest, the scene of "Cold War" is much better than "Red Tide Storm", whether it is organization, level or intensity, it must win, or can be understood as "blue out of blue and better than blue".
As far as this scene is concerned, the aura, emotions and transitions of the two film emperors are very exciting, and there is no distinction between high and low.
In the next speech scene, Aaron Kwok showed a state of completeness, which was very good.
The dignity, aura and sense of proportion of the high-ranking members of the Police Force are all precise, especially the firmness and unquestionability of the eyes are particularly worthy of appreciation.
Later, from arranging dispatches, negotiating with kidnappers and delivering ransoms, to overpass gun battles, it was all Aaron Kwok's one-man show, and it was not until the hospital scene that he met Leung Ka Fai again.
The gunfight and car chase scene design of the overpass are particularly wonderful, making people sigh at the evolution of Hong Kong films, the gunfight scene is no longer as buggy as the early Hong Kong films, Xu Yongji was shot here, Aaron Kwok made the first outbreak on the performance, from the detection of the wrong start to speed up the pace, to find that the colleague was shot when the eyes were solemn, suddenly red eyes, shouting "ambulance".
In a conversation at the hospital, Liu Jiehui's pain is in stark contrast to Li Wenbin's calm restraint, and this scene makes the audience understand that in fact, from beginning to end, they are not in a state of opposition, but comrades in the same camp.
This was followed by two scenes by the IcAC.
Liu Jiehui has a line, "No matter what position I am in, every decision I make is based on the safety of Hong Kong citizens." Lee Man Bin said, "I have served the Hong Kong Police Force for 30 years, and I have met many people and offended many people. But in these 30 years, I have learned one thing: every institution, every department, every position, has its own rules of the game, whether dark or light, the first step, learn it."
Here, Leung Ka Fai shows a more powerful aura, while Aaron Kwok is slightly more unusual.
We didn't see the script, of course, I don't know how much difference there is between the performance and the script, but Leung Ka Fai's performance of the mirror monologue is really full of excitement and is particularly admirable.
At the end of the film, the two people salute each other, which makes the film leap to another level.
It's a symbol that Cold War is far removed from the feuds and feuds of traditional cop movies.
Overall, the film is based on the solidity of the script, the ability of the director and the excellent performances of the two film emperors.
Their performance is very light-hearted and wonderful.
And the following year's Academy Awards did not give Aaron Kwok a nomination for a film emperor, which is indeed surprising.
Therefore, many people in the industry in Hong Kong were aggrieved for Aaron Kwok.
But awards are never proof of acting prowess.
If you want to say that Leung Ka-fai in this film is slightly higher than Aaron Kwok, it is most likely because of the play of the ICAC scene.
As mentioned earlier, the temperament of the film is actually determined by Aaron Kwok's own righteousness.
Therefore, the evaluation of "equal division" should be very fair.