Mel Gibson once again played the old tough guy, which became the biggest selling point of the film "Outlaw Redemption".
Directed by Jean-Francis Rickets and brought together Mel Gibson, Irene Moriarty and other actors, the French action thriller "Redemption" landed in mainland theaters on November 30, and by the time of writing, the film had earned more than 10 million at the box office, although the box office performance was mediocre, but this Gibson return to the traditional tough guy action film still showed his uninhibited style of his heyday. The film has a Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating of 88% and a metacritic score of 67, which is decent. In 2016, Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge" was released in the mainland and grossed at the box office, which is also a strong return after he began to fall into a series of scandals in 2006, and in the past two years, Gibson's future film plans for both actor and director have emerged in an endless stream. According to foreign media reports, gibson, who is already 62 years old, will also cooperate with Warner Bros. Pictures to restart the western classic film "Sunset Yellow Sands", and is writing the script for the film with Brian Bagby, and he is still preparing the sequel to "The Passion of the Christ", "Maeber" is so busy, I don't know what surprises he will bring to the film market?
Plot Theme Violent Father takes a rebellious daughter to his death
At first glance, Redemption shares the same story theme as the Hurricane Rescue series starring Liam Neeson, but the style of the film is more explosive and decisive, and the film revolves around a pair of troubled father and daughter: the rebellious daughter Lydia goes astray, mistakenly shoots her enigmatic boyfriend, and then flees back to her long-retired father, John Link. Who expected that the criminal organization behind the boyfriend wanted to take his daughter away and kill him. The iron-blooded father and his daughter began a life of desperation, sparing no effort to fight against the bloody and cruel criminal organization. The film leads the plot through two different main lines, from the different perspectives of the two protagonists. First of all, through the perspective of his daughter, he tells the beginning and end of the whole story, from the shooting to the forced search for his father, thus starting the journey of desperation; at the same time, he also portrays his experience over the years, his style of behavior and his emotional attitude towards his daughter from the perspective of his father. Later in the film, the two main lines of daughter and father are merged into one, and the father and daughter also gradually understand each other's unspeakable and bitter feelings from the initial strange confrontation to abandoning stereotypes and working together to fight in the end of the world. For Link, fleeing with his daughter is to connect the past and the future, to get the most value for the sacrifice in reality, and Lydia also washes away the dust and returns to the normal life that ordinary daughters have. It can be said that "Redemption" is a double redemption, and both father and daughter have achieved the restart of life in the process of escape and counter-killing.
Father and daughter each completed their own redemption in exile.
Performance transformation Hot-blooded man becomes sleek old fritters
Born in the United States and raised in Australia, Gibson is undoubtedly the representative of the classical tough guy in the action crime genre of the 1980s and 1990s, who was over 60 years old when he made this film, he transformed into a bearded, white-haired, battle-hardened veteran Link, and there is no lack of multi-layered portrayals of him still trying to restrain his thirst for alcohol. For the portrayal of Link's role, director Rachel said that he wanted to create a contrasting image of a classical tough guy who only belonged to Gibson in the new era, "Gibson is a talented actor, his performance has the calm and feelings of the old times, but also can play the cleverness and shock of the new action films, this time he is responsible for more than 80% of the action scenes in the film." Whether it's hand-to-hand combat in the carriage, or a rapid chase on a Harley-davidine motorcycle on the highway, or a Jedi duel with gunfire, all the large-scale and difficult action scenes seen are played by Gibson himself, and his performance level is still surprising. ”
In addition to the action scenes, Gibson's role this time has also brought a lot of changes to his own interpretation, although he still maintains his consistent strong personality, but more shows the image of a sophisticated and sleek father who his daughter's broken heart. Gibson is no longer the fearless and reckless young man of the past, but has become an old and slippery old "old fritter" father. In this regard, Gibson believes that through this role, the coldness and impermanence of reality will be directly shown to the audience.
Lin Keping, played by Gibson in the film, makes a living by helping others tattoo, although he is down, but the blood courage is still there.
Character resonance Character relationship treatment is more indifferent
"Redemption" is a typical road action movie, the father and daughter duo flee all the way, to avoid the police and thugs of the two sides to chase, the film has always been around the tense atmosphere. Link's anger is stirred by the infinite past and the emotion of regret, he abandoned the family, and took on too many secrets and sentences for the big guy, because he lost hope of life and even committed suicide several times, and his daughter was his only hope of survival. Daughter Lydia's loss also lies in the reckless responsibility of the parents, her wandering in different foster families means that she can never find a sense of belonging, this role is not inferior to Link's strong personality, both of them show the style of their respective characters in the film, making the connection between the characters seem a little cold.
Link's lack of care for his daughter, the series of troubles caused by her going astray, is actually he paying off his past mistakes. But the film is slightly weaker in showing the emotional repair between father and daughter, first of all, because the whole film is always on the non-stop escape route, the relationship between the two people is more like obedience and obedience, it is difficult to have space to express the father's love and the daughter's obedience, it seems that the two characters are more like partners than father and daughter. In addition, two characters with very strong personalities meet, they show what they think, so that it is difficult for the audience to feel the changes in the emotional ups and downs of the characters. At the end of the film, Richey puts the sustenance of the feelings between the two completely on the parting of life and death, but it cannot save much emotional scene, and the father-daughter relationship with deep righteousness is difficult to resonate with the audience.
Because the plot is full of depictions of the escape crisis, the film is slightly weaker in showing the emotional repair between father and daughter.
Front-line Q&A
Q: You've been busy lately, as a successful director, do you have any thoughts on the international market that is becoming increasingly important?
Mel Gibson: In stories that draw me in, I always try to keep something of universal significance. I want my films to resonate when they are screened in countries of any cultural background. I remember that ten years ago, a film could reach the domestic and international box office at five to five, but the balance has been broken in recent years, and now it is generally four or six, so the importance of the international market is becoming more and more prominent. A lot of movies are incredibly high at the box office right now, but I care more about whether they fit the audience's tastes.
Q: No matter how many plans there are, a lot of people are following you and superhero movies, what do you think of these?
Mel Gibson: There are some that are not bad and funny, like Guardians of the Galaxy or the first episode of Iron Man, but some are just repeated remakes, and maybe the entertainment business is different now. I think in hollywood before you could see more diverse stories, movies, and ways of acting, and you would have more opportunities to experience more deeply, but these are no longer there, only in those independent films, but they only have half the resources to do twice as much.
Q: Robert Downey Jr. has said that if you are willing to direct "Iron Man 4", he is willing to continue to play the role of Tony Stark, so are you interested in entering the superhero circle?
Mel Gibson: Actually, I was asked very early on about my willingness to star in a superhero movie, and they asked me a long time ago if I wanted to play Thor's dad, but in the end I didn't.
Beijing News reporter Zhou Huixiaowan Editor Huang Jialing Proofreader Jia Ning Image source Network