"Eavesdropping 2" and "Eavesdropping" are completely unrelated stories, but their common denominator is that although they are all based on the theme of "eavesdropping", eavesdropping still appears only as a gimmick, even if the cause and end of the story fall on the eavesdropper, the role of eavesdropping is still very limited in the climax of the plot composed of the past and present lives of the landlord society. But Eavesdropping 2 is still a lot better than the previous game, and most importantly, the film highly functionalizes the three main characters, enhancing the effective interaction between them, and this interaction becomes the driving force that affects the entire conspiracy to surface, so that this carefully laid out chess game is alive. Perhaps after the failed sword of "Guan Yunchang", "Eavesdropping 2" is a very important work for Mai Zhuang to establish personal business character, and if it can be adhered to, China finally has a commercial film that plays WITH IQ.
The whole film lasts for 120 minutes, which is long, mainly because of the procrastination of the first half of the character attributes and the explanation of the character relationship paragraph, especially Huang Yi's role, not to say a word, but dispensable, of course, this is from the perspective of maintaining the conciseness and integrity of the plot, and has nothing to do with acting. Only when the big guys of the landlords' association came to the foreground from behind the scenes, the story was really exciting, and Liu Qingyun's selling cuteness, Wu Yanzu's fierce appearance and Gu Tianle's interspersed running were realized. In fact, most movies, including Hollywood conspiracy movies, will feel uncomplicated when they are reviewed after breaking the game, but the confusion in the process comes more from the narrative skills of the creators pointing to the east and the west, wanting to get away with it, so in the process, the audience can feel the pleasure of roller coaster. From this point of view, "Eavesdropping 2" is very successful, and the jokes of the life-and-death showdown are frequent, and this is not the blunt joke of the arm-and-limbed people, but the laughter produced by the natural reaction of the characters. This should also be the skill of the screenwriter-turned-director Mai Zhuang, although there are flaws in some plot connections, but the overall smooth progress is still pleasing to the eye, I think this is their best screenwriting work since "Infernal Affairs".
Although "Eavesdropping 2" has many elements of police films, especially the flying car scene is very imaginative, on the whole, it is still a drama film that combines the elements of detective and business warfare, which adds a lot of scenes about the stock market to turn clouds and rain than "Eavesdropping", and because of the changing background of the age of this part of the content, it adds a sense of heaviness to the content of the film. For Hong Kong film fans, the eyes and thoughts should not only stay on the three main actors, Zeng Jiang, Hu Feng, Guo Feng, Luo Yingjun, Jiang Yi and other golden supporting actors who have witnessed the rise and fall of Hong Kong movies and TV series may be able to confirm the feelings of the years.
Whether it is from the production team, or the role interpretation. "Eavesdropping 2" is worthy of being the best Hong Kong-made police drama after Infernal Affairs. The plot is wonderful and fascinating. It has many attractive elements such as "eavesdropping, flying cars, business wars, action fights, stock market battles" and so on. The strategizing of the two major directors of Maizhuang, the outstanding performances of Liu Guwu's three major actors, and the wonderful performances of many golden supporting roles all determine the high quality of this film. And Sima Nianzu, played by Wu Yanzu, is the most brilliant role.
In the play, Wu Yanzu, in order to take revenge, only relying on his own strength and power to reach the heavenly landlord will not fall behind, saying that the wisdom and courage are both complete. What is more impressive is a flying car scene in the play, Wu Yanzu was hit by the head and bleeding, and almost died under the truck. After climbing up, he continued to fight with Gu Tianle, evil and handsome, full of fierceness. When he took care of his mother in the nursing home, the warm side was fully revealed. If it's just these scenes, maybe the role isn't particularly appealing. As the plot progresses, you will find that Wu Yanzu is not only as simple as avenging his father, but also shoulders the heavy responsibility of seeking justice from the landlord for his father and other victimized shareholders. Finally, in order to be able to make the landlord receive the punishment he deserves, and even pay his life for it. The evil charm does not diminish, and the tragic heroic ending adds a little charm to this character.
He Zhiqiang, played by Gu Tianle: loyal to his duties, full of sense of justice, deeply in love with his wife Ye Xuan, but had to personally send her to prison. Luo Minsheng, played by Liu Qingyun. People in the rivers and lakes, involuntarily. The whole process is more like a pawn, coming and going by yourself, and the whole movie is manipulated. The performance of the two of them was decent. And Zeng Jiang, Hu Feng, Guo Feng, Luo Yingjun, Jiang Yi and other golden supporting characters played by the landlords will be the big guys, bad and bad, charming, fully showing the style of the old drama bones.
However, throughout the whole play, the first half of the plot and the description of the relationship between the characters are more and more protracted, resulting in the first half of the excitement is not very enough, the plot is not compact enough, obviously slowing down the pace of the entire movie. Until the second half of the landlords will be the big guys on the scene, the pace of the whole movie is accelerated, and the excitement is also strengthened a lot. Moreover, the two directors of Maizhuang are good at male dramas, but they are not good at handling emotional dramas. In the two emotional scenes between Ye Xuan and Gu Tianle, Huang Yi and Liu Qingyun, the two actresses were completely overshadowed by Liu Gu's two large men. If you don't, you can't promote the smooth development of the plot, but it drags down the rhythm of the whole movie. The two emotional dramas are like chicken ribs, tasteless food, and it is a pity to abandon it. These details and the grasp of the rhythm of the film determine that this play cannot transcend infernal affairs and cannot become a classic among classics. But I have to say that "Eavesdropping 2" is the best Hong Kong police drama film after Infernal Affairs. Not surprisingly, this film will become a hit at next year's major awards, and it is expected that this film will become Wu Yanzu's first work of emperorship.
There is such a sentence in my mind to describe Wu Yanzu's description of Sima Nianzu: The most is the evil charm that bows down, the evil to the bone blood, the handsome to the style.