The accompanying elements of this article are from the official poster of Skyscraper Rescue.
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This July, the "medicine god" who is "not a medicine god" has become a "ticket god" and has killed all four parties in the movie market. But it's always a big one, and it's a bit boring. Fortunately, Hollywood's Dwayne Johnson's new work "Skyscraper Rescue" has added a little new sound to the theater. Two days after its release, the box office exceeded 200 million. Watching Johnson climb high and low inside and outside the skyscraper does make people feel scared, but after the shock, it always feels as if something is missing.
Johnson, who never makes mistakes, is not to be remembered
What's missing?
If you think about it again, after leaving the theater, do you remember who the security expert played by Johnson was named, and what were the signature actions or classic lines?
In addition to crawling around and occasionally swinging a few punches, the only thing that makes a little impression is probably the sentence that is repeatedly chanted to the children: "Who does Daddy love the most". This male protagonist is brave and strategic, dedicated and loves his family, quick and agile, just and upright... It's so good that it's like an artificial intelligence that can never go wrong. But the question is, do we really want that action hero on screen to be a perfect person who never makes a mistake?
In the past thirty years, the word "perfect" and action heroes are not very close - John McAllen of the "Die Hard" series, separated from his wife when he first appeared in the first episode, divorced as soon as the third episode appeared, and fell into alcoholism, and in the next two episodes, he had to fight for a pair of children, and people may not appreciate it; Mel Gibson in "Deadly Weapon" died of his wife as soon as he appeared, so he has a strong tendency to self-destruct, he must play with his life, and he will always be the first to rush up when he refutes the fire. Danny Glover, the partner who has caused his family to be happy and happy, has a heart attack from time to time; whether Eddie Murphy plays a jerk in two "48 Hours" or a police officer in the "Beverly Hills Super Detective" series, what can't be changed is the slippery tongue, hippie smile, and running the train with a full mouth... Even Professor Indiana Jones, who knows astronomy and geography, is both literate and martial, and has both wisdom and courage, has the distress of not handling the relationship between father and son and the small weakness of being afraid of snakes.
Will these white blemishes damage their heroic image? Quite the opposite: it is precisely because of these small shortcomings that the heroes do not seem so fearless and invincible, and they have a vital sense of closeness. J.P. Meyer said bluntly in his "Sociology of Cinema" - "Cinema is like a dream, and the dreamer imagines himself as the protagonist of the dream. "The hero is best and a mortal, he can often make small mistakes, a little innocuous character flaw, and even less able to fight." Mel Gibson was squashed by Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4, not because of his penchant for being beaten, but because audiences like to watch heroes who are as inferior as they are to win with their wits. Sometimes, proper selling and selling is more eye-catching, but the most important thing is to use it properly. Johnson, who lacks one leg, is not as good as just losing his shoes, and Bruce Willis, who stepped barefoot on two feet of glass, is more worrying, this is the truth.
In action movies, the sense of humor is more important than the skill
Believe it or not, sometimes a sense of humor is even more important than a skill. The martial arts masters Shange Yunton, Duff Longer, and Steven Siegel can only be glimpsed in the mainstream market forever, and half of their screen careers have been dedicated to the B-grade film and video market. Scott Atkins, who followed in their footsteps, was even worse off, and was often beaten by Jackie Chan and Wu Jing in Chinese films. In the final analysis, they all suffered losses that they could fight but could not "act".
The two major action idols in the minds of the Chinese people, Schwarzenegger and Stallone, have tried to take the cold-faced laughing craftsman route, but when acting in comedy, Stallone, who has suffered facial nerve injuries, is undoubtedly more disadvantaged, and the disastrous consequences caused by the thunderous "Mother and Child Weilong" finally let him close the door in the 1990s when action comedy was popular. And Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, the audience is tired of his image of the Devil Terminator? Don't worry, he can also be a home agent in "True Lies", an undercover "uncle" in "Kindergarten Detective", a fighting father in "All the Way Jingle", a cute big brother in "Brother Dragon and Mouse", and even a pregnant macho man in "Devil II"... In terms of drama and audience fate, they are better than the old opponents. The two major stars we have sent to Hollywood, Jackie Chan, who has more comedic talent, is obviously more open than Jet Li, which sounds unreasonable, but it is all due to the appreciation taste of mainstream audiences. Of course, funny also needs to have a degree, if you don't pay attention to playing Bruce Willis's "Ultimate Condor", the actor's market appeal and reputation, I am afraid it will be greatly reduced.
The producer's perfunctory eventually has to be paid for by the audience
Speaking of which, Dwayne Johnson is actually not unaware of this truth, "Scorpion King" and other early works do not press the table, in recent years he has taken on the action theme of the beam, and it seems that he has never spared pen and ink in the laughter, why is this climbing man in "Skyscraper Rescue" so boring? Seeing the logo of the producer Legendary Pictures that appeared at the beginning of the film, my heart seemed to know most of it. This company, which once created a brilliant achievement, but now has almost become the "number one production base of FMCG products for the Chinese market", in recent years, the perfunctory degree of the play, always outrageous, seems to be accurate as long as there are enough action elements to stimulate hormone secretion and sexy beauty support, it is enough to kill in the vast Chinese film market. This line of thinking, consistent with Johnson's films, is a "kiss" (keep it simple & stupid) route that wins with simplicity and directness. It's just that the embarrassing North American box office (24.9 million in the first weekend, the worst in recent years for Johnson action films) seems to have given an attitude - "Legend" and so mixed to eat and wait to die, I am afraid that in the future, it will really only be rooted in the "East".
The commercial film market is ultimately about audience talk. As a new generation of teenagers take over the scepter of mainstream audiences from the previous generation, the protagonists of Hollywood action movies have gradually changed from predatory detectives and crime masters to lewd otaku in "The Sea King", game monsters such as "Crooked Boy Scott Against the World", and even the 2.5-dimensional beautiful girls in "Pretty Girl Strike Force"... There is no doubt that these refreshing images of action heroes in the Internet era are tailor-made for the new generation, and will the small-town Chinese youth with a huge base become a new variable affecting the aesthetics of action heroes on the screen in the new century? I'm afraid it's still hard to make an assertion, but personally, I pray that that day will never come.
Finally, if you are past the age of dreaming, but you have been obsessed with the various action hero images on the screen, then I recommend the following films: "Rats and Dragons", "Phantom Hero", "Shange Winton". Common? They all take deconstructing action stars as their responsibility, looking at it and laughing, laughter, more or less with a little sentimentality.
□ Red Fish (Film Critic)