The original text was published on Zhihu, and the author is himself.
In my own words, I really like zombie movies. I'm not an expert. I don't like watching old movies very much. No matter how early I watch it, I will never go back to the 1980s and 1990s. After the new century, I have watched more zombie movies like this, basically If you are famous, you will definitely see it.
The requirements for this type of movies are relatively low. Basically, the zombie movies I have seen will not be very annoying if they have zombies. After watching this "Legion of the Living Dead", I feel a lot of incongruity, and I don't hate it, but I like it. Definitely don't like this one.
The fans of station B have a history of making videos about zombie movies. At the beginning, the zombie movies were made according to the idea of usual feature films, or the plot was the main story. Later, after the entertainment of zombie films, they began to walk out of their own way, focusing on describing the sense of crisis of the zombie virus outbreak, focusing on depicting various corpse tides, and the big scenes of fighting against zombies. I like this genre because of these elements.
After the new century, there have been many zombie films with new elements. "I Am Legend", "Zombie Shaun", and "Warm Corpse" have all made new tricks, and some have made their content in traditional routines. The big "Zombie World War" has also achieved success. Not to mention, it can be seen that everyone is tired of the zombie movies that didn't have too many tricks before, and everyone in the new century is basically trying to make some new routines.
As for my thoughts after watching this "Legion of the Living Dead", I will organize the language to share a little here, it may be a bit messy, and there are three major problems that can be summed up.
①The topic is not clear, the topic selection is too swaying
Zha Dao's "Legion of the Living Dead" is said to have been conceived after "Dawn of the Living Dead", but the concept at that time is definitely very different from the current finished product. The "Legion" presented now, including these aliens, mechanical zombies and other cosmic elements, may have had a little idea at the time, but it will definitely not be as systematic as it is now to create such a universe.
In addition, when the movie actually started to write the script, Director Zha happened to experience the grief of the loss of his daughter, and this lack of his daughter also greatly affected the theme of the script.
Therefore, I make a bold guess. Perhaps the theme of the original version of "Legion of the Living Dead" should focus on satirizing human nature, because the people in the film are all for their own selfish interests. Some deserved it. This should be the only theme when the film was originally conceived, and there are still traces of this theme being explored in the final film.
This is the first and biggest shortcoming of "Legion of the Living Dead". The director is erratic in terms of the theme and positioning of the film, from the sequel to "Dawn of the Living Dead", to the need for human nature, the need for group drama, the need for the universe, and then to To increase the father-daughter relationship, he is constantly raising the difficulty of making the film, and the central idea has become blurred, so much that it is beyond his ability.
②The logic of details is not handled properly, and there is too much white space
This is the spray point of many people, but here I try to analyze it from another angle.
This fault of Zha Dao has existed from the DC series, and this film reflects it more clearly. Many people say that Zach can't tell stories, but I think storytelling is a bit too general. More specifically, when it comes to some events, psychological changes, and motivational details, it is not well expressed.
When he deals with these things, he generally likes to use music + slow motion + close-up of characters' faces, and at most flashback montages.
You can recall that in fact, many things can be explained. For example, why didn't you go in for ten minutes and take out the head, that's because the military didn't know there was such an Alpha organization, so the inner ghost didn't even know there was a sacrifice This matter of sacrifice; why didn't you save the hooded girl, because the person walking in front said that they were really unfamiliar, and the inner ghost pulled the Internet celebrity, and the Internet celebrity was stunned when they saw this battle for the first time; the hooded girl thought she was knocked out. , I thought about getting out of danger on my own and then finding the inner ghost to settle the account, but I was careless in Jingzhou; why not ask the protagonist to take the lead and pay him, because this is the product of a small group of military alien experiments, and we can't let others know, ordinary The army can't know, so one-time mercenaries are used, and the inner ghost must be arranged to silence the mouth at the appropriate time... Let's spread it out, the closing of the BVS Batman is also a meaning, and the reason is reasonable. It just doesn't look good.
So this is the biggest fault of Zha Dao, and it can be summed up as a feeling: if you really want to explain, you can have an explanation, that is, you need the audience to understand it for themselves. This is very problematic.
In anime, people generally like to use psychological narration to deal with such problems, but live-action movies will be more dramatic if they use psychological narration. Generally, they will cleverly use lines to bring out some things that need to be explained, or more complex character psychology, and some action logic. , or the atmosphere has been set in place, and the audience can naturally understand it. It's a pity that Director Zha is a little too confident in his camera language. He is very keen to not write lines on key logic, just to enhance the atmosphere and let the audience realize it by themselves.
In the past, each of the DC series had one or two such problems. You can understand it after explaining it. This one is really too much. The things that need to be explained clearly are not done well. Stop, affect the perception, it is a bit too much.
③Other elements are overwhelming, but these elements themselves are not well done
This problem is actually brought out by the first point "the theme of the movie is not clear", and this new element mainly includes the "zombie universe" and "father-daughter love".
Let's talk about the zombie universe first. This can't help but remind me of the dark monster universe that Legendary Pictures is going to develop. The new version of "The Mummy" he made is exactly the same as this movie. Obviously, everyone has no foundation about this universe, so they are anxious to give It was presented, which caused the audience who were attracted by the old version of the mummy to feel that the taste was not right at all. The ancient Egyptian elements that were full of elements in the past were scattered by various messy things, and then his own story was also general, and it ended hastily.
Going back to this movie, it is quite a failure to use the few zombie shots to bury easter eggs and expand the universe. After all, most audiences are attracted mainly because of zombie movies, not because they like this Zack. The zombie universe only came here (few have heard of it!), not to mention that the story of your movie is just as bad as the new mummy, which makes it even more uninteresting.
There is also the element of father-daughter love, but unfortunately, it is not good enough at this point. You can say that Zha Dao's writing is very sincere. After all, he brought in his own writing, but I have to admit that he did not write any new tricks. The drama of the daughter and the father is too old-fashioned. Similar father-daughter, The relationship between father and son We have seen too many disaster films in which the protagonist is a mid-life crisis. The image of such a daughter is too common. We have seen the process of dying too many times, and we have watched the way of reconciliation too many times. It makes the audience feel bored when they see these episodes.
If you really want to say something good, what you say to your daughter at the end can be brought into what Zha Dao said to his daughter.
My suggestion is
Director Zha did not correct his mentality when he made this movie. It was too radical. It is better to film the content related to zombies honestly first. The front is very exciting, and what kind of world view he wants to expand will give the audience a surprise at the end.
If you have the level, you can indeed be like "I Am Legend". There are not many zombie scenes, and it focuses on describing the psychology of the characters in the lonely apocalypse. The protagonist in the legion is okay, and the acting skills of the teammates are unbelievable).
You said how spectacular the hordes of corpses in the trailer are. I can guarantee that many people watching the trailer are most amazing and looking forward to that place. As a result, the scene in the main film is just a background introduction. In a few seconds, the A10 washes the floor, and then There are no more zombies on the streets... not to mention how disappointing it is. If it doesn't work, you'd better figure out what most audiences want to see first, and then expand on that.
It's a pity that Zhadao wants to focus on expressing some of his own ideas, but the theme to be expressed is not good, the story is not bright, and the effect of telling it is not very good, and these take up too much of the zombies that should be used. Time is not enough fun.
back to conclusion
All in all, it corresponds to the conclusion of my title: even if I tell him to go up, he can't go up, and if he wants to come down, he doesn't want to come down, even if he is left in the middle, you know what I mean?
The above are the problems I can think of with this movie. The production level itself is not bad. If you can correct your attitude and clarify your own position, the effect will definitely be very different, which is a pity.
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