We walked into the cinema with the idea of watching a wonderful drama film. After watching it, we were disappointed, regretful, distressed about the ticket money. In fact, it was just our inherent impression that blinded our eyes. Perhaps, we are wrong to blame Zhang Yimou. Maybe he wasn't making a Hollywood co-production, maybe he just followed the trend of variety show adaptations and made an "Olympic Opening Ceremony Movie".
Of course, the above is just a joke.
After the release of "The Great Wall", I once saw such remarks in the WeChat group: Laomouzi didn't have too many stories before, he was just a good producer. This time the story is just passable, the rest is for viewing and entertainment. If he can properly integrate Chinese elements into the advanced Hollywood film industry, then the commercial films he will deliver will be excellent, so don't be too harsh.
Exo me? Excuse me, can the story of "The Great Wall" really give a passing score?
And, Zhang Yimou, did the previous films really have no stories?
Personally, the story has always been the focus of Zhang Yimou's films, and it is also his advantage. Whether Zhang Yimou's early or late works, as long as the script is exquisitely polished and touching, it will basically be a masterpiece. Can't forget "The Big Red Lantern Hanging High" and "Alive", and also can't forget "Love of the Hawthorn Tree" and "Return". Some of these films may not be perfect, but they would be meaningless without a polished, tear-jerking plot.
And commercial-oriented movies such as "Codename Jaguar" and "Three Shots Surprise", the story is a mess, and even if there are big-name actors, the reputation is not much better. When director Wu Tianming was alive, he angrily denounced Zhang Yimou's "Three Shots Shooting the Table Surprise". I believe that if he could live to see "The Great Wall", he would also slap the table and glared at him.
"The Great Wall" is full of foreigners behind the scenes, such as Zhang Yimou's old partner Zhao Xiaoding, and the screenwriter and producer. In the interview, Andy Lau admitted that although "The Great Wall" was filmed in China, Zhang Yimou was always under the foreign system. During the filming of "The Great Wall", it was only filmed from Monday to Friday, with a maximum of 10 hours a day, and the number of shots needed to be completed within a limited time. In addition to the large-scale scenes in which people can see that it is Zhang Yimou's style, "The Great Wall" is like a monster film made by a second-rate foreign director, giving people the feeling that Zhang Yimou has been overridden as a whole.
The most prominent is the background setting full of loopholes. Ignore Jing Tian and Andy Lau's fluent English. There was no translation of "Spanish" in the Song Dynasty; Zhangye, located in the Danxia landform in the northwest, was far from the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, Bianliang (now Kaifeng City), and no dynasty dared to set the capital and frontier theater like this. Near (and not North Korea...);
In traditional Chinese culture, "Taotie" is the son of the dragon. In the movie, it was directly mass-produced, and it became "Taotie World War"; the Chinese "hot air balloon" in the film just pushed the history of manned flight forward. It has been pushed for 800 years; the black powder in the movie is even more powerful than the current explosive detonator, and it can catch up with the naval shelling cover in "Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge".
In addition, in ancient times, there were very few established female troops, let alone female generals. In the battlefields of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, women were often used to make absurd "vaginal formations". The ancients believed that the female genitals, menstruation, and urine and feces could make the magic fail. In Lu Xun's "A Chang and the Classic of Mountains and Seas", A Chang said: "When an army came to attack outside the city, Long Mao told us to take off our trousers and stand on the city wall in a row, and the cannons outside would If you can't release it, if you want to release it again, it will explode."
Second, there are actors. As we all know, Zhang Yimou is very good at finding outstanding actresses. From Gong Li, Wei Minzhi, Dong Jie to Zhang Ziyi and Zhou Dongyu, the heroines in Zhang Yimou's films often perform well.
But this time, Zhang Yimou "boldly" used Ms. Jing Tian, who has never been able to act but appeared everywhere, as the heroine. Jing Tian's role in "The Great Wall" is second only to Matt Damon. However, Jing Tian's acting skills are far from those of the above-mentioned actresses, and are not even qualified to compare. Perhaps, this should not be Zhang Yimou's decision.
As for the other Chinese actors, they shouldn't be blamed for their poor performance, but the script simply didn't write their characters well. In addition to Andy Lau's characters are still full, each one is as vulnerable as a piece of paper, becoming a living prop of the movie.
However, "The Great Wall" really inherits a little bit of Zhang Yimou's style, that is, those foreign protagonists who were smugly like a gangster in the first second, turned into a heroic and tall figure immediately after meeting the heroine, vowing to Left to fight evil for righteousness (Nv) righteousness (Ren). Before, Christian Bale in "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" decided to stay in Nanjing City, and then Matt Damon in "The Great Wall" decided to stay and fight monsters. Foreigners are all living Lei Feng.
Based on Zhang Yimou's ability to dig out and train actors, it stands to reason that he would rather use a newcomer than let Jing Tian play the heroine. There will not be so many loopholes set regardless. What's more, this is a project that took two or three years to research and shoot. Therefore, this "The Great Wall", like "Three Guns", was shot by him with his eyes closed, which is a scam. Or, Zhang Yimou was forced to film it in order to complete the task. In short, with Zhang Yimou's qualifications, he should be very clear about what level of things he is shooting this time.
Perhaps, we really wrong Zhang Yimou. Maybe, behind every frame you see, there is a guy with a gun pointed at his head.
PS Before the deadline, I saw Zhang Yimou's interview and said that I hope Chinese audiences can feel proud after reading it.
Well... let's just watch the Olympics.
This article was first published in the Basel Cinema app
View more about The Great Wall reviews
