Because basically, they are not only the plot is arranged, the ending is already doomed.
More importantly, the subject they want to express is always too clear.
Therefore, the main theme movie is easy to fall into the predicament of either chicken blood or chicken soup.
However, the main theme movie can also move people.
For example, the movie that was released in North America not long ago-Patriots Day (Patriots Day).
The reputation of the movie "Patriot Day" is more interesting.
The freshness of Rotten Tomatoes is 79%, and the critics' score is only 6.9, which is not particularly eye-catching.
But the audience love rate is as high as 90%.
How should this score be understood?
Basically, it means: from the point of view of professional film critics, this film has obvious flaws. On the whole, it is only qualified and not outstanding.
But for the vast majority of ordinary movie fans: No matter how many of him, I think it looks good!
The reason for this reputation is firstly because the film tells a very special story.
"Patriot's Day" is a holiday in the United States. It was originally set on April 19 to commemorate the first battle of the American Revolutionary War-the "Lexington Gunshots" that occurred on April 19, 1775.
Beginning in 1969, in Massachusetts, Patriot Day was changed to the third Monday in April.
The famous Boston Marathon was held to celebrate Patriot Day.
On April 15, 2013, the 117th Boston Marathon was held as scheduled. Just as it was lively and peaceful, a major event happened that shocked the world.
The Boston Marathon bombing.
Two bombs detonated near the finish line, killing 3 people and injuring 183 others. One of the victims was Lu Lingzi, a Chinese student at Boston University.
After the incident, the FBI quickly intervened and defined the incident as a terrorist attack. The suspects were identified as 26-year-old Tamirnan Shaniyev and 19-year-old brother Joka Shaniyev.
During the hunt, the older brother was shot dead by the police and his younger brother was captured by the police on the same day.
The movie "Patriot Day" basically restores this event that most of the United States knows about once.
In fact, this is why ordinary fans like it.
Because for the American people, the Boston bombing is not only a story, but also a "private matter."
It can be said that as long as the audience can feel empathy again, the movie has been successful.
"Patriot Day" can be said to spare no effort in this task.
From the most basic level, first of all, the reduction degree of related characters is very high.
The explosion scene also highly restored the situation of the day.
Of course, these are the most basic. The most prominent feature of this film is its narrative structure.
At the beginning of the film, the daily life of the different participants in the bombing case was presented. Then from their point of view, the audience gradually walked into this event.
These different participants include the victims of the bombing; the MIT police officer who was unfortunately killed by the bombing suspect.
There are local police in Boston and Watertown (the place where the police exchanged fire with the suspect); there are even Chinese car owners who rob the vehicles of terrorists during their escape.
The advantage of this is that it naturally makes the audience empathize with the participants of these events.
When we experience this event from their perspective, the event is no longer far away from us.
When we watched Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, as innocent marathon spectators, they were seriously injured by terrorists and had to have both limbs amputated. We would unconsciously be heartbroken for them and could not help being angry at the terrorist atrocities. .
When we watch the sheriff of the water town exchange fire with the vicious terrorists, we can't help but sweat for him.
When we saw the kidnapped Chinese compatriots, plucked up the courage to escape from the terrorist’s car, rushed to a nearby convenience store to call the police, and spoke to the police in English with a strong Chinese accent: "Go Catch these motherfuckers!" (Go catch these motherfuckers!), we couldn't help but laugh out loud, unexpectedly, there was a strong sense of national pride.
It is the empathy for each of these participants that allows us viewers who have not experienced this horrible event personally to feel it personally.
When we turn a "story" into a "private matter" related to ourselves, it is hard not to be impressed.
At the end of the movie, when the prototype photos and interview clips of the event participants were released, the audience was even more shocked.
Anyway, seeing Patrick Downes himself running the 2016 Boston Marathon with his left leg prosthesis and hugging and crying with his wife at the finish line, I couldn't help but burst into tears.
After the film was screened at the American Film Institute (AFI) Film Festival, it received a long standing applause from the audience.
And after watching the movie, I also feel that I can feel the spirit of the movie as a whole American society.
I think this is the most successful part of this movie.
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Of course, the low ratings of film critics also means that there are many regrets in this movie.
For example, because of the too many narrative threads in the first part of the movie, the foreshadowing is slightly plain, which inevitably makes people feel procrastinated.
For the three victims of the explosion, there was no performance in the movie, and their photos were released as a tribute at the end. This can't help but feel that something is missing in the whole movie.
During the arrest of the suspect, martial law was imposed on the entire city of Boston. This is the link with the highest level of participation by ordinary people, but a few shots have been taken in the movie.
The strangest thing is that in the whole event, with so many participants and so many stories, the movie chose to arrange a fictional character to string up the whole story.
The policeman Tommy, played by Mark Wahlberg, appears in every moment of the movie like a superhero.
He was at the scene at the time of the explosion, and he provided clues when organizing surveillance video. After Meng Dun called the police, he was the first to arrive. He was even in the SWAT team when the suspect was arrested...
it is true that his presence makes the whole story smoother and more complete. .
But because it can't stand scrutiny, it is inevitable that people will feel like "Are you kidding me?"
In the latter part of the movie, there is a concluding speech by Wahlberg on the bombing. What justice will defeat evil, love makes everyone stand together... This kind of cliché inevitably makes the temperament of the whole movie fall into chicken soup.
In general, it feels that the movie is far from the best, which makes people feel a bit pity.
In spite of these problems, even though it seems a little coincidence to use a major event not far from us as the theme story, I still think that "Patriot Day" is a successful work.
Because no matter what, it still touched me.
The Boston bombing brought kind-hearted people from all over Boston, all over the United States, and even the whole world to stand together to oppose terrorism.
And the most important meaning of this film is to convey this spirit once again and convey it to more people.
At least in my opinion, it did.
Based on this, I must say: The title of "Patriot Day" deserves its name.
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