Plot: Properly adapted, slightly flawed
For a story like the Battle of Chibi that is familiar to Chinese audiences, whether the plot is properly adapted will directly affect the audience's likes and dislikes of "Chibi". It is good to be able to completely copy "Three Kingdoms" or "Three Kingdoms", but the former is slightly jerky, and according to the latter, it is likely to become the movie version of the TV series "Three Kingdoms". Therefore, for the adaptation of this type of film, the easiest way is to "leave the stems and prune the branches". But in the whole Chinese-language film, there are not a few directors who are always eager to put their own understanding in the film when they get a little investment. Therefore, this practice of "retaining stems and pruning branches" has been less popular, and the consequence is that the films produced are terrible. A while ago, the film "Seeing the Dragon and Unloading Armor", which was named after the Three Kingdoms, was the "outstanding" of this type of film.
Thankfully, John Woo is not Li Rengang. At least in the first episode, some of the stories familiar to the audience were basically presented on the screen by John Woo. The battle of Xinye and the savior of Zhao Yun made "Chibi" full of intimacy to the audience from the very beginning. As for Guan Yu's premature appearance, it is understandable. If Guan Yu was not allowed to appear in the battle of Xinye, the famous Guan Erye's role would be pitiful.
The larger adaptations are basically in Soochow's dramas. The stories of Zhuge Liang watching Zhou Yu training soldiers and Sun Quan shooting a tiger are basically stories that are not found in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" or "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The story axis of the battle has no effect, it is a relatively successful addition, especially the part of Zhou Yu's military training, which allows the audience to see that Zhou Yu leads the troops in a proper way, and also makes the sympathy between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu have a little factual basis, and does not allow Where people stand out. Throughout the whole film, the most unpleasant addition is the part of giving birth to a horse. That part has no substantive effect on the performance of Zhou Yu or Zhuge Liang, so it can only be understood as giving Lin Chiling a suitable one. The reason for appearing, but it happens that this suitable reason becomes inappropriate throughout the film. It makes me want to fast forward in this slightly lengthy passage. And the story of Zhuge Liang's tongue-in-cheek battle with Confucian scholars is not arranged, which is quite disappointing to me. If this scene is well shot, it can make "Red Cliff", which is relatively weak in literary drama, more than just the bloody battlefield.
Special effects: More than shocking, but less detailed than
a film with an investment of nearly 800 million RMB, a very important element is the scene, especially the film called the Battle of Chibi, which is known as the Battle of Millions. Such a scale of war was difficult to find on a global scale before World War I. A war of this magnitude can only be supported by special effects.
The special effects of the film are not outstanding. According to some netizens, some special effects can only achieve the effect of cutscenes in some games. Judging from the first half of "Chibi", except for the rusty sword at the beginning of the film and the dove at the end of the film, most of the special effects do not focus on details, among which the more typical ones It's the production of battle scenes. In some bird's-eye shots and aerial shots, the scene is really big enough, and then when it comes to shooting close-up shots in the battlefield, there is a lack of special effects to carve the long-range view, which makes the scene immediately become a little stingy, which is more obvious in the gossip war. I hope that such flaws will not appear too much in the next episode of the battle of Chibi, otherwise it will only bring regrets to this eternal war.
War: Zhang Style Rites, Wu Style Aesthetics
As Zhang Che's disciple, John Woo has always attached great importance to the sense of ritual in the film, especially the rendering of death is more than that of his teacher, and "Red Cliff" is the first time that John Woo used such a hearty use Leng Weapon shows his violent aesthetics, which also makes the film's war scenes with a perverted beauty, and the scenes of blood splashing emerge in an endless stream. The death in the film is portrayed as a ritual, so that the brutality of the battle is magnified as much as possible. In the last gossip battle, which took up a considerable proportion of the film's length, it was the most concentrated place of Woo Yusen's style in "Red Cliff".
The gossip array itself is an extremely ritualized element. If the depiction of ritualized death in Zhang Che’s films and John Woo’s early films is still based on the rendering of the camera, then the depiction of death in “Chibi” is completely based on a quasi-ritual basis. The purpose of choosing Bagua Array as the most tragic battle formation in the first episode is to combine Zhang style ritual with Wu style aesthetics happily. Therefore, the turns of several generals in the film appeared in a very traditional Chinese ritual way, which was more powerful, so that Guan Erge's way of appearing with a little Peking Opera became a joke of some netizens.
In this section, Wu Yusen focused on rendering the power brought by the formation, and the individual seemed vulnerable in the face of such a powerful formation. The film uses a lot of details to show how the soldiers died in the formation, and uses a lot of backlit lenses to make the splashing blood more prominent. Wu Yusen's violent aesthetics is enlarged to almost every corner of the screen here. And fill it into each enemy control method in the formation. This makes the Bagua Array Battle the most content-rich battle segment on the Chinese screen so far. Regardless of whether the historical formations are as varied as they appear in the film, at least the gossip formation allows the audience to see that the war in the age of cold weapons is not just about slashing each other with swords. When watching the Japanese movie "Heaven and Earth", I once lamented why there is no shocking formation on the Chinese screen. Now, it is not only there, but it is even more shocking and wonderful. This makes the battle of Bagua Array, the most violent part in the first episode, the most intelligent part. If the first half of this year's "Famous Name" used the most crude way to express violence, then "Chibi" used one of the most delicate ways to express death.
Production: Middle school for the body, Western learning for the purpose
In addition to the unsatisfactory processing of the special effects mentioned above, the production of the film has been quite exquisite. No matter from the service or the style of the building, there is a strong post-Han style. From this point of view, this is more sincere than that "Seeing the Dragon Unloading Armor". In the scene where Zhao Zilong rode alone on the Savior, I was always afraid that there would be a scene in the film where A Dou was used as a backer from under the saddle like "Liu version of Zhao Yun", but until the end, I only saw Hu Jun landing to protect him, although Without the protective goggles in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it was also thrilling.
Judging from the whole film, John Woo used the Hollywood method to make this film. And this is one of the important reasons why the film has a laugh.
A typical example is the scene where the horse was delivered. In addition to adding a role to Lin Chi-ling - which is also a common method in Hollywood -, another important reason is that this scene is a typical Hollywood style. In some Hollywood war films, the director always likes to use something that has little to do with the theme of the film to express the character of some characters in the film. Therefore, Wu Yusen arranged such a scene to deliver the horse's birth. The purpose is to use these ten minutes to focus on Xiao Qiao's kindness, Zhou Yu's beloved wife, and Zhuge Liang's "sacrifice" to form an alliance. Unfortunately, the Chinese are obviously more accepting of using details to express their character, and this slightly extroverted way has become difficult for the audience to accept.
The same problem occurs with the lines. The lines that were made fun of by netizens mostly appeared in the dialogue between Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang. But if you take their dialogue out, many of the lines are not funny. For some viewers who are familiar with Western films, this kind of dialogue is very common in Western films. If it is translated into English and spoken by a blond foreigner , the acceptable audience may be much larger. The laughter from the theater is more due to the cultural gap between the East and the West, but I personally think it is fundamentally different from the laughter of "Wuji", not to mention, some lines accused of being a laughter, I think More like a joke between two friends. And some laughter is a kind of laughter to be laughed at, and there are many bridges that are pointed out as laughter, which are actually not funny.
In the film, the most westernized character is undoubtedly Zhuge Liang. It can be said that Zhuge Liang in "Red Cliff" slightly subverted the impression that Tang Guoqiang gave us. Compared with Tang Guoqiang, Jin Chengwu's Zhuge Liang is not calm enough, and even a little frivolous. However, I personally think that the accusation against this Zhuge Liang is unnecessary. Wu Yusen used a Hollywood hero way to shape Zhuge Liang, which to a certain extent made Zhuge Liang step down from the altar and get closer to the audience. Moreover, at the time of the Battle of Chibi, Zhuge Liang was less than 30 years old, so why can't there be some humor of young people? Who else stipulated that the dialogue between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu must be precise? Why can't people with great wisdom have great humor?
Actor: Only Lin Chi-ling is a big failure
in the episode "Chibi", there are as many as a dozen characters with names and surnames, not to mention that these characters have a deeply rooted image. With "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in front, whether "Chibi" can successfully shape these familiar characters has become one of the keys to the success or failure of this film.
However, the film impresses me the most is not Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, but Cao Cao played by Zhang Fengyi. If Bao Guoan's Cao Cao made me feel a sense of reverence, then Zhang Fengyi really made me smell Cao Cao's tyranny. Zhang Fengyi made a conceited and domineering Cao Cao stand on the screen, making the whole film one of the most enjoyable moments to watch Zhang Fengyi's performance.
And Zhang Fengyi is equally brilliant is Zhang Zhen's Sun Quan. Sun Quan doesn't have many roles, but he shows the feeling of forbearance very well. Compared with You Yong's Liu Bei, he is a lot inferior. You Yong has always been a kind of ordinary man, and suddenly he plays a slightly literary Liu Bei. Appears slightly uncomfortable. Guan Yu, on the other hand, is a little less domineering, Bassen's performance is too restrained, and Zang Jinsheng's Zhang Fei is vivid and unusual, and that roar is impressive. An equally impressive general is Gan Xing. This guy, who is not sure if it is Gan Ning, is starring Japanese actor Shidou Nakamura. He is also the only foreign actor in this film. disappoint others. Judging from an eight-minute film, the Japanese Gan Xing was still a key figure in the burning of Cao Ying, which is worth looking forward to.
The portrayal of three idol-level characters - Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, and Zhou Yu is the focus of the entire film. Although there is a certain gap between Hu Jun's Zhao Yun and our impression in terms of image, fortunately, he is very brave. Takeshi Kaneshiro's performance is still excellent, but it would be better if he was a little calmer, but fortunately, the first episode of "Red Cliff" is more about Zhou Yu, and I hope it will bring us a different feeling in the next episode. And Liang Chaowei's Zhou Yu, more people feel that he is a true performance, and even between performances, he did not forget to show off Liang's humor in his eyes.
It can be said that most of the male characters in the film performed well. For such a male-dominated film, the normal performance of the male actors ensures the watchability of the film to a certain extent. And the failure of character building in "Chibi" appears in the female characters.
Zhao Wei's Sun Shangxiang seems to still have the legacy of Xiaoyanzi, but she looks more like Zhang Zhen's older sister than her younger sister. But Zhao Wei's performance is still qualified, but Lin Chiling's Xiao Qiao is the most unbearable.
For a film like "Red Cliff", this theme alone can attract many men to pay for it in the theater, so Lin Chiling will not take on the heavy responsibility of the mainland box office because of this. Lin Chiling, who is only famous in the Chinese circle, is even less famous overseas. Zhao Wei, so relying on it to win the overseas box office also seems to be a fantasy. Therefore, from a commercial point of view, Lin Chiling's role is that of a quasi-vase, whether abroad or domestically. Under China's electronic inspection system, we have long since expected that there will be many passionate scenes that can make us snort on the screen. Lin Chiling's naked back for just a few seconds will not be the reason for male audiences to pay. What's more, everyone pays money not to take a look at Lin Chiling's naked back. So I really can't find the reason for choosing Lin Zhiling to play Xiao Qiao. Among the newcomers in mainland China, there are many more people who can play the role of this vase than Lin Zhiling, and they may be more acting than this model - at least, I am watching By the time Lin Chi-ling's cheekbone protruding face squeezes out all the charm, or when I hear her whining voice, I wish the film could be fast-forwarded. If I were Cao Cao in the film, when I saw Lin Zhiling's version of "Old Joe", I would definitely be annoyed at why I left the favored woman in black so coldly.
Dove: John Woo pays tribute to himself
As everyone expected, "Chibi" has white pigeons, and there are quite a lot of shots. But when the white dove gradually became the symbol of John Woo's films, John Woo was also a little impatient to pay tribute to himself. This is mainly reflected in the use of white pigeons. Just as his teacher Zhang Che likes the protagonist to wear white clothes in the final battle to make the blood more obvious. In the previous films of John Woo, the white dove was used more as a way of rendering the objective environment to set off the contrast, so that the white dove, a symbol of peace, appeared in violent scenes. Aesthetics is a quasi-ceremonial upgrade. As the white dove gradually became the symbol of John Woo's films, John Woo also began to show more of the identity of the white dove as a character. In "Apple Nuclear Wars 2", which was previously supervised, the white dove became an important role in the film, and in "Red Cliff", the white dove directly became Zhuge Liang's pet. The pigeon's perspective allowed us to see Cao Cao's huge fleet on the screen for the first time. John Woo used this long shot to complete a perfect tribute to himself.
The last episode is over, and I look forward to the next episode.
I have to say that the last episode of "Chibi" satisfied me. If it wasn't for Lin Chiling, I would have liked this film even more. However, the grass boat borrowing arrows, the bitter meat strategy and the main scene of burning Cao Jun will all appear in the next episode - I have reason to look forward to the release of the next episode!
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