Pre-screening warning | "British Showdown" may make ordinary viewers "unintelligible"!

Malvina 2021-12-18 08:01:04

Text/Levin

Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan’s "British Showdown" will be released on the National Day file soon. From a personal point of view, the "British Showdown" movie is very popular because this movie is not The "exciting" action level that everyone is familiar with is the "brilliant" level of plot, character, and suspense. It is a very unique existence in all Jackie Chan movies.

But Poison Tongue also faintly feels that the general audience may have some wrong expectations for "British Showdown", thinking that this is another Jackie Chan movie that is fun and lively, and even look forward to Jackie Chan and Pierce South. The superstar staged a peak duel, coupled with the story background and the depth of the plot used in the film, which greatly exceeded the knowledge reserve and aesthetic preference of ordinary audiences, so——

"British Showdown" may become a nightmare for "ordinary audiences"! To put it more clearly, "British Showdown" may make many viewers "unintelligible", and even become the "most difficult to understand" Jackie Chan movie! There may be a considerable gap between the "British Showdown" that the audience expects and the true appearance of the film.

The reason why Poison Tongue gives everyone an early warning is to prevent the "ordinary audience" from being misled by publicity, walking into the theater with false expectations and having a bad impression of the film. At the same time, he hopes that this "pre-screening warning" film review will help the "ordinary audience". "Audience" establish a more objective and rational movie-watching psychology, so that everyone can better appreciate Jackie Chan's outstanding feature film when watching the movie!

The reason why Poison Tongue thinks that ordinary audiences will “cannot understand” is that the whole story of the film is not for Chinese audiences at all but for Western audiences, and the background of the story is beyond the knowledge reserve and the scope of attention of ordinary Chinese audiences.

The story of "British Showdown" is not the witty and relaxed adventure story of Jackie Chan movies that everyone is familiar with, but is based on a serious political and historical background such as the "Northern Ireland Issue".

Speaking of "Northern Love", I am afraid that the first reaction of many young people will be "Beijing Love Story." "Love" refers to "Northern Ireland", and the "Northern Ireland issue" simply refers to the issue of the "unification and independence" between the British government and the Northern Irish nationalists. There was a serious outbreak in the 1960s and 1990s. Violent conflicts, terrorist attacks, and bloody casualties, but peace finally ushered in with the signing of the North-Ireland Peace Agreement in 1998.

Perhaps the middle-aged and elderly viewers who often watch "News Network" will leave memories and impressions on the "Northern Love Issue". Since the signing of the peace agreement, the "Northern Ireland issue" has ushered in a period of peace for as long as 20 years, and it has long since disappeared in the news broadcast. Therefore, how can the new generation of young people have any awareness of this? learn? "British Showdown" is adapted from the novel "China Men" published in 1992. If this film appeared in the 1990s, it would be the scene, but in the current era, it would definitely create a "generation gap" with the current audience in terms of the "era background".

The "British Showdown" story is based on a background that ordinary Chinese audiences basically do not recognize. The importance of this political and historical background is comparable to the film's plot, characters, and role relationships and behavioral logic. Great influence and connection, without understanding the background of the film, you may not understand what the identity of the characters in the film is, and what kind of subtle relationship is between them.

For example, at the beginning of the film, a bomb attack occurred on a street in London. Based on the evidence at the explosion site, the British government immediately learned that it was a terrorist attack by Northern Irish nationalists. If you have no knowledge of the history of the "Northern Ireland issue" If you have no knowledge of the history of the terrorist bombings launched by the Northern Irish nationalists against the United Kingdom, you will not understand the terrorist attacks in the film, and what a serious political crisis the British government and Northern Irish authorities will be. Really understand what kind of political crisis the role of Pierce Brosnan is in, and why the British special forces treat the Northern Irish terrorists so cruelly and cruelly.

Later, the British female interior minister called Pierce Brosnan's first deputy minister of Northern Ireland, asking him to find out the real culprit and give an account to the United Kingdom. At the same time, the United Kingdom would also meet the conditions for him to release political prisoners in Northern Ireland. If you don’t understand the relationship between the British government and the Northern Ireland authorities, you won’t understand that the British female interior minister and Pierce Brosnan’s first deputy minister of Northern Ireland are not at all in a subordinate relationship, but an antagonistic and antagonistic relationship. In a cooperative relationship, the female minister cannot order Brosnan to act, but can only use political pressure and political inducements to make him act.

If you don't understand the political structure of Northern Ireland, you will be instantly blinded when you see Pierce Brosnan's title of "First Deputy Minister". What kind of official is the "First Deputy Minister"? How much power does it have? Which department is the first deputy minister? In fact, the highest leader of the Northern Ireland administration is called the "Minister", and the "First Deputy Minister" is equivalent to the second most powerful person in Northern Ireland.

Then, the deputy minister played by Pierce Brosnan called his politicians to a meeting to trace the murderer. This also requires you to at least have such a basic understanding of the hawks and doves within the political factions of Northern Ireland, so that you can understand that Pierce Brosnan’s role as a deputy minister is not only different from the position of the British government, he is a dove. There is also a complex political relationship with the hawks in Northern Ireland that both exploits and opposes. This complex political relationship is in fact running through the entire film and is related to the life experiences and positions of many characters in the film. Moreover, "British Showdown" has so many characters and complex relationship between the characters, it can be said to have created the most "Jackie Chan movie". If you cannot have subtle and sensitive observations and perceptions of the complex relationship between the plot and the characters in the process of watching the movie, you will not be able to understand the position of the characters in the film and the design of suspense reversal.

If ordinary viewers lack a basic understanding of the "Northern Love Issue", they will not even understand the logic of Jackie Chan's role. He lost his beloved daughter in the terrorist attack. What he did later was to compete with Pierce Brosnan's deputy minister. He had to surrender the murderer, and even threatened his office with a bomb attack. Pierce Brosnan ran to the country farm to take shelter, he still chased after him and continued to make explosive threats. Perhaps in other contexts, Jackie Chan’s behavior is simply a paranoia. Why does he think that Pierce Brosnan must know the truth of the terrorist attack and must be related to the terrorist attack? But in the context of the "Northern Ireland issue", the terrorists are Northern Ireland, and Pierce Brosnan is a political figure in Northern Ireland. This kind of plot and role identity setting is superimposed on the historical background. Jackie Chan The act of chasing him is not completely paranoid, but has a certain degree of rationality in it.

After reading the above content, everyone may think that the poisonous tongue said so much about "Northern Love", but said Jackie Chan said so little. And this is exactly the point that Poison Tongue wants to emphasize. "British Showdown" is by no means the kind of Jackie Chan that permeates the whole film and is ubiquitous in everyone's impression, nor is it a movie that relies heavily on Jackie Chan's action skills as the core point of the movie. , But a "political line" dominated by Pierce Brosnan and a "revenge line" dominated by Jackie Chan both go hand in hand and are equally important. Jackie Chan is mainly responsible for the brilliance of the play, Pierce Brosnan is mainly responsible for the brilliance of the literary drama, and, at least, Jun Tong believes that the real brilliance of "British Showdown" mainly comes from the complex and reversal tension of the plot, and The ingenious structure of the "political line" and the "revenge line" ingeniously merged side by side, this is the really admirable "brilliant" part of the film! In addition, "British Showdown" is also the best-watched political thriller + counter-terrorism film in recent years, and it is not a gimmick like "24 Hours", but a serious, complicated and profound level of "Homeland Security". !

Therefore, "British Showdown" is definitely an "atypical" "Jackie Chan movie". Vicious Tongue will describe this movie as "brilliant" instead of "exciting". The difference lies in the classics that Jackie Chan has played in the past. Movies such as "Police Story", "Flying Eagle Project", "Red Zone", "Zodiac" and so on, you can use "excellent" to describe, but "British Showdown" is not so outstanding at all. "Wonderful", there is neither Jackie Chan's iconic funny fights nor thrilling life-threatening actions. Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan do not have too many face-to-face confrontations and duels, but another layout based on the entire film. , The plot, the role, the rhythm and the details of the drama dimension of the "nice". It can even be said that "British Showdown" is an unprecedented storyline in Jackie Chan's film! In Jackie Chan's film, you can actually see the plot and performance of "Nice", can't you think of it? Ha ha!

Having said all that, the "Pre-screening Warning" film review by Mr. Poison Tongue mainly wants to emphasize two points: First, it is recommended that you go online to understand the relevant news, history and comments of the "Northern Ireland Issue" before watching the movie. Only by doing this can we truly understand the plot and characters of the movie and understand the subtleties of the movie during the viewing process. The second is not to have too high expectations for Jackie Chan’s play. Although Jackie Chan is still called "excellent play" in the film, it is no longer the classic Jackie Chan movie that you are familiar with in terms of the degree of excitement and the weight of the play. On the contrary, Jackie Chan's performance is more worthy of attention. (Text/Leven)

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Extended Reading

The Foreigner quotes

  • Liam Hennessy: You killed my dog.

    Quan Ngoc Minh: Dog's fine. Just sleeping.

  • Quan Ngoc Minh: [opens coat] I'm wearing a bomb. Anyone comes in, I touch it one, then we die. Now, give me the names.

    Liam Hennessy: They claim to be IRA, but I don't know who they really are. I'm doin' everything I can to find out who's responsible.

    Quan Ngoc Minh: [puts gun to Hennessy's head] You're lying! Who killed my daughter?

    Liam Hennessy: I'm sorry! I truly don't know yet!

    Quan Ngoc Minh: [pause] The explosive the bombers use, it's Semtex-H?

    Liam Hennessy: [nervous] Yes. Yes. You know about Semtex?

    Quan Ngoc Minh: I know Semtex-H. During the war Czechs make for the army. Good for bombs and traps.

    Liam Hennessy: In Vietnam?

    Quan Ngoc Minh: Yes. Many American people died by Semtex-H. Now, IRA use to kill my daughter. That's ironic.

    Liam Hennessy: I've read your history. We both know about war. We've both tried to put it behind us. You and me, we're alike.

    Quan Ngoc Minh: [backhands Hennessy in the face] We are NOTHING alike. You're NOTHING! You kill women and children! NAMES!

    Liam Hennessy: To Almighty God, I don't know!

    Quan Ngoc Minh: [cocks the gun]

    Liam Hennessy: WAIT! Wait! I've set a trap for them when they use the next bomb. When they claim responsibility for the next bombing, they'll use a code word, telling the police they're IRA. I've changed that code word. So when they use it, I'll know.

    Quan Ngoc Minh: [lowers the gun] You have one day.

    Liam Hennessy: ...what if they don't set off a bomb by then?

    Quan Ngoc Minh: Twenty-four hours.

    [leaves]

    Liam Hennessy: ...Jesus. Oh, Jesus, sweet Jesus.