After entering 2000, Hong Kong film giant Golden Harvest Pictures was facing severe losses due to the impact of the Asian financial turmoil. In order to stimulate the market, Jackie Chan filmed the "Secret Agent Mystery City" for Jiahe in 2001, trying to save the defeat.
It's a pity that people are not as good as the sky. This sincere masterpiece with an investment of up to 200 million Hong Kong dollars, in the end, the global box office was only 20.5 million US dollars (equivalent to 159 million Hong Kong dollars). Not only did it fail to save Jiahe, it made Jiahe worse.
In the following two years, Jiahe languished and only released 5 low-cost movies, which were eventually acquired by the Mainland Orange Entertainment Group in 2008 and withdrew from the stage of history.
In the years when the classic car of Jiahe was gradually approaching the end, Jackie Chan, a veteran driver, jumped midway and switched to Yang Shoucheng's Emperor Entertainment, turning a new page in his acting career.
Jackie Chan, who was nearly 50 years old at the time, was like O'Neal who had left the Lakers. Although his position was solid, he had already passed his peak.
However, Emperor Entertainment Group is still full of confidence in Jackie Chan’s influence. In order to win over Jackie Chan’s heart and show sufficient sincerity, he invested 41 million US dollars (equivalent to 318 million Hong Kong dollars) to tailor the action film "Flying Dragon Rebirth" for him. It broke the investment record of the Hong Kong film industry at that time.
Jackie Chan is also full of confidence in this movie and strongly invites his senior brother Sammo Hung to join as the action director.
Zhang Jianting and Chen Jiashang cooperated in the screenwriting, and Chen Jiashang directed, and the combination of Zhong Liti, Nicholas Tse, Edison Chen and Twins under the Emperor's name will all appear.
Today Pico will chat with everyone about this movie and its behind-the-scenes story——
one,
Read the story first
The story of the movie is quite magical. It tells that there is a "rebirth dragon chapter" in the world. As long as the power of the dragon chapter is obtained, a person can become an immortal "undead" after death. The leader of the International Snake Group, "Snake Demon" Heiyu (played by Julian Sanders) tried every possible means to get the dragon medal. He sent his staff to Lester to abduct the little soul boy Jai who knew how to manipulate the dragon medal and escape to Ireland.
Hong Kong special police Eddie Young (played by Jackie Chan) also came to Ireland in order to hunt down Leicester. Under the recommendation of his ex-girlfriend Nicole James (played by Claire Franny), he met British special agent Arthur Watson (Lee). ·Evans played) and Arthur's wife Charlotte (played by Zhong Liti).
Eddie and Arthur decided to cooperate in hunting down Leicester, and they soon found Leicester and his child Jai abducted at the container terminal. After a fight between the two sides, although Eddie found Jai, he was trapped in a container that fell into the sea with him.
Eddie was drowned in a container to save Jai, but soon he was resurrected and gained super powers. After Eddie woke up, he found that he was not only resurrected, but also possessed extraordinary physical stamina and superb self-healing ability. He remembered seeing the light emitted by Jai’s Dragon Zhang before he died, and suspected that Jai had rescued him. .
Nicole took Jai back to her home for Jai's safety, but the "Snake Demon" still found and took Jai away. In order to destroy the "snake demon" and rescue Jai, Eddie decided to break into the "snake demon" base castle, but found that the "snake demon" had taken away the dragon badge from Jai's hand and mastered the indestructible power of regeneration.
Eddie started a fierce battle with the "Snake Demon" and, with the assistance of Jai, used the Dragon Seal to eliminate the "Snake Demon". During the fight, Nicole was killed by the "Snake Demon", but she was resurrected by Eddie using the Dragon Seal because of a blessing in disguise. And Nicole who woke up also possessed an immortal body, and became an omnipotent person with regenerative ability.
At the end of the film, when Eddie and Nicole both fly into the sky, I believe many people will be puzzled when they watch it. Since the plot of Eddie's resurrection, the story of the movie has slowly become out of control, and the two protagonists take off, making the movie almost reduced to a farce.
two,
This movie, with high hopes from everyone and an investment of more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars higher than "Mystery", ended up experiencing the same fate as the latter, with only 34.27 million US dollars in the box office worldwide, even the production cost is difficult. Retracted.
Why was Jackie Chan's first work such a failure when he switched to the Queen of England?
Pico previously summarized several important labels belonging to the "Jackie Chan movies". Almost all successful Jackie Chan works are inseparable from the characteristics of the "Jackie Chan movies".
The failure of the film from the overall arrangement to the storyline is precisely because it deviated from the characteristics of those "Jackie Chan movies". Pico summarized the following points of failure.
1. The film deviated from the convention of "Jackie Chan is not dead". Before it was released, "Jackie Chan died in a movie for the first time" was the selling point, and this kind of publicity was obviously "the wrong product".
In fact, Jackie Chan has "dead" more than once in his early movies. The most "violent" death was "Fire Island" directed by Zhu Yanping. The biggest difference between the "death" method in "The Rebirth of Flying Dragon" and the previous movies is that Jackie Chan was really "dead" in the previous movies, while in this film, he was "feigned death" at best.
After Eddie died in the middle of the movie, he was quickly resurrected, and because of this he gained the superpowers that are invulnerable to fire and water. Using the gimmick "Jackie Chan died in a movie for the first time" to deceive the audience can only show that the announcement of the film before the release is not effective, and there is really no decent propaganda method.
2. In the second half of the movie, the action scenes completely abandon the usual characteristics of Jackie Chan's action comedy, and the huge change in style makes it difficult for the audience to accept.
Jackie Chan once said that the biggest difference between his movements and Bruce Lee's movements is that his hand would hurt if he punched it out. This is the characteristic of Jackie Chan's action comedy, and it is also what distinguishes him from Bruce Lee and Jet Li's actions. Jackie Chan's action is a kind of self-contained comedic action combined with traditional martial arts by stealing from Buster Keaton.
Jackie Chan found his senior brother Sammo Hung as the action director. The action designs of the two had a lot in common. It should be a combination of one plus one greater than two. However, in fact, the action scenes of the movie did not become very good-looking, but became a "disaster scene". In order to serve the storyline of "Eddie Becomes Superman", the action in the second half of the movie was completely transformed into Superman Daguai.
We can't say that Jackie Chan also played Diao Weiya is his laziness, but "Diao Weiya" has never been what Jackie Chan should be in an action comedy. From realistic stories, comical action designs, to illusory settings and exaggerated movements, this change in style really makes audiences accustomed to Jackie Chan movies at a loss.
3. The mediocrity of the film's story makes the efforts of all the actors in the film futile.
Wang Shuo once referred to Jackie Chan's movies, Jin Yong's novels, Qiong Yao TV series, and the songs of the Four Heavenly Kings as the three major customs of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Jackie Chan is only suitable for fashion action movies. He can't act in costume movies, nor can he act in fantasy movies, and this movie is just a fantasy movie with a strong fantasy color.
Magic movies are not that the more the story is, the better. To create a magic movie, you must first build a worldview that can achieve logical self-healing, such as "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter". Not only did the film fail to build such a worldview, there are still many inconsistencies in the film's settings, making the audience very puzzled.
For example, the little soul boy Jai didn't seem to have very powerful superpowers in the early stage, and he couldn't escape by himself when he was trapped in a container. But at the end of the movie, he was suddenly able to easily open the door of time and space and escape, making people wonder what the weakness and helplessness he showed before was going to cause trouble?
three,
The film itself has such a big problem, Jackie Chan, Chen Jiashang, and Sammo Hung, who are the main creators, don't know it. In fact, this huge change in the overall style of the movie is exactly what Jackie Chan did intentionally, and it is also his new exploration and experiment.
Unlike "Mystery of Secret Agents", which spent 200 million yuan to create expensive action scenes, the film's 318 million Hong Kong dollars investment, of which a large part of it was invested in CG special effects. In 2003, although computer special effects have gradually become the mainstream of Hollywood movies, they are still very difficult to control for Hong Kong movies.
Jackie Chan decided to add a lot of CG special effects to his movies. This is exactly his new attempt. After all, he was also 49 years old at the time. He was too early to be a player. He always hoped to use new technology to replace the dangerous stunt shots that he used to fight for his life. However, the final result is that this kind of change cannot be used for the audience. Accepted.
Not only that, over the past 10 years since this film, Jackie Chan has tried various styles and types of movies, such as science fiction films such as "Myth" and "Blood of the Machine"; crime films such as "Shinjuku Incident"; and costume films such as "Little Soldier". ", "Detective Pu Songling"; chicken soup slices such as "Worry-free Grocery Store".
There are even the main theme movies "Flying Tiger on the Railway" and "The Revolution of 1911." He has tried almost all types of movies that he can shoot, but the real hits are still popcorn blockbusters like "Baby Project", "Zodiac", and "Kung Fu Yoga" that return to Jackie Chan's traditional style.
Therefore, the box office failure of "The Rebirth of Flying Dragon" lies in the movie story itself, and the real reason is Jackie Chan's failed attempt to change the film style.
Four,
The film's failure also cast a shadow on Jackie Chan's Hollywood film road, but at that time he still devoted all his enthusiasm to the filming of the film "Around the Earth in 80 Days".
Because of the magical changes in the character setting and the inadequacy of the story, the classic remake ended in a greater fiasco. After that, Jackie Chan could no longer receive a new film contract and could only go home.
As the turning point of Jackie Chan’s Hollywood career, "The Rebirth of the Dragon" has also become an eternal pain in Jackie’s life.
After returning to Hong Kong, Jackie Chan was desperate to make a film for the Emperor. First, he made a cameo appearance in "A Thousand Chance Changes II Huadu War", and then started filming "New Police Story" with an investment of 80 million Hong Kong dollars.
Jackie Chan, now 66 years old, just like he did in Vanguard, can no longer jump off the building, but needs to climb stairs. But "the martyr is in his old age, he is very ambitious." From his movies, he can still see his ambition, but this ambition has gradually become too weak.
Text/Pippi Film Editorial Department: Blood and Heart
©Original丨Article copyright: Pippi Film (ppdianying)
Do not reprint in any form without authorization
View more about The Medallion reviews
