Typical is that there are traces to follow from the action scenes to the martial arts spirit, Yu Zhengfeng's obsession, and the understanding of life and death. The atypical is that in the reinforced concrete jungle, the open line pursued by the police runs through. There is no gang rivalry, and there are less grievances, only the success or failure of the rash.
But this gain and loss, in Feng Yuxiu's words, "is both superior and inferior, but also decisive for life and death."
If the modern martial arts in "City Violence Group" is still intended to outline the gang legend in the hatred of the country and the family, "One Man's Martial Arts" strips out more background, leaving only the confrontation between individuals.
Xiahouwu and Feng Yuxiu are both martial idiots. Feng Yuxiu walked the path Xiahouwu once traversed: kicking all over the world in martial arts halls and stepping on the heroes of the world. The difference is that the screenwriter, or fate, cut off Feng Yuxiu's only bondage in the world, but tied a rope to Xia Houwu's hand.
Therefore, with the congenital defect of lameness, Feng Yu Xiulian has a hard-handed skill of "fighting with fists, and killing Buddhas when encountering Buddhas", which can compete with the world's heroes. The logo of Tangqianyan and the tape of "Out of the Five Passes" constitute the biggest metaphor for Feng Yuxiu: this body worships into the martial arts, and the one who walks again is the horse riding a red rabbit for thousands of miles, and the sword and the green dragon out of the five passes. How can you accept the mediocrity and vulgarity of "flying into the homes of ordinary people".
Behind this tension, can we understand the true meaning of Feng Yuxiu's pseudonym: Only when Xiu Yu Huajing will Fengshan wash his hands. It's a pity that there are many dangers at the top of the martial arts, and only then Feng Yuxiu has the consciousness that "kung fu is a killer skill".
"One Man's Martial Arts", at this level, is the Shura Tao of Feng Yuxiu.
But what the director and screenwriter want to express is much more than that. Except for Feng Yuxiu, all the martial arts characters in the movie are in a retreat gesture, either devoted to art, or hidden in the market. Even the most avant-garde Xia Houwu was sentenced to three years in jail for failing to kill. In the three years in prison, Xia Houwu was a "model prisoner" until the unexpected arrival of the war book, the junior sister was in danger.
Through this artificial confrontation, Feng Yuxiu and Xiahouwu, one of them wanted to carry the decisive evil after Wu Chi surpassed human relations, while the other understood the way of benevolence and forgiveness in time. In the final road fight, no one could guess the ending, Xia Houwu's fist was still difficult to shake. Because Ren Shu is a martial virtue higher than obsessive enthusiasm, and martial arts must not stop at life and death.
The embarrassment may also lie here. Lu Xuanxin, who had been manipulated from start to finish, suddenly played the role of calming the climax at a critical juncture. The two martial arts masters who killed people with their bare hands and even the armed police called for nothing. They were both strong and weak and inconvenient to kill because the benevolent was invincible. In the end, they had to resort to external forces but ended up in the end.
"One Man's Martial Arts" is a tribute to Hong Kong martial arts films. But its length and shortness are, to some extent, the continuation of the traditional dilemma. Renshu is destined to be higher than killing, morality is destined to be higher than technique, and the protagonist’s awakening is destined to be higher than that of his extremely evil opponents. All these cannot be solved by "tooth for tooth".
For this reason, Hong Kong martial arts films will not have "Kill Bill" movies that have achieved the ultimate in foreign kung fu, and they will ultimately rely on preaching. The ending of "One Man's Martial Arts", through Xia Houwu's mouth, said: The world is a lonely road, and it takes too much price beyond ordinary people to climb to the cramped peak. Instead of this, I would rather hold the hand of the people around me.
But the thought of No. 1 in the world never appeared in Xia Houwu's mind again.
As a tribute, this weight seems to be enough. But as a continuation, I am afraid that it is still far from breaking the existing gap. As one of the most important genres in film history, there are still many doubts about the road of Hong Kong martial arts films.
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