In other words, the film is clean and smooth, the plot is compact and moving, and the ending is happy. Shouldn't it be attributed to the national level without any restrictions?
No. In 2009, when Ning Hao's "No Man's Land" was banned, Zhao Baohua said that the film "violated the reality of life, the characters were too gray, and the story was too dark." Throughout the entire movie "To the End", none of the characters appearing are actually positive! From the protagonist to the villain, from colleagues to bosses, disputes and the so-called confrontation between good and evil are basically unrelated. It is more like a dog biting a dog. The protagonist is a policeman who caused a drunk driving accident and wiped out the evidence. The serious crime department where he is involved is suspected of prostitution and accepting bribes. The villain is a moth in the police station, and he is doing all the evil. The entire police system was blacked out by the movie.
However, "To the End" is only black and black, there is no black out of character, black out of temperament, black out of reflection.
Because there are no too many political constraints, Korean filmmakers have always spared no effort in the black government and black police. Many of the images of the government and the police in the movies are mainly negative. If you don’t believe me, recall the Korean movies you’ve seen. Are there rare cases where the government is not corrupt and the police are not incompetent? Movies with the main theme like "The President's Romance" and "Good Morning, the President" will be abusive. Recently, I just watched "Live Yourself" starring Jeong Jae-young in 2007. It is a very satirical thing about the inefficiency of the South Korean police in the comedy, which can be called the representative of this type of film. However, in the process of criticizing the government and the police, this kind of film generally has a main line, that is, the character struggles, resists, or succumbs in the system and environment that should be criticized. The place to stay should be on the person, is he (she) squeezed out the last trace of conscience, resolutely thrown into the embrace of darkness? Or is it to uphold the desire for justice and faith, and eventually hesitate to bloodshed or even torn to pieces? Only under the support of such a main line can a movie have a soul. There is a good example. The outstanding Korean film "Horror Live" in 2013 can clearly distinguish this main line: Although the male anchor Yoon Yinghua played by Ha Jung Woo has hosted a TV show that seems to represent the voice of social justice, In fact, he himself did not have the corresponding consciousness and conscience. When the terrorist incident happened, what he did was only out of selfishness, trying to win attention again. But as the incident progressed, the helplessness of the petty people, the indifference of the government, and the ugliness of the society were all exposed to him. The seemingly powerful self was actually insignificant in front of the powerful social machine. In the end, he chose to press The bomb button, no surrender, no shout, but his eyes in that scene fully revealed his mood: there is no way to go back, better to die. This is the real "coming to the end". When external forces are imposed on the body, the protagonist's personality changes sharply, so it makes people feel that the movie has bones.
But "To the End" lacks this main thread. The protagonist Gao Jianzhu was not a good policeman from the beginning. He was involved in a conspiracy due to drunk driving and hitting someone, and his life suffered a major change. The first half of the film is very brilliant in the creation of suspense. Gao Jianzhu was trapped by the power in the dark. He tried to resist but was unable to do so. But after the enemy showed his true colors, the film turned from a suspense film to a bad action film. Put it on the confrontation between Go Jianzhu and the villain. Originally, extreme and even shocking incidents such as drunk driving hitting a "dead" person, using the mother’s coffin to hide the victim’s body, and colleague being killed in a container were enough to trigger the protagonist’s psychological evolution, but the confrontation between the pros and the villains became the highlight, almost completely. Covering up the protagonist's due changes, it seems to be overwhelming. The protagonist is just rebelling against his opponent step by step. Even after experiencing so many horrors of life and death, the person who is finally presented to the audience is still the same person as before, feeling little change in his body and soul. The vault scene in the last scene is even more superfluous, and runs counter to the theme of "coming to the end", lowering the impression score.
In fact, I don't expect the protagonist to become a good person, but I hope to see that the movie gradually sublimates personal grievances to the oppression of human nature by the system and even the entire society, so that the audience will have a stronger psychological impact. But if that is the case, the movie will not only be R15, but at least R18.
View more about A Hard Day reviews
